Development of a Spherical Combustion Chamber for Measuring Laminar Flame Speeds in Navy Bulk Fuels and Biofuel Blends

Abstract

This thesis presents the results of an experimental study to determine laminar flame speeds using the spherical flame method. An experimental combustion chamber, based on the constant-volume bomb method, was designed, built, and instrumented to conduct these experiments. Premixed Ethylene/air mixtures at a pressure of 2 atm, temperature of 298 5K and equivalence ratios ranging from 0.8 to 1.5 were ignited and using a high speed video Schlieren system images were taken to measure the laminar flame speed in the expanding spherical flame front. The results were compared against published data for ethylene/air mixtures which yielded agreement within 5%. An attempt was made to measure the laminar flame speed for F-76 at a pressure of 5 atm and temperature of 500K; however, premixed conditions were unable to be met due to auto-ignition and vapor characteristics of F-76. Suggestions for future work provide a potential solution and improvement to the current design.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA556484

Entities

People

  • Omari D. Buckley

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alkanes
  • Alkenes
  • Alternative Fuels
  • Burning Rate
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Chambers
  • Control Panels
  • Control Systems
  • Graphical User Interface
  • Green Diesels
  • Hydrocarbons
  • Ignition
  • Ignition Lag
  • Ignition Systems
  • National Security
  • Spark Ignition

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology