The use of solid biomass as a fuel source for primary cooking is common to more than half of the world’s population. Household air pollution (HAP) as a product of utilizing biomass as a fuel while cooking indoors was estimated to have caused 2.8 million deaths alongside 85.6 million disability-adjusted life years in 2015—disproportionately affecting women and children in low-to-middle income countries. Moreover, combustion of biofuel is estimated to contribute to 20% of worldwide carbonaceous aerosols which have significant negative health impacts related to air quality and a strong influence on our global radiative balance. Despite efforts to improve biomass cookstove technology, modern technology remains an inefficient cooking and heating source due to improvement methods being based primarily on experimental observation and derived “rules of thumb”. More recently, the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been encouraged as a means of design advancement by bringing to light the complex and interconnect thermophysical processes within the modern cookstove. Moreover, integrating CFD into the design stage of cookstove development can reduce the dependence on costly and time-consuming experiments. The objective of this work is to present *StoveSim*, an open-source fluid dynamics simulation and optimization software package that utilizes OpenFOAM^TM^ solvers. The work will include assumptions and methodology applied in the CFD, usage instructions, and results of a preliminary case study. Moving forward, the software will be installable with an open-source license for use and further development within the biomass cookstove community.  


A Computational Study of a Biomass Cookstove with Forced Air Injection

Division / Sponsors: 
Heat Transfer Division (HTD), Fluids Engineering Division (FED)

Heat Transfer Summer Conference
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/HT/HT2020/volume/83709

18th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICNMM/ICNMM2020/volume/83693

Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting
Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/FEDSM/FEDSM2020/volume/83716

HT-ICNMM2020 - Virtual Conference, SHTC - Virtual Conference, FEDSM2020 - Virtual Conference

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