CoEC-ERCOFTAC course: Understanding and Predicting Hydrogen Combustion

18/12/2023 – Day 1: Role of hydrogen in the energy and transportation green transition

This session introduces the context and market opportunities of hydrogen across different sectors from production to utilization. External speakers from industry and academia will give lectures on the application of hydrogen for power generation and transportation.

Part I: The Hydrogen Economy: A Background

​9:00 – 9:15 W​elcome and Introduction

9​:15 – 10:15 The role of hydrogen in a sustainable energy system – Albert Tarancon (IREC)

1​0:15 – 11:15 Fuel cells and their applications  – Maria Serra (CSIC-UPC)

1​1:15 – 11:45 Coffee break

Part II: Utilization of hydrogen by industrial sector

1​1:45 – 12:30 Challenges and current developments for Hydrogen ground mobility – Olivier Laget (IFPEN)

1​2:30 – 13:15 Hydrogen-powered aircraft – introdution to the main challenges – Anais Marie Gay (Airbus)

1​3:15 – 14:45 Lunch

1​4:45 – 15:30 Challenges for Ammonia Engines – Christine Rouselle (University of Orléans)

1​5:30 – 16:15 Clean Hydrogen Power Generation in Gas Turbines – Lukasz Panek (Siemens AG)

1​6:15 – 17:00 Potentials and challenges of hydrogen to decarbonize the steel sector -Sebastien Caillat (Fives Stein)

1​7:00 – 17:15 Conclusions and outlook

19/12/2023 – Day 2: From theory to simulation of hydrogen flames

This session introduces the fundamentals of hydrogen combustion from theory to simulations using high-fidelity methods. It includes lectures and hands on activities where the students can utilize the physical models and numerical methods described in the lectures.

​9:30 – 11:00 Theory and fundamentals of H2 combustion I – Prof. Heinz Pitsch (RWTH Aachen University)

This lecture aims to highlight the effects of hydrogen thermo-physical properties on the combustion process. First, the hydrogen combustion chemistry will be discussed in the context of the high burning velocities. Then, the focus will be on hydrodynamic and thermo-diffusive instabilities including the physical mechanisms behind them, the impact on laminar premixed flames and on lean turbulent flames, and the possibility of modelling such non-linear phenomena.

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break

1​1:30 – 13:00 Theory and fundamentals of H2 combustion II – Prof. Thierry Poinsot (IMFT)

In this lecture, all the necessary numerical and modelling aspects for the simulation of hydrogen flames will be reviewed. This will include chemical models, transport models, as well as turbulence and flame / turbulence interaction models in the context of Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The various flame combustion regimes will be described, and some particular flame behaviours will be highlighted, like flame-wall interaction, and flame stabilization. The lecture will end with the numerical study of some technical challenges raised using hydrogen as a fuel in practical systems.

13:00 – 14:30 ​Lunch break

14:30 – 16:00 Numerical methods for turbulent reactive flows – Prof. Ananias Tomboulides (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and Dr. Daniel Mira (Barcelona Supercomputing Center)

This part provides an overview and perspective on the computational requirements to simulate turbulent flames in the context of DNS and LES. It will introduce different levels of modelling like RANS, LES, and DNS, solution approaches low Mach or fully compressible, discretization strategies, and high-order methods, with an overview of different algorithms and strategies that can be used to accelerate the computations. The last part of the lecture will introduce some practical applications of LES for hydrogen combustion with a focus on the numerical and modelling aspects described in previous lectures.

1​6:00 – 17:30 Hands-on exercises I

This hands-on session is focused on the computation and characterization of hydrogen flames using the Cantera software. The effects of chemistry and transport will be discussed in the context of 1D flames with emphasis on the chemistry description and the flame structure.

17:30-18:00 Tea