Advanced Simulation of Particle-Laden Combustion in Rotary Kilns (ABP)

Learning Outcomes:

Following completion of this Application Best Practice (ABP), you will be able to:

• Understand the principles and setup of CFD-DEM coupling for simulating particle-laden combustion in rotary kilns.  
• Configure fluid and particle inputs, including species transport and reaction modeling using Ansys Fluent software and Ansys Rocky software. 
• Execute transient simulations with appropriate solver settings and assess combustion behavior over time.  
• Analyze post-processing results to evaluate residence time, burn-off, pollutant formation, and temperature distributions.  
• Apply metamodeling and sensitivity analysis to explore design variations and optimize kiln performance. 

Prerequisites:

• Ansys Fluent software species transport.
• 2-way CFD-DEM coupling between Ansys Fluent software and Ansys Rocky software.
• Ansys Rocky software CFD Particle Combustion Module (Beta).
• 2-way CFD-DEM coupling overview: Ansys Rocky: DEM-CFD Coupling  
• 2-way CFD-DEM coupling tutorial: Chapter 14: Tutorial - Fluidized Bed  
• Module documentation: Chapter 5: CFD Particle Combustion Module (Beta)  
• 15-minute webinar: Rocky in Action: Combustion  
• Rocky Solver SDK customization: Chapter 23: Tutorial - Solver SDK 
• •  

Please note: These training materials were developed and tested in the 2025R1 release.

Application Best Practices (ABPs) outline engineering design goals for specific applications and provide guidance for how to achieve those goals using Ansys simulation software. It is important to note that a Geometry File or other Input Files are not always available. ABPs, as opposed to the official training-material workshops/tutorials, are not meant to be a step-by-step instruction document. ABPs are a link between product-based training courses and application specific tutorials, educating on the "how" and "why" of the best modeling approach, highlighting best practices and workflows for a particular application.