A Theoretical and Experimental Study of Combustion Tubes

Abstract

When the air injection technique is used in a reservoir, the usual way to determine the fuel that would be burned and the temperature profiles, among other parameters, is by experimentation in a combustion tube. In this work, using medium oil (27 API) from the Gulf of Mexico, combustion tube experiments were carried out. A mathematical model, which takes into account the heat transfer ahead and behind from the combustion front, the combustion zone thickness, and the heat generated and loss in the combustion front, was solved numerically and used to predict the experimental temperature profiles. After validation of the mathematical model, further investigations of the effect of heat losses (along, at the top, and at the bottom of the combustion tube) on temperature profiles were done. The calculated combustion zone temperature and temperature profiles are in good agreement with our experimental data. It was found that not considering an isolated boundary in the mathematical model allows obtaining better predictions for the temperature profiles behind and ahead from the combustion front. On the other hand, the combustion front temperature increases as the heat losses decrease and the combustion front temperature attains its maximum value when there is no heat loss.