Initial Pressure Ratio Research Articles

Experimental Study on Pressure Oscillation Characteristics of Di-N-Butyl Ether in a Constant Volume Vessel

ABSTRACT This paper conducted experimental research on spontaneous pressure oscillation characteristics of di-n-butyl ether (DBE). Based on a constant volume vessel (CVV) with 210 mm in length and 180 mm in diameter, the initial pressure, temperature, and equivalence ratio ranges of 0.05–0.3 MPa, 373–453 K, and 0.7–1.6. The experimental data of combustion pressure, CVV vibration and sound pressure were analyzed. The results indicate that DBE exhibits the strongest pressure oscillation at high pressures, moderate temperatures and equivalence ratios. The highest oscillation intensity is achieved at 0.3 MPa, 433 K, equivalence ratio of 1.4. The vibration and sound pressure signals exhibit the same patterns as combustion pressure signals. Spectrum analysis is conducted by Fast Fourier Transform of pressure signals, it shows that the amplitude of the characteristic frequency increases with the increase of oscillation intensity. In addition, to further reveal the influence of combustion instability on oscillation intensity, the dimensionless parameter Peclet number and critical radius are compared, it shows that the combustion instability has strong effect on pressure oscillation, and diffusive-thermal instability is the key factor that influences pressure oscillation. This study is believed to be beneficial for organizing better combustion for internal combustion engines.

Laminar burning velocity, radiative heat loss and cellular instability for NH3/biogas/H2/air premixed flame

This study presents, for the first time, a comprehensive investigation into the laminar flame propagation of ammonia/biogas/hydrogen/air mixtures. The laminar burning velocities (LBVs) were determined using the outwardly propagating spherical flame method under atmospheric temperature and elevated pressures across various equivalence ratios. The Okafor and CEU–NH3–Mech-1.1 mechanisms showed the best agreement with flame speed measurements. The influence of equivalence ratio, hydrogen ratio, and initial pressure on LBV was examined. Results indicate that LBV varies non-monotonically with the equivalence ratio, decreases with increasing pressure, and increases with higher hydrogen ratios. The enhancement of LBV due to hydrogen addition is mainly attributed to chemical effects, with thermal effects also playing a role. Given the significant CO2 content in biogas, which is a key radiative species, the study also analyzed the radiative heat loss of ammonia/biogas/hydrogen mixtures. It was found that as the equivalence ratio nears the flammability limit, LBV is more affected by radiative heat loss, with a lower hydrogen ratio increasing this effect. Additionally, higher CO2 mole fractions in biogas increase radiative heat loss. Detailed analysis of cellular instability, considering factors such as thermal expansion ratio, flame thickness, effective Lewis number, the logarithmic growth rate of perturbations and in conjunction with schlieren images, revealed that flame instability is enhanced with higher initial pressure and hydrogen ratios, while higher equivalence ratios inhibit instability.

Effects of mixture initial conditions on deflagration to detonation transition enhanced by transverse jets

To explore the effects of mixture initial conditions on the deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) enhanced by transverse jets, numerical studies were conducted on the flame acceleration of H2/Air mixture under different initial conditions, including initial pressure, temperature, and equivalence ratio. The results indicate significant differences in flame acceleration processes under different initial pressures (0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 MPa). Changes in jet intensity and combustion rate induced by variations in mixture initial pressure collectively influence the flame acceleration process, but the impact of jet intensity is more significant. However, effective coupling between transverse wave propagation and flame acceleration is also crucial for the DDT process. Changes in mixture initial temperature (300, 350, 400, and 450 K) and equivalence ratio (0.8, 1.0, 1.2, and 1.4) have negligible impact on jet intensity. The variation trend of flame velocity under different initial temperatures or equivalence ratios is consistent, but the detonation initiation performance is slightly different. As the initial temperature increases, the DDT distance and DDT time are shortened. With an increasing equivalence ratio, the DDT distance and DDT time initially decrease and then increase, reaching the shortest at slightly rich fuel conditions.

