Numerical Model Development and Validation for Hydrocarbon Fuel Supercritical Heat Transfer with Endothermic Pyrolysis

A numerical model incorporating an n-decane thermal cracking mechanism at supercritical pressures is developed for studying n-decane supercritical heat transfer with endothermic pyrolysis.The model is employed for numerical investigations of the turbulent convective heat transfer of n-decane at supercritical pressures ranging from 3.45 MPa to 11.38 MPa.Detailed variations are obtained of the fluid temperature,velocity,pyrolytic conversion rate,thermophysical properties,and wall heat flux.The calculated results are compared and validated against the available experimental and computational data,showing excellent agreement.A computational tool is thus established for studying the supercritical heat transfer of hydrocarbon fuels with consideration of endothermic pyrolytic reactions.