Experimental and computational investigation of the structure of a sooting decane-O 2-Ar flame

Abstract

Structure of a premixed sooting decane O 2 -Ar flame (=1.9) stabilized at low pressure (6 IPa) in a flat flame burner has been determined experimentally. Molar fraction profiles were measured by the molecular beam-mass spectrometer technique with a very low electron energy for the species formed by decomposition of the fuel molecule. The structure of the flame was also computed from a detailed kinetic mechanism. This mechanism was built by adding a few reactions for the formation of C 2 species from the fuel molecule to a mechanism that had been previously shown to predict with a good accuracy the formation of the first aromatic rings in a sooting acetylene flame. With only minor changes in the kinetic data, the same degree of accuracy was obtained for the formation of C 2 , C 4 species and benzene in the decane flame.