Laminar Flame Speed Experiments of Alternative Liquid Fuels

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles L. Keesee ◽  
Bing Guo ◽  
Eric L. Petersen

Abstract New laminar flame speed experiments have been collected for two alternative liquid fuels. Understanding the combustion characteristics of these synthetic fuels is an important step in developing new chemical kinetics mechanisms that can be applied to real fuels. Included in this study are two synthetic Jet fuels: Syntroleum S-8 and Shell GTL. The precise composition of these fuels is known to change from sample to sample. Since these are low-vapor pressure fuels, there are additional uncertainties in their introduction into gas-phase mixtures, leading to uncertainty in the mixture equivalence ratio. An in-situ laser absorption technique was implemented to verify the procedure for filling the vessel and to minimize and quantify the uncertainty in the experimental equivalence ratio. The diagnostic utilized a 3.39-μm HeNe laser in conjunction with Beer's law. The resulting spherically expanding, laminar flame experiments were conducted over a range of equivalence ratios from φ = 0.7 to φ = 1.5 at initial conditions of 1 atm and 403 K in the high-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP) constant-volume vessel at Texas A&M University. The experimental results show that both fuels have similar flame speeds with a peak value just under 60 cm/s. However, it is shown that when comparing the results from different datasets for these real fuels, equivalence ratio may not be the best parameter to use. Fuel mole fraction may be a better parameter to use as it is independent of the average fuel molecule or fuel surrogate used to calculate equivalence ratio in these real fuel/air mixtures.

Author(s):  
Charles L. Keesee ◽  
Bing Guo ◽  
Eric L. Petersen

Abstract New laminar flame speed experiments have been collected for multiple alternative liquid fuels. Understanding the combustion characteristics of these synthetic fuels is an important step in developing new chemical kinetics mechanisms that can be applied to real fuels. Included in this study are two synthetic Jet fuels: Syntroleum S-8 and Shell GTL. The precise composition of these fuels is known to change from sample to sample. Since these are low vapor pressure fuels, there are additional uncertainties in their introduction into gas-phase mixtures, leading to uncertainty in the mixture equivalence ratio. An in-situ laser absorption technique was implemented to verify the procedure for filling the vessel and to minimize and quantify the uncertainty in the experimental equivalence ratio. The diagnostic utilized a 3.39-μm HeNe laser in conjunction with Beer’s Law. The resulting spherically expanding flame experiments were conducted over a range of equivalence ratios from φ = 0.7 to φ = 1.5 at initial conditions of 1 atm and 403 K in the high-temperature, high-pressure constant-volume vessel at Texas A&M University. The experimental results show that both fuels have similar flame speeds with a peak value just under 60 cm/s. However, it is shown that when comparing the results from different data sets for these real fuels, equivalence ratio is not necessarily the best parameter to use. Fuel mole fraction may be a better parameter to use as it is independent of the average fuel molecule or fuel surrogate used to calculate equivalence ratio in these real fuel/air mixtures.


Author(s):  
Charles L. Keesee ◽  
Bing Guo ◽  
Eric L. Petersen

Abstract New laminar flame speed experiments have been collected for some kerosene-based liquid fuels: Jet-A, RP-1, and Diesel Fuel #2. Accurately understanding the combustion characteristics of these, and all kerosene-based fuels in general, is an important step in developing new chemical kinetics mechanisms that can be applied to these fuels. It is well known that the precise composition of these fuels changes from one production batch to the next, leading to significant uncertainty in the mixture average properties. For example, uncertainty in a fuel blend’s molecular weight can have a noticeable effect on defining an equivalence ratio for a typical fuel-air mixture, on the order of 15%. Because of these uncertainties, fuel mole fraction, Xfuel, is shown to be a more appropriate parameter for comparison between different batches of fuel. Additionally, a strong linear correlation was detected between the burned-gas Markstein length and the equivalence ratio. This correlation is shown to be useful in determining the acceptability and accuracy of individual data points. Spherically expanding flames were measured over a range of fuel mole fractions corresponding to equivalence ratios of φ = 0.7 to φ = 1.5, at initial conditions of 1 atm and 403 K in the high-temperature, high-pressure constant volume vessel at Texas A&M University. These new results are compared with the limited set of laminar flame speed data currently available in the literature for this fuel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles L. Keesee ◽  
Bing Guo ◽  
Eric L. Petersen

