Pyrolysis in Porous Media: Numerical Analysis and Comparison to Experiments

Nicolas Gascoin (1) , Luigi Romagnosi (1, 2) , Ivan Fedioun (3) , Guillaume Fau (1) , Philippe Gillard (1) , Johan Steelant (4)

1 PRISME - Laboratoire Pluridisciplinaire de Recherche en Ingénierie des Systèmes, Mécanique et Energétique
2 UNIROMA - Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" = Sapienza University [Rome]
3 LCSR - Laboratoire de combustion et systèmes reactifs
4 ESA - Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency

Only limited studies are available experimentally to investigate hydrocarbon fuel pyrolysis, which can be of practical interest for the active cooling of head loaded components in aerospace vehicles such as combustors in rocket engines. The numerical simulation is an additional way to investigate the related phenomena (heat and mass transfer with chemistry). After a first code validation with experiments based upon inert gases, the code is further extended towards permeation with reactive dodecane and a reasonable agreement is found. The experimental accuracy of the permeability's' determination is confirmed numerically to be within ± 30 %. Numerically it is shown that this accuracy is due to strong flow spatial heterogeneities. The border effect of the test cell is found to be related to the permeable medium thickness whereas the temperature field is correlated to the reaction zone. Two different kinetic mechanisms are used to investigate the chemistry effect on the heat and mass transfer. They provide also a better analysis of the fuel pyrolysis and of the products' formation.

Mots clés: Pyrolysis; porous medium

Domaines: Milieux fluides et réactifs

Nicolas Gascoin, Luigi Romagnosi, Ivan Fedioun, Guillaume Fau, Philippe Gillard, et al.. Pyrolysis in Porous Media: Numerical Analysis and Comparison to Experiments. 18th AIAA/3AF International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Sep 2012, Tours, France. pp.2012-5848, ⟨10.2514/6.2012-5848⟩. ⟨hal-00766440⟩