Experimental investigation of storm sewer geyser using a large-scale setup

The storm sewer geyser is a process where an air–water mixture violently erupts from a manhole. Despite the low hydrostatic pressure, violent eruptions can achieve a height of tens of meters above the ground. This current study experimentally investigates large-scale violent geysers using a large air pocket inserted from a pressurized air tank. The total length of the pipe system is approximately 88 m with a 0.1572 m diameter pipe. This large-scale experiment facilitates the investigation of spontaneous geyser eruptions. This study identifies the role of air–water volume ratio and coefficient of pressure (ratio of absolute initial static pressure to initial dynamic pressure) on the geyser intensity using eruption images and pressure plots. A total of 116 cases are tested, in which the volume ratio is parametrically increased from 0 to 1.1 under various operating conditions. A geyser score is defined to quantify the geyser eruption nature based on visual observations. The key findings are as follows: first, a sharp transition in geyser intensity is observed at the critical volume ratio of 0.5, and pre-transition and post-transition intensity exhibit a linear relationship with the volume ratio; and second, the critical volume ratio linearly varies with the coefficient of pressure.

Experimental study on the coupled flow field and thrust characteristics of tail cavity and jet

During the launch process of underwater vehicles, a tail cavity is formed at the bottom, which plays a crucial role in the engine ignition stage. The flow state within this tail cavity significantly impacts the engine's operational efficiency. Moreover, the evolution of the tail cavity and jet coupling, along with hydrodynamic characteristics, influences the motion attitude of the vehicle. This article delves into the effects of initial tail cavity length, Froude number, and pressure ratio on cavity morphology and hydrodynamic characteristics, utilizing water tunnel experiments to explore these dynamics at the vehicle's bottom. The experimental findings suggest that while the length of the initial tail cavity influences the jet's coupling mode, it does not significantly affect the cavity's ultimate morphological evolution. A larger initial cavity scale correlates with a lower initial pressure peak following nozzle activation; similarly, an increase in the Froude number leads to a decrease in the initial pressure peak. When the cavity morphology remains intact, the pressure pulsation amplitude and frequency are relatively low. In contrast, partially broken cavities and pulsating foam cavities differ in morphological structure and peak internal pressure oscillations, though their pressure pulsation frequencies are similar. During the initial phase of nozzle activation, the thrust produced by the nozzle plays a more significant role than the bottom thrust. Notably, in the initial phase of nozzle activation, the nozzle-generated thrust is more influential than the bottom thrust. The thrust pulsations from pulsating foam cavities are especially strong, with peak values surpassing the initial peak thrust. These insights offer a new insight on the dynamic behavior of underwater vehicles, crucial for refining engine startup strategies.

Kinetics studies of CO2 hydrate formation in the presence of l-methionine coupled with multi-walled carbon nanotubes

In recent years, gas hydrate technology has been considered to be a promising method for CO2 capture and transport. Nevertheless, the development of the gas hydrate technology is hindered by the slow hydrate formation. In this work, the effects of concentration, initial pressure and gas-liquid ratio on the CO2 hydrate formation kinetics in the compound system of environmentally friendly additive l-methionine (L-met) coupled with low-dose multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were investigated for the first time. The results showed that L-met coupled with MWCNTs could effectively promote the CO2 hydrate formation, and the promotion effect was related to the MWCNTs concentration. At 4.0 MPa, compared to the 0.1250 wt% L-met single system, the compound system with the MWCNTs concentration of 0.0270 wt%∼0.0720 wt% increased the CO2 gas consumption (Gsum) by an average of 6.37 %, and the induction time (tin) of CO2 hydrate formation were shortened by an average of 36.03 %. The optimal concentration of MWCNTs was 0.0450 wt%. Meanwhile, the increase of the pressure and gas-liquid ratio could effectively accelerate the kinetics of CO2 hydrate formation. The promotion effect of the pressure increasing was better than that of the gas-liquid ratio increasing. The pressure increasing could result in the maximum increase of 39.75 %, 122.83 %, and 69.85 % in Gsum, initial gas consumption rate (N10), and the gas to hydrate conversion (GTH), respectively; and the highest reduction of tin was 83.72 %. Furthermore, the hydrate morphological observations revealed that CO2 hydrate initially nucleated in the inner of L-met solution, and the hydrate particles in the compound system of L-met coupled with the MWCNTs were porous snowflakes. The wall climbing effect induced by capillary forces was further explained, and the presence of L-met enhanced the mass transfer capacity of CO2 hydrates. The practical use of fast hydrate formation technology for CO2 capture and sequestration has been facilitated by this work.

