Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Acoustic mode in numerical calculations of subsonic combustion

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5622045
A review is given of the methods for treating the acoustic mode in numerical calculations of subsonic combustion. In numerical calculations of subsonic combustion, treatment of the acoustic mode has been a problem for many researchers. It is widely believed that Mach number and acoustic wave effects are negligible in many subsonic combustion problems. Yet, the equations that are often solved contain the acoustic mode, and many numerical techniques for solving these equations are inefficient when the Mach number is much smaller than one. This paper reviews two general approaches to ameliorating this problem. In the first approach, equations are solved that ignore acoustic waves and Mach number effects. Section II of this paper gives two such formulations which are called the Elliptic Primitive and the Stream and Potential Function formulations. We tell how these formulations are obtained and give some advantages and disadvantages of solving them numerically. In the second approach to the problem of calculating subsonic combustion, the fully compressible equations are solved by numerical methods that are efficient, but treat the acoustic mode inaccurately, in low Mach number calculations. Section III of this paper introduces two of these numerical methods in the context of an analysis of their stability properties when applied to the acoustic wave equations. These are called the ICE and acoustic subcycling methods. It is shown that even though these methods are more efficient than traditional methods for solving subsonic combustion problems, they still can be inefficient when the Mach number is very small. Finally, a method called Pressure Gradient Scaling is described that, when used in conjunction with either the ICE or acoustic subcycling methods, allows for very efficient numerical solution of subsonic combustion problems. 11 refs.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
5622045
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-85-1203; CONF-8403187-1; ON: DE85010788
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English