Validation/Uncertainty Quantification for Large Eddy Simulations of the heat flux in the Tangentially Fired Oxy-Coal Alstom Boiler Simulation Facility

The objective of this task is to produce predictive capability with quantified uncertainty bounds for the heat flux in commercial-scale, tangentially fired, oxy-coal boilers. Validation data came from the Alstom Boiler Simulation Facility (BSF) for tangentially fired, oxy-coal operation. This task brings together experimental data collected under Alstom’s DOE project for measuring oxy-firing performance parameters in the BSF with this University of Utah project for large eddy simulation (LES) and validation/uncertainty quantification (V/UQ). The Utah work includes V/UQ with measurements in the single-burner facility where advanced strategies for O2 injection can be more easily controlled and data more easily obtained. Highlights of the work include: • Simulations of Alstom’s 15 megawatt (MW) BSF, exploring the uncertainty in thermal boundary conditions. A V/UQ analysis showed consistency between experimental results and simulation results, identifying uncertainty bounds on the quantities of interest for this system (Subtask 9.1) • A simulation study of the University of Utah’s oxy-fuel combustor (OFC) focused on heat flux (Subtask 9.2). A V/UQ analysis was used to show consistency between experimental and simulation results. • Measurement of heat flux and temperature with new optical diagnostic techniques and comparison with conventional measurements (Subtask 9.3). Various optical diagnostics systems were createdmore » to provide experimental data to the simulation team. The final configuration utilized a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) camera to measure heat flux and temperature, which was synchronized with a high-speed, visible camera to utilize two-color pyrometry to measure temperature and soot concentration. • Collection of heat flux and temperature measurements in the University of Utah’s OFC for use is subtasks 9.2 and 9.3 (Subtask 9.4). Several replicates were carried to better assess the experimental error. Experiments were specifically designed for the generation of high-fidelity data from a turbulent oxy-coal flame for the validation of oxy-coal simulation models. Experiments were also conducted on the OFC to determine heat flux profiles using advanced strategies for O2 injection. This is important when considering retrofit of advanced O2 injection in retrofit configurations.« less