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Combustion and reacting flow

Combustion and reacting flow in OpenFOAM, from a workbench

Premixed and non-premixed combustion, spray and reacting flow with reactingFoam, XiFoam and sprayFoam — chemistry, thermophysical properties and the fields they need, set up for you.

What it is

Chemical reaction coupled to the flow and to the energy equation. Premixed cases track flame-front propagation; non-premixed cases resolve mixing and reaction together; spray adds a liquid phase that evaporates before it burns.

What the application sets up

  • Thermophysical and chemistry configuration for the selected mechanism
  • The species and energy fields a reacting solve requires
  • Ignition setup for premixed cases
  • Lagrangian injection parameters for spray

Typical uses

  • Burner and furnace design
  • Gas turbine combustor screening
  • Engine spray and ignition studies
  • Flare and vent dispersion with reaction

Industries

Sectors where this analysis is routinely asked for.

  • Energy & power
  • Burners & furnaces
  • Process heating
  • Safety engineering

What comes out

  • Flame position and shape
  • Temperature and species fields
  • Heat release distribution
  • Emissions indicators at the outlet

OpenFOAM solvers

  • reactingFoam
  • XiFoam
  • sprayFoam

Selected and configured for you from the analysis type. You can still see every dictionary the application writes.

In every tier

This analysis type is in the free build. The free tier limits mesh size to 250,000 cells and solving to one core — not which physics you may use.


On accuracy, plainly.

Every analysis type is exercised end to end on every pass — its case is generated, meshed and run — which establishes that the setup is right, not that the answer matches your geometry. No CFD result is evidence until it is checked against something you trust: a measurement, a hand calculation, or a mesh-refinement study the application will run for you. Treat these results with the judgement you would apply to any CFD you set up yourself.