Robinson-MHI Senior Research Fellow

Academic Division: Energy, Fluids and Turbomachinery

Research group: Energy

Email: jcm97@eng.cam.ac.uk

Personal website

Publications

Research interests

Emissions from aircraft engines are a major source of greenhouse gases and release high levels of NOx gases into the atmosphere from the current rich burn systems. Since there is a heavy push from emission regulations to reduce NOx, there is a huge need to move towards lean burn combustion. It is well known that lean premixed combustion can deliver very low levels of NOx. However, this combustion is known to be highly unstable and can result in the occurrence of flame extinction, which may lead to flame blow-off. This is detrimental to combustion systems and must be avoided.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is widely used for turbulent combustion modelling and is relied on for the design of industrial combustors today. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is a powerful emerging methodology for CFD due to its capability of handling full-scale complex geometries and the ability to capture the unsteady phenomena in turbulent combustion, including flame extinction and blow-off. The use of flamelet based models for capturing the interaction of turbulence and combustion are used to reduce the computational cost for LES and are widely used in CFD codes today.

Research projects

• Computational fluid dynamics frameworks for hydrogen–air combustion.
• Simulation of turbulent reacting flows under engine relevant conditions.
• Thermo-acoustics in gas turbine model combustors with hydrogen addition.
• Emissions prediction of CO and NOx using large eddy simulation.
• Analyses of bluff body and swirl-Stabilised Flames Using Large Eddy Simulation (PhD thesis).

Teaching activity

• ETB-1 Clean fossil fuels, lecturer, 2022 -
• 1CW Turbocharger, lab leader: 2021 - 2022
• 1P1 Thermofluid Mechanics, supervisor for Newnham College: 2020 - 2021
• 2P4 Thermofluid Mechanics, supervisor for Robinson College: 2018 -
• 3A5 Thermodynamics and Power Generation, supervisor for various colleges: 2016 - 2018

Biography

James is a postdoctoral research associate working under the supervision of Prof Swaminathan in the energy group of Division A and funded by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The research is focused on developing models to improve predictions of CO and NOx using large eddy simulations and implementing those into OpenFOAM.

Journal papers

• A.D. Kumar, J.C. Massey, I. Boxx and N. Swaminathan (2024). Effects of Hydrogen Enrichment on Thermoacoustic and Helical Instabilities in Swirl Stabilised Partially Premixed Flames, Flow, Turbulence and Combustion 112(3), p. 689–727.

• B. Fiorina et al. A joint numerical study of multi-regime turbulent combustion, Applications in Energy and Combustion Science, 16, 100221.

• J.C. Massey, A.D. Kumar and N. Swaminathan (2023). The Influence of Hydrogen Addition on Carbon Monoxide Formation in Methane–air Combustion, ERCOFTAC Bulletin, 136, 17–22.

• J.C. Massey, Y. Tanaka and N. Swaminathan (2023). Application of a two-progress variable model for carbon monoxide emissions from turbulent premixed and partially premixed enclosed flames, Combustion and Flame, 258, 113047.

• D.P. Kallifronas, P. Ahmed, J.C. Massey, M. Talibi, A. Ducci, R. Balachandran and N. Swaminathan (2023). Scaling of flame describing functions in premixed swirling flames, Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, 111(3), p. 929–951.

• A.D. Kumar, J.C. Massey, M. Stöhr, W. Meier and N. Swaminathan (2023). Period-2 Thermoacoustics in a Swirl-Stabilised Partially Premixed Flame Computed Using Large Eddy Simulation, Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, 111(3), p. 995–1028.

• D.P. Kallifronas, J.C. Massey, Z.X. Chen, R. Balachandran and N. Swaminathan (2023). Effect of swirl on premixed flame response at high forcing amplitudes, Fuel, 347, 128358.

• H. Yang, T. Kobayashi, S. Iavarone, J.C. Massey, Z.X. Chen, Y. Minamoto and N. Swaminathan (2023). Towards a generalised artificial neural network for sub-grid filtered density function closure in turbulent combustion, Applications in Energy and Combustion Science 14, 100142.

• X. Deng, J.C. Massey and N. Swaminathan (2023). Large-eddy simulation of bluff-body stabilized premixed flames with low-dissipative, structure-preserving convection schemes, AIP Advances, 13(5), 055014.

• J.C. Massey, Z. Li, Z.X. Chen, Y. Tanaka and N. Swaminathan (2023). Large eddy simulation of multi-regime combustion with a two-progress variable approach for carbon monoxide, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 39(2), p. 2117–2127.

• D.P. Kallifronas, P. Ahmed, J.C. Massey, M. Talibi, A. Ducci, R. Balachandran and N. Swaminathan (2023). Influences of heat release, blockage ratio and swirl on the recirculation zone behind a bluff body, Combustion Science and Technology, 195(15), p. 3785–3809.

• J.C. Massey, Z.X. Chen, M. Stöhr, W. Meier and N. Swaminathan (2022). On the blow-off correlation for swirl-stabilised flames with a precessing vortex core, Combustion and Flame, 239, 111741.

• J.C. Massey, Z.X. Chen and N. Swaminathan (2021). Modelling Heat Loss Effects in the Large Eddy Simulation of a Lean Swirl-Stabilised Flame, Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, 106(4), p. 1355–1378.

• J.C. Massey, I. Langella and N. Swaminathan (2019). A scaling law for the recirculation zone length behind a bluff body in reacting flows, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 875, p. 699–724.

• J.C. Massey, Z.X. Chen and N. Swaminathan (2019). Lean Flame Root Dynamics in a Gas Turbine Model Combustor, Combustion Science and Technology, 191(5–6), p. 1019–1042.

• J.C. Massey, I. Langella and N. Swaminathan (2018). Large Eddy Simulation of a Bluff Body Stabilised Premixed Flame Using Flamelets, Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, 101(4), p. 973–992.

Book chapters

• J.C. Massey, Z.X. Chen and N. Swaminathan (2022). Flame root dynamics and their role in the stabilisation of lifted flames, Advances in Energy and Combustion: Safety and Sustainability, p. 241–271, Eds. A. K. Gupta, A. De, S. K. Aggarwal, A. Kushari and A. K. Runchal, Green Energy and Technology, Springer Nature Singapore, Singapore.

Other websites

0000-0003-4585-9866; Google Scholar; ResearchGate