Experimental study on the explosion characteristics of ammonia-hydrogen-air mixtures

Ammonia-hydrogen blended fuel has drawn substantial attention as an environmentally friendly, carbon-free fuel because it effectively overcomes the inherent disadvantages of pure ammonia in combustion performance, such as a high ignition energy, slow combustion rate, and low combustion efficiency. While recent research on the combustion performance of hydrogen-ammonia blends has advanced, there remains a scarcity of studies addressing the explosion characteristics of these fuels. In this paper, a series of experiments conducted within a standard 20-L spherical combustion chamber to investigate the explosion characteristics of ammonia-hydrogen-air premixed gases under diverse conditions, spanning from low to high pressures (0.02–0.3 MPa) and from fuel-lean to fuel-rich scenarios (0.7–1.5), are discussed. The results reveal that the explosion characteristics are pronouncedly enhanced by hydrogen addition. The maximum explosion pressure (Pmax) and maximum pressure rise rate ((dP/dt)max) increase, while the explosion time (texp) decreases with increasing hydrogen concentration. Pmax and (dP/dt)max exhibit linear increases as the initial pressure rises and reach their peaks at an equivalence ratio of 1.1; texp displays nonmonotonic variations with increasing initial pressure and equivalence ratio. Hydrogen addition remarkably increases the hydrodynamic instability and thermal-diffusion instability of the reactive mixture, enhances the thermal-mass diffusion on the flame front, and promotes flame deformation and cellular structure formation, resulting in an improvement of the flame propagation and compression effect on the unburnt reactant before the flame. Research into the explosion characteristics provides valuable insights for the safe storage and transportation of ammonia-hydrogen blended fuels. These results indicate avenues for further enhancing the detonation characteristics and explosion performance of ammonia-hydrogen blended fuels.

Evaluation of weak discontinuity in rotating medium with magnetic field, characteristic shock and weak discontinuity interaction

Abstract In this article we investigated the characteristic shock and weak discontinuity wave in a rotating medium of perfect gas in the case of one-dimensional (1-D) adiabatic motion under an axial magnetic field governed by the system of PDEs (partial differential equations). We have obtained some classes of analytical solutions of the system of PDEs that demonstrates the time-space dependency. With change in the values of rotational parameter, adiabatic index and the ratio of initial magnetic pressure to dynamic pressure, effect on the acceleration wave’s amplitude and jump in the flow variables across the characteristic shock is analyzed in detail. We have obtained an expression for the jump in shock acceleration, the amplitudes of transmitted and reflected waves caused by the incident wave on the characteristic shock after the interaction of a weak discontinuity. It is investigated that the jump function across the characteristic shock decay effect, and goes to 0 as time t → ∞, whereas a weak discontinuity wave may culminate into a shock wave, depending on the initial amplitude value. It is also found that the shock formation time reduces due to the consideration of magnetic field or rotating medium.

Cellularization and intrinsic instability characteristics of 2-methylfuran spherical expanding flame

ABSTRACT The flame morphology, flame instability and thermodynamic parameters of 2-methylfuran (2-MF) spherically expanding flame were studied at different initial temperatures, initial pressures, and equivalence ratios. Quantitative analysis of 2-MF flame surface cracks and cell structures was performed. The radius for the crack to enter the accelerated growth stage is reduced by 52.9% as the initial pressure increases from 2 bar to 4 bar. Also, the radius at which the crack enters the accelerated growth stage is reduced by 16.4% when the equivalence ratio is increased by 0.1. The radius required for the average cell area to stabilize is reduced by 31.5% when the initial pressure increases from 2 bar to 4 bar. Additionally, instability parameters were studied, and the results revealed that hydrodynamic instability and thermal-diffusion stability increase with increasing Peclet number. The relationship between the local instability and stability curves was discussed. The average wavenumber fitting line is closer to the upper limit of the instability curve when the equivalence ratio is 1.4, which is 8.5% higher than that of the equivalence ratio of 1.3. Next, the flame self-acceleration was studied, the initial pressure and equivalence ratio greatly promote the self-acceleration of the flame, but the temperature has no obvious effect, and the self-acceleration exponent of 2-MF flame is less than 1.5. Finally, the flame image information was reconstructed by a reconstruction algorithm and the cellularity factor was formulated to measure the degree of flame cellular. The cellularity factor is affected by initial pressure and equivalence ratio. Comparing and analyzing the evolution of flame cracks, flame self-acceleration, and cellularity factor, it was found that flame cracks promote flame self-acceleration and exacerbate flame cellularization and instability.

