Abstract
The combustion of spherical samples of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) under natural convection was studied experimentally and by CFD simulation. Species mole fraction and temperature profiles in the flame were measured by microprobe mass spectrometry and microthermocouples. Gas flow around a solid sphere was modeled using the full Navier–Stokes equations for a multicomponent mixture, with a skeletal chemical kinetic mechanism taking into account heat transfer, convection, and radiation. A kinetic model has been developed that includes the surface pyrolysis of PMMA and a skeletal kinetic mechanism for the gas-phase combustion of its monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). Satisfactory agreement between the experimental data and the results of 3D modeling for the chemical and thermal structure of the flame has proven the efficiency of the proposed chemical kinetic model. An analysis of the obtained data has shown that in the diffusion combustion of the spherical samples, the region of the stoichiometric composition of the gas mixture does not coincide with the region of maximum temperature. It has been found that under the conditions studied, gas-phase MMA decomposition proceeds mainly through radical reactions and unimolecular decomposition plays only a minor role.
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