Fundamentals of Applied Smouldering Combustion
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 6-20-2018 10:00 AM Fundamentals of Applied Smouldering Combustion Marco Zanoni The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Gerhard, Jason I. The University of Western Ontario Co-Supervisor Torero, Jose L. The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Marco Zanoni 2018 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Environmental Engineering Commons, and the Heat Transfer, Combustion Commons Recommended Citation Zanoni, Marco, "Fundamentals of Applied Smouldering Combustion" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5410. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5410 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract Smouldering combustion is defined as a flameless oxidation reaction occurring on the surface of the condensed phase (i.e., solid or liquid). Traditional research on smouldering was related to economic damages, fire risk, and death, due to the release of toxic gases and slow propagation rates. Recently, smouldering has been applied as an intentional, engineering technology (e.g., waste and contaminant destruction). Smouldering involves the transport of heat, mass, and momentum in the solid and fluid phases along with different chemical reactions. Therefore, numerical models are essential for the fundamental understanding of the process. Smouldering models either neglected heat transfer between phases (i.e., assumed local thermal equilibrium) or employed heat transfer correlations (i.e., under local thermal non- equilibrium conditions) not appropriate for smouldering. Thus, the first step of this thesis was to develop and validate a new heat transfer correlation for air flowing through hot sand at conditions appropriated to smouldering. The new correlation was reliable and predicted well heat transfer between phases. The second step was to apply the new correlation along with appropriate chemistry into a one-dimensional model. The model was calibrated to a smouldering experiment of an organic liquid fuel embedded in sand and then confidence in the model was gained by independent simulations of additional experiments. Local thermal non- equilibrium demonstrated to be essential to correctly simulate smouldering of organic liquid fuels embedded in sand. Moreover, a two-step kinetic mechanism showed to be sufficient to simulate the smouldering chemistry. The third step was to use the one-dimensional model to understand the conditions that lead to self-sustaining smouldering and smouldering extinction. A global energy balance was developed, revealing that self-sustaining and extinction conditions occurred when the net energy balance was positive and negative, respectively. The last step was to use the one-dimensional model to conduct a sensitivity analysis of the key practical model parameters. Moreover, a local energy balance was developed and compared with the global energy balance; both were used to explain the physics of the process. It was found that the local energy balance described the moment of extinction, whereas the global energy balance predicted extinction in advance. Overall, this thesis presented new insights into the interplay between heat transfer and chemical reactions along with the understanding of the conditions that lead to self-sustaining smouldering and smouldering extinction. i Keywords Smouldering Combustion, Porous Medium, STAR, NAPL, Bitumen, Soil Remediation, Waste Destruction, Heat Transfer, Interfacial Heat Transfer Coefficient, Inverse Modelling, Nusselt Correlation, Local Thermal Equilibrium, Local Thermal Non-Equilibrium, Heat Losses, Sand Thermal Properties, Self-sustaining, Extinction, Energy Balance, Thermogravimetry (TG), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) ii Co-Authorship Statement The thesis was written in accordance with the guidelines and regulations for an integrated- article format stipulated by the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at The University of Western Ontario, Canada. The candidate conducted all simulations and laboratory experiments presented in this thesis, analyzed all data, and formed the conclusions presented. The work was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Jason I. Gerhard and co-supervision of Prof. Jose L. Torero. The candidate wrote the thesis and was the lead author on the manuscript drafts of the following chapters: Chapter 3: Determination of the interfacial heat transfer coefficient between forced air and sand at Reynold’s numbers relevant to smouldering combustion A version of this chapter has been published: M.A.B. Zanoni, J.L. Torero, J.I. Gerhard, Determination of the interfacial heat transfer coefficient between forced air and sand at Reynold’s numbers relevant to smouldering combustion, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 114 (2017) 90-104. doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.06.020 Chapter 4: The Role of Local Thermal Non-Equilibrium in Modelling Smouldering Combustion of Organic Liquids A version of this chapter has been accepted for presentation at the 37th International Symposium on Combustion in Dublin, Ireland in July, 2018: M.A.B. Zanoni, J.L. Torero, J.I. Gerhard, The Role of Local Thermal Non-Equilibrium in Modelling Smouldering Combustion of Organic Liquids, (2018). Chapter 5: Determining the Conditions that Lead to Self-Sustained Smouldering Combustion by Means of Numerical Modelling A version of this chapter has been accepted for presentation at the 37th International Symposium on Combustion in Dublin, Ireland in July, 2018: M.A.B. Zanoni, J.L. Torero, J.I. Gerhard, Determining the Conditions that Lead to Self-Sustained Smouldering Combustion by Means of Numerical Modelling, (2018). iii Chapter 6: Smouldering Combustion Explored via Numerical Modelling: Sensitivity to Key Parameters A version of this chapter will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal: M.A.B. Zanoni, J.L. Torero, J.I. Gerhard, Smouldering Combustion Explored via Numerical Modelling: Sensitivity to Key Parameters, (2018). Contributions: Marco A. B. Zanoni: initiated research topic; developed the methodology; conducted and analyzed all laboratory experiments and numerical simulations; wrote all manuscript chapters. Jose L. Torero: provided guidance on methodology development, experiments, and numerical simulations, assisted in data interpretation and revised/reviewed draft chapters. Jason I. Gerhard: initiated research topic, provided the funding and resources for the project, provided guidance on methodology development, experiments, and numerical simulations, assisted in data interpretation and revised/reviewed draft chapters. iv Acknowledgments Financial support for this research was provided by the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Science (OMRIS) through an Ontario Research Fund grant as well as a CREATE grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to the author’s supervisor, Dr. Jason Gerhard. I would like to express my extreme gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Jason Gerhard. Thank you for your endless support, guidance, patience, and friendship. I will always be grateful to you for believing in me and for being my mentor. I came to Canada 6 years ago, barely speaking English. The opportunity that you gave me literally changed my life. I have learned so much with you. One thing in particular, among many others, is how to be critical. You taught me to always ask “why” and how important the details are. This is something that I will never forget. Also, you gave me the opportunity to work with Prof. Jose Torero, who I have always admired. Jose, thanks for all your guidance and mentorship. During my undergrad and Master’s degree back in Brazil I have always heard about THE Prof. Jose Torero and I have never thought that one day I would have the pleasure to work with you. It was like a dream coming true. Moreover, thanks for inviting me to Australia. It was a great personal and professional experience. I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Fire Safety Engineering team and the UQ Composites Group at the University of Queensland with the sand thermal properties measurements and thermogravimetric data. Special thanks to Jeronimo Carrascal, Dr. Cristián Maluk, Dr. Luis Yerman, and Dr. Michael Heitzmann. I am also thankful to Dr. Guillermo Rein, who introduced me to Jason and made this whole thing possible. Thank you very much. I will never forget that. Although we did not have the opportunity to work closely, you had a very special role in this PhD. Last but not least, I would like to thank Dr. Marcio F. Martins. Marcio was my first mentor and became a close friend. He was the one responsible for introducing me to academia and encouraging me to pursue a doctoral degree. Thanks for all the endless discussions about smouldering and academic life. v A number of engineering staff members have also helped my graduate studies. Special thanks to Stephanie Laurence, Kristen Edwards, and Whitney Barrett, who have patiently answered all my questions over the years. Thanks to the RESTORE group for all the support during these 6 years. RESTORE is an amazing group and was my family in Canada.