Confined deflagration of propanal/air in the presence of intrinsic instability at elevated pressures

The partial oxidation process is a chemical technique with a high risk of deflagration, which involves directly mixing of fuels with oxidizers at elevated conditions. Under non-standard conditions, the deflagration behaviors of fuels are often unavailable to the general public, which hampers progress in further basic research. In this study, the deflagration behaviors of propanal-air mixtures at 75 °C and 0.1–1.0 MPa were investigated, and the effect of initial pressure (P0) and equivalence ratio (φ) on the deflagration characteristics of propanal was discussed. To explain the similarities and differences in the deflagration characteristics under various conditions, the buoyancy instability, hydrodynamic instability and thermal-diffusion instability suffered by the flames were also analyzed. Results show that the pressure generated by the burned mixture is a cubic function of time, and the state of flame propagation can be determined by the monotonicity of the second-order derivative of pressure. Moreover, the peak deflagration pressure (Pm) is more sensitive to changes in φ on the fuel-lean side, but Pm/P0 at the fuel-rich condition is markedly higher than Pm/P0 at the fuel-lean condition. At all φ, an increase in P0 effectively shortens the ignition time and reduces the minimum ignition energy. Nevertheless, there are discernible differences in the variation patterns of the deflagration time (θm) with P0 at various φ. Specifically, θm gradually prolongs with increasing P0 at fuel-lean conditions, whereas it tends to be the same at different P0 and φ = 1. Furthermore, under fuel-rich conditions, θm progressively shortens as P0 increases. The decrease in θm is attributed to the increasing flame speeds in the presence of intrinsic instability, and the self-accelerating flame yields pressure waves, which travel faster than the flame. Then a series of reflected pressure waves are formed after the pressure waves strike the vessel wall, interacting with the flame front and resulting in the pressure oscillation. Moreover, increasing P0 advances the pressure oscillation and augments the intensity of pressure oscillation.

A numerical study of initial pressure effects on the water/silver nanofluid interaction with SARS-CoV-2 structure; a molecular dynamics method

The stability of the SARS virus can be affected by various environmental factors, including temperature, humidity, and pressure. In the present research, the effect of initial pressure on the stability of the SARS virus in the presence of water/Ag nanofluid (NF) is investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The results revealed that initial pressure effectively changes the atomic evolution of the virus-NF system. Numerically, the diffusion coefficient of modeled samples changes from 32.33 nm2/ns to 9.489 nm2/ns by initial pressure varies from 1 bar to 10 bar. This structural evolution caused interatomic distance and force between virus particle changes. Finally, interaction energy is changed by initial pressure variation, and this parameter varies between −0.44695 kcal/mol to −24.65127 kcal/mol in defined initial conditions. From MD outputs, it was concluded physical stability of the SARS virus in the presence of water/silver NF can be manipulated by initial pressure. So, the SARS virus destruction process with water/silver NF affected from the initial pressure ratio, appropriately. Future directions for this research project may involve exploring the influence of additional environmental factors and utilizing the gained knowledge to develop antiviral materials. This study establishes a foundation for further investigations into the interaction between environmental factors, NFs, and viral infections, with the potential to contribute to the development of effective strategies for combating viral infections and designing innovative antiviral solutions.

