OCR Text |
Show INTRODUCTION An evaluation of the impact of the use of a given synthetic fuel in a specific application involves an evaluation of the combustion characteristics of the fuel. These characteristics can be grouped into two areas: liquid phase phenomena, including droplet and spray formation, drop size and distribution, and droplet lifetime, and gas phase combustion phenomena, which includes ignition, flame stabilization and flame propagation. The interplay of the phenomena in these two areas with the design features of the burner leads to the overall performance of a given fuel in a specific application, measured in terms of completeness of combustion, effectiveness of heat release, and overall pollutant emissions characteristics. Determining, as part of the design process, the suitability of a synthetic fuel for a given application, requires two preconditions: the existence of a data base for those fuel properties which most strongly impact combustion, and the existence of suitable analytical combustion models. In this paper we will address both of these preconditions, summarizing work carried out (Ref. 1) to assess the relationship between fuel properties and combustion characteristics and indicators, and describing the development of an advanced quasiglobal chemical kinetics model for synthetic fuel combustion (Ref. 2). While both spray vaporization and quasiglobal chemical kinetics models have been combined to develop an analysis of a spray flame (Ref. 3 ), the emphasis of this paper is on the fundamental aspects of the effects of fuel properties on combustion and the characterization of reaction kinetics. Thus the work described here can be considered to be complementary to that described in Ref. 3. 1.2.2 |