Species transport
Species transport in OpenFOAM: multiple gases mixing without burning
Track several chemical species through a flow where they mix and diffuse but do not react — fuel-air mixing before ignition, inerting, and gas dispersion.
What it is
Each species carries its own transport equation with its own properties, and the mixture behaves according to its composition. Unlike a passive scalar the species change the fluid — density, viscosity and heat capacity all follow the mix — so the flow and the composition are solved together.
What the application sets up
- A species list with thermophysical data for each
- Inlet compositions for every stream entering
- Mixture property models, since the fluid changes with composition
- Reactions switched off, which is what distinguishes this from combustion
- Per-species concentration output through the domain
Typical uses
- Fuel-air mixing ahead of combustion
- Inerting and purge sequences
- Hydrogen and natural gas leak dispersion
- Process gas blending
Industries
Sectors where this analysis is routinely asked for.
- Process & chemical
- Hydrogen & clean energy
- Safety engineering
- Combustion equipment
What comes out
- Per-species concentration fields
- Mixture composition at outlets
- Flammable envelope extent
- Purge completion times
OpenFOAM solvers
reactingFoam
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.