- Author
- Smyth, K. C.
- Title
- Comparison of Experimental and Computed Radical Concentrations in Hydrocarbon Diffusion Flames. BFRL Video Seminar.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- Video, December 3, 1991,
- Keywords
- diffusion flames | hydrocarbons | reaction kinetics | radicals
- Abstract
- Increasing attention is now being focussed on understanding the typically strong coupling between chemical heat release and turbulent mixing, i.e., chemistry-turbulence interactions. To model turbulent diffusion flames, one approach for including the effecfts of chemical reactions is to utilize libraries of strained laminar flame calculations which incorporate detailed reaction mechanisms. An alternative avenue is to reduce systematically the numer of chemical steps in the basic oxidation mechanisms for combustion to as few as possible (typically three or four), while still providing an adequate description of the major species concentration and temperature profiles. Few studies have addresed the question of how well flame structure calculations reproduce experimental results, particularly for the radical species. This talk will focus on a comparison of our experimental profile measurements of five radicals in a laminar CH4/air flame with co-flow flame structure computations of Mitch Smooke at Yale. In general, the agreement is excellent, especially for the major radicals. Several Significant caveats will also be discussed.