Investigations on methyl pentanoate-air mixtures confined explosion and cellularity

Combustible fuels like methyl pentanoate (MPe) could cause accidental explosions and fire. Therefore, MPe explosion characteristics have to be well characterized and understood for its safe and reliable use in industries and combustion devices. Considering this, MPe’s explosion pressure, maximum explosion pressure, rate of pressure rise, maximum rate of pressure rise, heat release rate, etc., were investigated in this study at the initial conditions of 1, 2, and 4 bar and 423 K, 453 K, and 483 K using the equivalence ratios of 0.7–1.4. The maximum explosion pressures and maximum rate of pressure rise of MPe increased as the initial pressures increased but the maximum rate of pressure rise was insignificantly affected by the initial temperature. The explosion duration decreased with a decrease in the initial pressure. The maximum heat release rate and deflagration index increased with increasing initial pressure. The MPe maximum deflagration index was 224.8 bar•m/s, which occurred at a higher initial pressure and fuel-rich mixture. Therefore, the explosion severity of MPe was enhanced at higher initial pressures and fuel-rich mixtures. Moreover, the flame cellularity study showed that MPe unstable flame crack length and cell number were more affected by increments in the initial pressure and equivalence ratio. Therefore, flame instability and cellularity would significantly influence explosion severity at higher pressures and equivalence ratios. This study’s findings provide first-hand data that could be used to further investigate and characterize MPe’s explosion risk.

Thermodynamic behaviour and heat transfer characteristics of air vessels in water delivery systems

Air vessels can effectively prevent water hammer caused by pump failure; however, the thermodynamic behaviour and accurate model of air in air vessels are rarely discussed, and an empirical polytropic index of 1.20 is commonly used for air vessel design. This study calculated the polytropic index based on the improved rational heat transfer (RHT) model using the multiphase volume of fluid (VOF) and k-ε turbulence model. The influence of dynamic airflow and heat transfer in the air vessel on the water delivery system pressure was studied. The effects of inlet and outlet flows, initial pressure, and initial air ratio on heat transfer were investigated. The polytropic indices of the expansion and compression processes in this study were between 1.10 and 1.40 and between 1.05 and 1.40, respectively. Curve fitting was applied to analyse the polytropic indices and substituted into the method of characteristics (MOC) for air vessel design. A hydraulic transient simulation of a practical water delivery project was conducted to compare the variable and fixed polytropic indices. The results showed that variable polytropic indices can better describe the dynamic processes of air. Using a fixed index of 1.20 for a low flow rate is risky. By contrast, the system can be optimised at high flow rates.

Numerical study of leakage characteristics of hydrogen-blended natural gas in buried pipelines

Pipeline transportation of hydrogen-blended natural gas is susceptible to leakage or rupture accidents caused by pipeline construction, corrosion, and hydrogen embrittlement, posing significant threats to the environment, human safety, and property. This paper improves the model of non-adiabatic pipeline leakage to study the flow characteristics of hydrogen-blended natural gas leakage, and its accuracy is validated using OLGA software and experiment data. The impact of the heat transfer coefficient, initial pressure and hydrogen blending ratio on the leakage flow characteristics is also analyzed. The findings indicate that the initial pressure in the pipe increases linearly at 0.5 MPa and the mass leakage velocity decreases linearly at a rate of nearly 9 kg/s; meanwhile, the temperature drop in the pipe and the overall leakage time increase. An increased hydrogen blending ratio corresponds to lower mass leakage velocity and shorter leakage time. The maximum dangerous distance of pure methane pipeline leakage is greater than that of a pure hydrogen pipeline. Furthermore, changes in the heat transfer coefficient predominantly affect the temperature inside the pipe.

Determination of 12 Combustion Products, Flame Temperature and Laminar Burning Velocity of Saudi LPG Using Numerical Methods Coded in a MATLAB Application

The characterization of a specific fuel has always been an important point for developing and designing new components or systems with the maximum efficient possible. Studying the laminar burning velocity can lay a necessary prerequisite for the accurate poststudy of the turbulent range and to understand how the combustion process takes place. The study of the combustion products from a specific reaction is a requisite for any system in order to understand the elements that are taken in the process and if it is possible to improve it. In this study, a new open code methodology was developed for the determination of combustion products, flame temperature and laminar burning velocity using numerical methods (Newton–Raphson, Taylor series and Gaussian elimination) in an application codified in MATLAB. The MATLAB application was applied for the study of Saudi LPG setting parameters such as initial temperature, pressure and equivalence ratio that are meaningful because they have a great effect on the results. In addition, simulation in Ansys Chemkin using San Diego and RedSD mechanisms was carried out. The results from the MATLAB application were compared with other experimental research and Ansys Chemkin simulation. These are presented in different plots and it is shown that: (1) For the laminar burning velocity results, the numerical method agrees with the experimental results for ratios (0.6–1.2) by other authors and the simulation in Ansys Chemkin. (2) For the highest studied equivalence ratios (1.3–1.7) the laminar burning velocity results between all the resources have more difference. (3) The combustion products calculated by the MATLAB application agree with those simulated in Ansys Chemkin except N and NO. (4) The MATLAB application gives a maximum value of 40.35 cm/s, that is greater than 35 ± 0.91, the one determined by Bader A. Alfarraj. (5) The flame temperature calculated by the MATLAB application overestimates that simulated in Ansys Chemkin but has the same behavior for all the calculated ratios. (6) The MATLAB application has also been developed for the study and analysis of other fuels.

