Simulation of Wood Logs Combustion in a Stove at Peak Pyrolysis Conditions

Transient wood combustion may lead to excessive carbon monoxide and particle emissions, that could hinder the use of wood in small scale applications. The development of innovative and advanced designs meeting the future standards requires a more detailed knowledge of the flow, temperature, and species fields. Steady fluid dynamics numerical simulations of wood log combustion in a stove have been carried out at peak pyrolysis conditions. The ANSYS Fluent software has been used with a simplified kinetic model for the combustion of the pyrolysis gases. While the numerical model is rather simplified in terms of heat transfer, the essential features of the flow and combustion are well caught thanks to the detailed input for the pyrolysis gases. However, the carbon monoxide concentration at the chimney is higher compared to experimental data.