Numerical simulation of the mass loss process in pyrolizing char materials

✍ Scribed by F. Jia; Dr. E. R. Galea; M. K. Patel

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 134 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0308-0501
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1018(199903/04)23:2<71::aid-fam672>3.0.co;2-5

✦ Synopsis

We present here a decoupling technique to tackle the entanglement of the nonlinear boundary condition and the movement of the char/virgin front for a thermal pyrolysis model for charring materials. Standard numerical techniques to solve moving front problems = often referred to as Stefan problems = encounter di7culties when dealing with nonlinear boundaries. While special integral methods have been developed to solve this problem, they su4er from several limitations which the technique described here overcomes. The newly developed technique is compared with the exact analytical solutions for some simple ideal situations which demonstrate that the numerical method is capable of producing accurate numerical solutions. The pyrolysis model is also used to simulate the mass loss process from a white pine sample exposed to a constant radiative 6ux in a nitrogen atmosphere. Comparison with experimental results demonstrates that the predictions of mass loss rates and temperature pro5le within the solid material are in good agreement with the experiment.