A comparative study of turbulence models performance for a 300 MWe tangentially fired pulverized-coal furnace

The characteristics of the flow, combustion and temperature in a 300 MWe tangentially fired pulverized-coal furnace are numerically studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Turbulent model needs to be properly studied and selected to generate accurate predictions of flow and heat transfer during combustion. In the present work, a comparative study is performed to identify the suitable turbulence model for tangentially fired furnace problem. Numerical results obtained with different turbulence models are compared with experimental data of a similarly designed furnace. It is shown that the RNG k-ε model is the most suitable turbulence model, offering a satisfactory prediction of the velocity and temperature fields. The detailed results presented in this paper may enhance the understanding of complex flow patterns and combustion processes in tangentially fired pulverized-coal furnaces.