Analysis of explosion and laminar combustion characteristics of premixed ammonia-air/oxygen mixtures

Ammonia is suggested to be a potential carbon-free energy source because of its high volumetric energy density and has attracted attention recently. However, systematic investigations into the explosion characteristics and flame instability of ammonia are still lacking, particularly for low-pressure ammonia-oxygen mixture. The use of low-pressure ammonia-oxygen mixtures could not only benefit for increasing engine's efficiency but also enhance its operational safety. In this study, explosion experiments of premixed ammonia-air/oxygen mixtures are carried out in a 20-L spherical chamber. By adjusting the initial pressure (P0) and equivalence ratio (ϕ), the maximum explosion pressure (Pmax) and maximum rate of pressure rise ((dP/dt)max) are measured. The laminar flame characteristics are analysed simultaneously. The results show that for the ammonia-air mixture, Pmax increases as P0 increases and reaches the peak at ϕ = 1.1; the unstretched laminar burning velocity (SL), Markstein length (Lb), and laminar flame thickness (δ) decrease as the initial pressure increases and reach the peak at ϕ = 1.1. For the ammonia-oxygen mixture, the explosion parameters linearly increase as P0 increases, while the maximum values of the parameters are obtained at ϕ = 1.0; the unstretched laminar burning velocity increases first and then gradually decreases as P0 increases; the maximum SL is 1.14 m/s at P0 = 0.1 MPa and ϕ = 1.0, which is 18 times that of the premixed ammonia-air mixture under the same condition. The schlieren images demonstrate that the buoyancy instability has significant impacts on the premixed ammonia-air flame propagation, while it has negligible impacts on the premixed ammonia-oxygen flame propagation. The effect of hydrodynamic instability on flame propagation could be observed in both the premixed ammonia-air flame at ϕ > 1.0 and the premixed ammonia-oxygen flame at P0 > 0.1 MPa and ϕ < 1.0. In addition, it is proposed that for the premixed ammonia-air flame, the buoyancy instability would remarkably influence the flame propagation when the unstretched laminar burning velocity is < 5 cm/s. The fundamental research on the combustion characteristics of ammonia-air and ammonia-oxygen in this study can provide an experimental reference for the later development of chemical reaction mechanisms, especially for the mechanism suitable for ammonia combustion in oxygen-rich environments. Meanwhile, the combustion characteristics of the ammonia-oxygen mixture at ultra-low pressure also provide a data basis for the possibility of using ammonia fuel as a propellant for hypersonic vehicles in the future.

Effects of aspect ratio and initial pressure on asymmetric flame and flame instability of premixed CO/air

Syngas is a promising alternative energy carrier with low carbon and pollutants emissions, and CO is the main component. The combustion characteristics of stoichiometric CO/air mixtures with varied initial pressure (0.5–1.5 atm) and aspect ratio (12–40) were examined through experiments in a rectangular closed duct. This experiment simulated the transport and storage conditions of CO to study its combustion characteristics at different aspect ratios and initial pressures. The flame images and overpressure dynamics were captured by high-speed camera and pressure sensor, respectively. Experiment results proved that the increase in aspect ratio had an important effect on flame shape evolution. The tilted flame for low aspect ratios was affected by buoyancy, while flames with high aspect ratios were influenced by competing buoyancy and intrinsic instability. The results showed that the flame morphology and dynamics were enhanced with increasing aspect ratio and initial pressure. The intrinsic instability of premixed CO/air combustion was investigated, and the formation mechanism of tilted flame and twisted flame were comprehensively analyzed. Qualitative distinctions were made between symmetric and asymmetric flame morphology regimes.

