Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of airflow through a retention\nhead residential oil burner were carried out to study the velocity field\nnear and around the fuel spray. The simulations revealed (as expected, based\non some previous experimental measurements) the velocity flow field to be\nfar from axisymmetric. Moreover, the center of the swirling airflow was found\nto be at some radial distance away from the physical center line of the flame\ntube. Since it was suspected that the two electrodes just upstream of the retention\nring of the burner might be responsible for this flow distortion, additional\nCFD simulations were then carried out for the cases of no electrodes\nand 4-electrodes. The results clearly show that all flow distortions (velocity\ndeviations from axisymmetric value) vanish when no electrodes are present\nand that the flow distortions are reduced by a factor of 2 when two additional\ndummy electrodes (for a total of 4 electrodes) are included in the burner design.\nFurthermore, for the 4-electrode case, the eccentricity of the swirling\nairflow is reduced by almost a factor of 3 as compared to the base design case\nof 2-electrodes.
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