Effects of CO2/N2 dilution on laminar burning velocity of stoichiometric DME-air mixture at elevated temperatures

Abstract

The laminar burning velocity of CO2/N2 diluted stoichiometric dimethyl ether (DME) air mixtures is determined experimentally at atmospheric pressure and elevated mixture temperatures using a mesoscale high aspect-ratio diverging channel with inlet dimensions of 25mm×2mm. In this method, planar flames at different initial temperatures (Tu) were stabilized inside the channel using an external electric heater. The magnitude of burning velocities was acquired by measuring the flame position and initial temperature. The mass conservation of the mixture entering the inlet and the stationary planar flame front is applied to obtain the laminar burning velocity. Laminar burning velocity at different initial mixture temperatures is plotted with temperature ratio (Tu/Tu,o), where a reference temperature (Tu,o) of 300K is used. Enhancement in the laminar burning velocity is observed with mixture temperature for DME-air mixtures with CO2 and N2 dilutions. A significant decrease in the burning velocity and slight increase in temperature exponent of the stoichiometric DME-air mixture was observed with dilution at same temperatures. The addition of CO2 has profound influence when compared to N2 addition on both burning velocity and temperature exponent.