Steady rotation of a Mach shock: experimental and numerical evidences

This experimental and numerical work reports on the dynamical behaviour of a shock in an inert gas at the concave wall of a hollow circular chamber. The gas in the chamber was air or He + $${\rm O}_{2}$$ + 2 Ar at initial pressures $$p_{{\rm c0}}$$ ranging from 2 to 12 kPa and initial temperature T0 =288 K. The shock was generated using a detonation driven shock tube. The shock dynamics were characterized through high-speed shadowgraph recordings and high-resolution numerical simulations. For each gas and $$p_\text {c0}$$ , the experiments evidenced the formation of a Mach reflection along the wall and identified a range of initial pressures for which this configuration rotates with constant stem heights and constant velocities larger than those at the chamber entry. The numerical simulations were capable of capturing the dynamics quantitatively. These results extend to inert gases our previous work with a reactive gas for which we reported on the possibility of a steadily rotating overdriven Mach detonation. The steadiness range is narrower with the inert gases, likely because of the smaller initial pressure ratios at the chamber entry and lower support from the subsonic flow behind the shock. The initial support in the reactive case was more efficient because the discontinuities at the chamber entry were self-sustained Chapman–Jouguet detonations. Further investigations of these Mach rotating regimes should rely only on specific experiments and numerical simulations, for example, on the effect of the chamber dimensions, because of the complex non-dimensional formulation of the problem.

Isothermal and isovolumetric process of CO2 adsorption on nitrogen-doped biochar: Equilibrium and non-equilibrium states

In order to reveal the thermodynamic properties of CO2 adsorption on a promising nitrogen-doped biochar under isothermal and isovolumetric conditions, the adsorption isotherms based on 391 data points were experimentally obtained to investigate the mass and energy transfer process during CO2 adsorption by combining with model analysis. Then a series of interesting phenomena were found by analyzing those thermodynamic parameters in the equilibrium and non-equilibrium states. The capacity of CO2 on the biochar non-linearly increases with an increase of the initial pressure and volume-mass ratio but the decrease of the adsorption temperature. It can be up to 7.6 mol/kg at 273 K and 100 kPa. The adsorption system exchanges the energy with the surrounding environment mainly by heat transfer. And the interfacial energy of the adsorbent can be affected by the adsorbate system in three parts: pressure change from gas phase, molecular force from adsorbed phase and heat transfer. Then the conditions with low adsorption temperature, high initial pressure and large volume-mass ratio can provide a strong driving force for CO2 adsorption. These phenomena that have not been reported before will help us get a better technical process for CO2 capture.

Identification of homogeneous chemical kinetic regimes of methane-air ignition

Sensitivity analysis results for ignition delay time (IDT) may be very different depending on the initial temperature, pressure and equivalence ratio φ, but similar in some regions of these variables. This phenomenon was investigated systematically by carrying out ignition simulations and local sensitivity calculations of methane−air mixtures using the Aramco-II-2016 mechanism at 14,417 combinations of initial temperature (changed between 500 and 3000 K), initial pressure (0.05−500 atm) and φ (0.05−8.0) values. The cluster analysis of the sensitivity vectors identified five large kinetically homogeneous regions. Each region has well defined borders in the (T, p φ) space and can be characterized by different sets of important reactions. The related kinetic scheme is very different in each region. Regions 1 and 2 are dominated by catalytic cycles based on species CH3O2/CH3O2H and HO2/H2O2/CH3O, respectively. In regions 3, 4, and 5 the H atoms are converted to CH3 in an identical chain branching sequence, but the back conversion is via three different routes. Literature experimental data on the IDTs of methane−air mixtures were sorted according to these five regions. Regions 1 to 5 contain 214, 328, 3, 0, and 237 experimental data points, respectively. In regions 1, 2 and 5 the data points are well reproduced by the Aramco-II-2016 mechanism, but little or no experimental information is available about kinetic regions 3 and 4. Further experimental exploration of the ignition of methane−air mixtures may aim the study of these regions. A similar approach can be used for the characterization of other combustion systems and sorting the related experimental data.