Investigations of Combustion Characteristics of N-Dodecane/Air Mixtures at High Temperatures Through Laminar Burning Velocity Measurements

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this work, combustion characteristics of premixed n-dodecane/air mixtures are investigated at elevated mixture temperatures through laminar burning velocity measurements at atmospheric pressure and elevated temperatures using an externally heated diverging channel method. The experiments were conducted up to high-temperature conditions of 610 K at varying equivalence ratios (ϕ = 0.7–1.3) to mimic the conditions of practical application devices. With an increase in the mixture temperature, the laminar burning velocity increases because of the rise in reactant enthalpy. The peak laminar burning velocity is observed at ϕ = 1.1 for all the mixture temperatures, except at 600 K, where the maximum laminar burning velocity is observed for stoichiometric conditions. The minimum temperature exponent exists for a slightly rich mixture condition (ϕ = 1.1). Out of all mechanisms, the laminar burning velocity predictions using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory model are consistent with the present data at all mixture temperatures. Normalized sensitivity analysis is analyzed using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory mechanism to understand the key reactions affecting the laminar burning velocity of the n-dodecane/air mixture. The chain branching reaction R16: H + O2 <=> O + OH has a major influence on the enhancement of the laminar burning velocity. Reaction pathway analysis is carried out at stoichiometric conditions for mixture temperatures of 400 K and 600 K, where it is observed that the elemental flux of the reaction, converting CO to CO2, gets reduced by 42.91% at the high-temperature condition.