by Frederic Aguile and Alain Quinqueneau, Gaz de France

How do we make our CFX models and results available to our project partners?

That was the critical question when we wrote our proposal for funding under the European Union Brite-Euram programme. In the subsequent project, called MECBURN, a consortium of a gas supplier, burner manufacturers and end users aim to develop a new generation of gas-fired industrial burners. Success depends on close collaboration between modellers and experimentalists to refine the design in the light of a detailed understanding of burner operation at different scales and thermal ratings. So good communication and easy accessibility of the models and their predictions are crucial if the benefits of CFD modelling are going to be realized.

The solution for MECBURN was to create generic 2-D and 3-D burner and firebox models as EASA applications. AEA Technology’s EASA 1.0 is the first release of ground-breaking software that allows modellers to drive any batch-capable software such as CFX. EASA enables the creation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to generate model geometry, mesh and boundary conditions, drive the software and produce standard reports in HTML format.

EASA’s authoring tool enables CFD modellers, with no experience of object-oriented programming, to write their own applications, complete with pull-down menus, check boxes, parameter boxes with choice of units and graphics that change as the parameters are modified. In fact, by using EASA, a sophisticated GUI can be produced with little more effort than it takes to develop the CFD model itself. However, an EASA application is more than just a GUI “wrapper” for a CFD model; it enables you to run calculations remotely on a central server via the web and provides tools for managing runs and monitoring their progress.

This EASA-based GUI will provide the framework for testing and validating the non-linear k-epsilon turbulence model and an advanced flamelet combustion model that have been developed by Gaz de France and their partners as part of the MECBURN project. The combination of CFX with EASA has enabled this to be achieved much more quickly and easily than traditional methods of coding Graphical User Interfaces would have allowed.

EASA authoring tool being used to modify a polygon in the MECBURN firebox graphics defined by length parameters, Dprem, Dfour, etc.

Predictions for the temperature in a plane through the inward-pointing gas pipe.

Predictions for the product mass fraction in a plane through the inward-pointing gas pipe.