Abstract New laminar flame speed experiments have been collected for some kerosene-based liquid fuels: Jet-A, RP-1, and diesel fuel #2. Accurately understanding the combustion characteristics of these, and all kerosene-based fuels in general, is an important step in developing new chemical kinetics mechanisms that can be applied to these fuels. It is well known that the precise composition of these fuels changes from one production batch to the next, leading to significant uncertainty in the mixture average properties. For example, uncertainty in a fuel blend's molecular weight can have a noticeable effect on defining an equivalence ratio for a typical fuel–air mixture, of the order of 15%. Because of these uncertainties, fuel mole fraction, XFUEL, is shown to be a more appropriate parameter for comparison between different batches of fuel. Additionally, a strong linear correlation was detected between the burned-gas Markstein length and the equivalence ratio. This correlation is shown to be useful in determining the acceptability and accuracy of individual data points. Spherically expanding flames were measured over a range of fuel mole fractions corresponding to equivalence ratios of φ = 0.7 to φ = 1.5, at initial conditions of 1 atm and 403 K in the high-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP) constant volume vessel at Texas A&M University. These new results are compared with the limited set of laminar flame speed data currently available in the literature for this fuel.


Author(s):  
Andy Yates ◽  
Victor Burger ◽  
Carl Viljoen

This paper describes the use of a spherical combustion bomb to determine the laminar flame speed and Markstein length of a selection of hydrocarbon fuels. The fuels nominally represented Jet A-1 but some were doped with various component compounds which were chosen so as to vary particular jet fuel specification in relative isolation. Analyses of this kind are typically based on optical measurements and, to simplify the analysis, an approximation of constant pressure is usually achieved by limiting the useable data to the early stages of flame propagation only. The analysis methodology presented in this paper differs inasmuch that calculations were based solely on the recorded pressure data. Moreover, by deducing the response of the flame speed to pressure and temperature, it was possible to utilize the whole combustion pressure record which significantly increased the volume of useful data that could be obtained from each experiment. Other practical difficulties that are often encountered such as flame winkling at large diameters, especially with rich mixtures, were minimized by using a small bomb of only 100mm diameter. The method of analysis via the pressure trace rendered any flame winkling easily discernable wherefrom it could be easily eliminated. For each fuel, at least six repeat combustion pressure records (about 90 data points each) were obtained for each of six different air-fuel ratios spanning the range from lean to rich and the whole sequence was repeated at a higher initial temperature. This provided a database of over 6000 individual calculations of laminar flame speed from which the relevant parameter coefficients were obtained by means of a regression technique. It was found that the effects of changing the blend composition could be discerned in the various laminar flame speed results and that significant variation in laminar flame speed could possibly be “tailored” into a synthetic jet fuel formulation.


Author(s):  
Shazib Z. Vijlee ◽  
John C. Kramlich ◽  
Ann M. Mescher ◽  
Scott D. Stouffer ◽  
Alanna R. O’Neil-Abels

The use of alternative/synthetic fuels in jet engines requires improved understanding and prediction of the performance envelopes and emissions characteristics relative to the behavior of conventional fuels. In this study, experiments in a toroidal well-stirred reactor (TWSR) are used to study lean premixed combustion temperature and extinction behavior for several fuels including simple alkanes, synthetic jet fuels, and conventional JP8. A perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) model is used to interpret the observed behavior. The first portion of the study deals with jet fuels and synthetic jet fuels with varying concentrations of added aromatic compounds. Synthetic fuels contain little or no natural aromatic species, so aromatic compounds are added to the fuel because fuel system seals require these species to function properly. The liquid fuels are prevaporized and premixed before being burned in the TWSR. Air flow is held constant to keep the reactor loading roughly constant. Temperature is monitored inside the reactor as the fuel flow rate is slowly lowered until extinction occurs. The extinction point is defined by both its equivalence ratio and temperature. The measured blowout point is very similar for all four synthetic fuels and the baseline JP8 at aromatic concentrations of up to 20% by volume. Since blowout is essentially the same for all the base fuels at low aromatic concentrations, a single fuel was used to test the effect of aromatic concentrations from 0 to 100%. PSR models of these complex fuels show the expected result that behavior diverges from an ideal, perfectly premixed model as the combustion approaches extinction. The second portion of this study deals with lean premixed combustion of simple gaseous alkanes (methane, ethane, and propane) in the same TWSR. These simpler fuels were tested for extinction in a similar manner to the complex fuels, and behavior was characterized similarly. Once again, PSR models show that the TWSR behaves similar to a PSR during stable combustion far from blowout, but as it approaches blowout and becomes less stable a single PSR no longer accurately describes the TWSR. This work is a step towards developing chemical reactor networks (CRNs) based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of the simple gaseous fuels in the TWSR. Ultimately, CRNs are the only realistic way to accurately perform detailed chemical modeling of the combustion of complex liquid fuels.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 75-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan-Sebastián Gómez-Meyer ◽  
Subramanyam R Gollahalli ◽  
Ramkumar N. Parthasarathy ◽  
Jabid-Eduardo Quiroga

