A numerical investigation of the entropy generation in and thermodynamic optimization of a combustion chamber

In this study, we are simulating the turbulent combustion of a mixed bluff-body swirl stabilized flame in a gas turbine combustion chamber and investigating the effects of different parameters, including the swirl number, distance between the air and fuel nozzle which is called bluff size, equivalence ratio, inlet fuel flow rate, and the inlet air velocity, on the entropy generation. We perform the process of the design of the combustion chamber by proposing the optimal value of each parameter based on the EGM (entropy generation minimization) method under the two maximum allowable temperature and size constraints. Two common methods of entropy generation calculation, one based on the overall entropy balance on a system and the other based on the local entropy generation rate calculation, are used and compared in this study. Our results show that the deviation between the total entropy generations calculated by the two methods is 6.4% in average which is an acceptable error in turbulent combustion simulations. Also, the two opposing factors, namely chemical reaction and heat transfer, have the main contribution to the total entropy generation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.