ABSTRACT
From geological studies to aerospace engineering, physical modeling has been widely used in the industry to study complex uid dynamics where engineering calculations or computational uid dynamics are deemed either unreliable (the former) or uneconomical (the latter). In the eld of combustion, physical modeling is employed in studying ow distribution involving combustion air, over-re air (OFA), and ue gas recirculation (FGR) as well as isothermal ows in combustion chambers of furnaces, boilers, heat recovery and steam
generators (HRSG), and so on. Physical modeling is often used to study ow patterns prior to the commission of new furnaces and boilers to gain a better understanding of the ow characteristics and the interactions between various ow streams inside the combustion chamber to ne tune operating strategies and parameter settings. For burners with common windbox or furnaces with a large number of burners (e.g., 520 burners) connected with extensive ductwork, physical modeling is routinely used to identify ow maldistributions and to engineer ow solutions through the use of internals such as turning vanes, bafes, splitters, kickers, and so on to ensure desired ow distribution and ow patterns.