In this article, the flame speed values determined experimentally for laminar premixed flames of the vapors of two biofuels in air are presented. The laminar flame speed is a fundamental thermochemical property of fuels, and is essential for analyzing the flame propagation in practical devices, even those employing turbulent flames. The fuels obtained from transesterification of soy and canola oils are tested. Also, the diesel flames are studied to serve as a baseline for comparison. The experiments are performed with a tubular burner; pre-vaporized fuel is mixed with hot air and is ignited. The flame speed is determined at fuel-equivalence ratios of 1; 1,1 and 1,2 by recording the geometry of the flame. The experimental results show that the flame speed of biofuels is lower by about 15% than that of diesel. Also, the maximum value of flame speed is obtained at an equivalence ratio of approximately 1,1.


2014 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 714-719
Author(s):  
Alaeldeen Altag Yousif ◽  
Shaharin Anwar Sulaiman

Accurate value of laminar flame speed is an important parameter of combustible mixtures. In this respect, experimental data are very useful for modeling improvement and validating chemical kinetic mechanisms. To achieve this, an experimental characterization on spherically expanding flames propagation of methane-air mixtures were carried out. Tests were conducted in constant volume cylindrical combustion chamber to measure stretched, unstretched laminar flame speed, laminar burning velocity, and flame stretch effect as quantified by the associated Markstein lengths. The mixtures of methane-air were ignited at extensive ranges of lean-to-rich equivalence ratios, under ambient pressure and temperature. This is achieved by high speed schlieren cine-photography for flames observation in the vessel. The results showed that the unstretched laminar burning velocity increased and the peak value of the unstretched laminar burning velocity shifted to the richer mixture side with the increase of equivalence ratio. The flame propagation speed showed different trends at different equivalence ratio for tested mixtures. It was found that the Markstein length was increased with the increase of equivalence ratio.


Author(s):  
Pinaki Pal ◽  
Yunchao Wu ◽  
Tianfeng Lu ◽  
Sibendu Som ◽  
Yee Chee See ◽  
...  

Knock is a major impediment to achieving higher efficiency in Spark-Ignition (SI) engines. The recent trends of boosting, downsizing and downspeeding have exacerbated this issue by driving engines toward higher power density and higher load duty cycles. Apart from the engine operating conditions, fuel anti-knock quality is a major determinant of the knocking tendency in engines, as quantified by its octane number (ON). The ON of a fuel is based on an octane scale which is defined according to the standard octane rating methods for Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON). These tests are performed in a single cylinder Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. In the present work, a numerical approach was developed based on multidimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to predict knocking combustion in a CFR engine. The G-equation model was employed to track the propagation of the turbulent flame front and a multi-zone model based on temperature and equivalence ratio was used to capture auto-ignition in the endgas ahead of the flame front. Furthermore, a novel methodology was developed wherein a lookup table generated from a chemical kinetic mechanism could be employed to provide laminar flame speed as an input to the G-equation model, instead of using empirical correlations. To account for fuel chemistry effects accurately and lower the computational cost, a compact 121-species primary reference fuel (PRF) skeletal mechanism was developed from a more detailed gasoline surrogate mechanism using the directed relation graph assisted sensitivity analysis (DRGASA) reduction technique. Extensive validation of the skeletal mechanism was performed against experimental data available in the literature for both homogeneous ignition delay and laminar flame speed. The skeletal mechanism was used to generate the lookup tables for laminar flame speed as a function of pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio. The engine CFD model incorporating the skeletal mechanism was employed to perform numerical simulations under RON and MON conditions for different PRFs. Parametric tests were conducted at different compression ratios and the predicted values of critical compression ratio (at knock onset), delineating the boundary between “no knock” and “knock”, were found to be in good agreement with the available experimental data. The virtual CFR engine model was, therefore, demonstrated to be capable of adequately capturing the sensitivity of knock propensity to fuel chemistry.


Author(s):  
Rodolfo C. Rocha ◽  
Shenghui Zhong ◽  
Leilei Xu ◽  
Xue-Song Bai ◽  
Mário Costa ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
pp. 220-227
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sakhrieh

This paper studies the influence of equivalence ratio, pressure and initial temperature on adiabatic flame temperature and laminar flame speed of methane-air mixture. The results indicate that adiabatic flame temperature is weakly correlated with pressure. The adiabatic flame temperature increases only by about 50?C as a result of 30 bar pressure increase. The flame speed is inversely proportional to pressure. The maximum adiabatic flame temperature and flame speed occur at the stoichiometric ratio, ?=1. The percent increase in the flame speed was about 400% when the initial temperature of the mixture is increased from 25?C to 425?C.


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