Numerical Investigation of a Partially Premixed Swirl-Stabilized Combustor

This study investigates a partially premixed methane-air flame using a RANS-based approach coupled with a reduced chemical mechanism. The performance of the model is assessed under both non-reacting and reacting conditions. In the non-reacting case, the velocity distributions—including the central recirculation zone, shear layers, and swirl jet are successfully predicted and validated against experimental data. Additionally, simulations with different mesh resolutions showed consistent results, confirming mesh independence. For the reacting case, a controlled hot-spot ignition procedure was applied, and temperature contours along with chemical heat release rate distributions were analyzed. The resulting V-shaped flame structure and its position were in qualitative agreement with chemical heat release rate (CHRR) measurements. While the model effectively captures global flame behavior, limitations remain in accurately predicting peak temperatures. These findings demonstrate that RANS-based models with reduced combustion mechanism resolution offer a promising balance between computational cost and predictive capability, especially for capturing swirl-stabilized flow features in partially premixed combustion systems.