Pore scale numerical simulation of heat transfer in propagating thermal wave during filtration combustion of rich and lean methane-air mixtures

The porous media combustion phenomenon was numerically studied with focus on the heat transfer effect in propagating combustion wave for lean and ultra-rich mixture compositions using the approach when the three-dimensional porous structure and interstitial flow are simulated directly at pore scale with explicit consideration of the thermal interaction between fluid and solid phases including the detailed chemical kinetics model and solid-to-solid radiation. The results demonstrate that irregularity of the porous structure leads to a large spatial variation of the process parameters and the flow inhomogeneity. The most intensive heat sources placed within the cavities where the flow is developed. During the process, the interface heat transfer and radiation contribute to heat recuperation mechanism that leads to thermal non-equilibrium in the combustion wave. The heat is transferred through the bed via radiation layer-by-layer due to restricted visibility of the particles. The numerical data about a local variation of the process parameters were presented. The data of this type can be used for modification of the volume-averaged models within the context of spatial variation consideration. It was shown that there is a correlation between the heat release rate, the interface heat flux, the radiative heat flux, and its root mean square values.