FLAME PROPAGATION RATES IN THE COMBUSTION OF AMMONIA

Abstract

An investigation was made of the flame propagation rates and peak pressures of ammonia as compared to iso-octane in spark ignition engine combustion. The influence of compression ratio, speed, manifold pressure, and dissociation of ammonia prior to combustion was studied as a function of equivalence ratio (phi). The ammonia kernel development proved to be 1.4 times greater than the 2.72 millisecond average recorded with iso-octane. The maximum ammonia flame rate was 59 fps at phi = 0.85 and, for iso-octane, 83 fps at phi = 1.23. While the propagation rates of iso-octane fell uniformly on either side of maximum, the ammonia flame rates dropped rapidly on the rich side of maximum through an inflection point. Prior partial dissociation of ammonia, before introduction to the engine, was found to be of prime importance to flame speeds, becoming more critical for leaner mixtures.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 09, 1965
Accession Number
AD0627409

Entities

People

  • G. S. Samuelsen

Organizations

  • University of California, Berkeley

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air
  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Compression
  • Compression Ratio
  • Dissociation
  • Engineering
  • Flame Propagation
  • Flow Rate
  • Gases
  • Hydrocarbons
  • Hydrogen
  • Ignition
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Oscilloscopes
  • Recording Systems
  • Spark Plugs

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.