Numerical simulation of plasma-assisted combustion of methane-air mixtures in combustion chamber

A two-dimensional mathematical model was developed to investigate the effects of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma on CH₄-air mixtures combustion at atmospheric pressure. Considering the physical and chemical processes of plasma-assisted combustion (PAC), plasma discharge, heat transfer and turbulent were simultaneously coupled into simulation of PAC. This coupling model consists of DBD kinetic model and methane combustion model. By comparing simulations and the original reference’s results, a high-accuracy of this model was validated. In addition, the effects of PAC actuation parameters on combustion characteristics were studied. Numerical simulations show that with an inlet airflow velocity of 10 ms ^-1, a CH₄-air mixtures’ equivalence ratio of 0.5, an applied voltage of 10 kV, a frequency of 1200 kHz, compared to conventional combustion (CC), the highest flame temperature rises by 32 K; outlet temperature distribution coefficient drops by 2.3%; the maximum net reaction rate of CH₄ and H₂O increase by 11.22% and 12.80% respectively; the maximum CO emission index decreases by 14.61%; the mixing region turbulence mixing time reduces by 89 ms.