FiReSMOKE: An OpenFOAM-based collection of finite-rate chemistry solvers for turbulent combustion systems
Description
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) of turbulent reacting flows is an essential tool to support the industrial sector transitioning to cleaner and energy efficient technologies. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computations and large eddy simulations (LES) are widely used to accelerate innovation without the need of costly experimental campaigns. While simplified treatment of the chemical processes is often selected for computational cost saving, the integration of detailed chemical kinetics in CFD solvers improves the accuracy of complex phenomena, e.g., pollutant formation pathways, extinction and re-ignition processes. This level of fidelity is essential for designing and developing advanced combustion concepts and low-carbon fuel alternatives. This paper presents the FiReSMOKE solver suite, a collection of finite-rate chemistry solvers for RANS computations and LES of turbulent reacting flows. The suite is implemented in OpenFOAM and leverages OpenSMOKE++ to handle detailed chemistry. Along with the finite-rate models from literature and the availability of a wide range of ordinary differential equation (ODE) solvers, the FiReSMOKE suite includes the novel modal partially-stirred reactor (mPaSR) model, the sample-partitioning adaptive chemistry (SPARC) plug-in, a data-driven methodology for chemistry acceleration, and tabulated adaptive chemistry (TDAC). FiReSMOKE is, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the first OpenFOAM-based suite that offers integrated support for advanced chemistry solvers (SPARC, TDAC), tabulation techniques, and multiple combustion models in a unified and modular framework. This manuscript provides a summary of the theoretical background of the combustion models pertaining to the reactor-based models class and a methodology overview of the solver implementation. The modular design facilitates the integration of new combustion models and numerical techniques, making it adaptable to a wide range of research and engineering applications. Along with details on the numerical implementation of the code, test cases demonstrating the solver capabilities are presented.