THE COMPARISON OF 2 COMPREHENSIVE COMBUSTION CODES TO SIMULATE LARGE-SCALE, OIL-FIRED BOILERS

This article compares numerical predictions made by two independent co mprehensive numerical codes for the radiant section of a 250 MWe, oil- fired boiler of the Setubal Power Plant in Portugal. Local properties predicted by the two different models are also compared to experimenta l data obtained for the same boiler. The two numerical codes are finit e-volume based, but they employ different mesh arrangements, optical p roperties, radiation, and oil vaporization submodels. In general, desp ite the different submodels used, both predictions were in good agreem ent. The predictions were also within engineering accuracy of the avai lable experimental data Detailed analysis of the predictions for the n ear burner region showed moderate differences in the results of the tw o models. This implies that, although of fundamental relevance for pol lutant formation, the uncertainties on the prediction of the near-burn er region do not affect significantly the predicted results far from t he burners. This result is expected, since local equilibrium and chemi cal balance are achieved at the less reactive regions, such as the one s for which the predictions were compared to the available experimenta l data.