AE 753 THEORY OF COMBUSTION

Assignment 3 (Due: 1st April 2015, in class)

Points: 20
For hydrogen (H2) combustion with oxidizer (79% Ar, 21% O2 by vol., same as air with nitrogen
replaced with argon) at unburned gas temperature (Tu) = 300 K, pressure (P) = 1 atm and
equivalence ratio () = 1, calculate the laminar flame speed (SL) and the flame thickness ()
using:
1. Spaldings flame model. Use the global one-step reaction mechanism given below to
estimate the mean reaction rate [ref].

= 1.3 10

]. [

Assume:
(a) The burned gas temperature (Tb) is equal to the adiabatic flame temperature (Tad). You
may use NASA CEA code or any other software to calculate Tad.
(b) Use air properties (given in Table C.1 of textbooks appendix): thermal conductivity (k)
and specific heat at constant pressure (cp) at mean temperature in the flame. The
unburned gas density (u) needs to be evaluated at the unburned gas temperature.
(c) The reaction is confined to the second half of the flame thickness (/2 < x < ), use mean
temperature in the reaction zone in the rate equation given above.
(d) There is neither fuel nor oxygen in the burned gas for = 1. For = 0.5, in the burned
gas there is no fuel and the oxygen concentration is half of that in the unburned gas. Use
mean (of burned and unburned) concentrations in the rate equation given above.
2. CANTERA (or any other software, please mention it) along with the h2o2.xml mechanism
for the calculations. For flame thickness estimation, assume that at the start and end of the
flame region the mole fraction of H2O2 is 1/10th of its maximum value (in flame).
What will happen in 1 and 2 above, if:
3. Pressure (P) is raised to 10 atm (Tu = 300 K, = 1).
4. Unburned gas temperature (Tu) is raised to 600 K (P = 1 atm, = 1).
5. Equivalence ratio () is reduced to 0.5 (Tu = 300 K, P = 1 atm).
Include your comments on the trends observed for different cases.
[ref] Marinov, N. M., Westbrook, C. K., Pitz, W. J., Detailes and Global Chemical Kinetics for
Hydrogen, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Report, UCRL-JC-120677, 1995.