Chemical Kinetic Characterization Of Autoignition And Combustion Of Surrogate Diesel

A study was performed to elucidate the chemical-kinetic mechanism of combustion of toluene. The research was performed in collaboration Dr. Charles Westbrook and Dr. William Pitz at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). A detailed chemical-kinetic mechanism for toluene developed at LLNL was employed. Numerical calculations were performed using this mechanism and the results were compared with experimental data obtained from premixed and nonpremixed systems. Under premixed conditions, predicted ignition delay times were compared with new experimental data obtained by I. Da Costa, R. Fournet, F. Billaud, F. Battin-Leclerc at Departement de Chime Physique des Reactions, CNRS-ENSIC, BP. 451, 1, rue Grandville, 51001 Nancy, France. Also, calculated species concentration histories were compared to experimental flow reactor data from the literature. Under nonpremixed conditions, critical conditions of extinction and autoignition were measured in strained laminar flows in the counterflow configuration. Numerical calculations were performed using the chemical-kinetic mechanism at conditions corresponding to those in the experiments. Critical conditions of extinction and autoignition are predicted and compared with the experimental data. Comparisons between the model predictions and experimental results of ignition delay times in shock tube, and extinction and autoignition in nonpremixed systems show that the chemical-kinetic mechanism predicts that toluene/air is overall less reactive than observed in the experiments. The principal objective of this research is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical mechanisms of autoignition and combustion of Diesel in nonpremixed systems. The major components of Diesel are straight-chain paraffins, branched-chain paraffins, cycloparaffins, and aromatics. The results of this research on toluene are expected to be useful in understanding the role of aromatics in combustion of Diesel.