FireDOC Search

Author
Linteris, G. T. | Williams, F. A.
Title
Asymptotic and Numerical Analysis of a Premixed Laminar Nitrogen Dioxide-Hydrogen Flame.
Coporate
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
Journal
Combustion Science and Technology, Vol. 105, No. 4-6, 163-73, 1995
Sponsor
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC
Contract
CTS92-14888
Keywords
premixed flames | laminar flames | nitrogen dioxide | hydrogen | burning rate | flame structure
Identifiers
starting mechanism; asympotic analysis; one-step mechanism
Abstract
A kinetic mechanism of eighty-some reactions for flames in mixtures of hydrogen and nitrogen dioxide is systematically reduced to twenty-four-, eleven-, seven-, two-, and one-step mechanisms. The numerically predicted burning rates for the full mechanism are compared with the results using the reduced mechanisms, and the sources of inaccuracies are identified. The two reactions NO₂ + H -> NO + OH and H₂ + OH <- -> H₂O + H account for about 97% of the NO₂ and H₂ consumption and NO and H₂O production and are the principal reactions involving OH and H atoms. The reactions 2 OH <- -> H₂O + O and NO₂ + O -> NO + O₂ are important for OH and O, while the reactions NO₂ + M -> NO + O + M and NO₂ + H₂ -> HONO + H serve as important initiation reactions. The reactions O₂ + H <- -> OH + O, H₂ + O <- -> OH + H, and 2NO₂ -> 2NO + O₂ are significant but of lesser importance. In reducing the mechanism, the steady-state assumptions for the intermediates O, H, and OH are shown to be good; however, their use is limited because the H and OH balance relations are dominated by the same reactions. Despite these limitations, an asymptotic description of the flame structure using a one-step approximation to the kinetics is still able to predict the burning rate within a factor of three of the numerical result using the full mechanism.