An Experimental Study of Premixed m-Xylene/Air and m-Dodecane/m-Xylene/Air Flames

摘要

Despite their extensive use in practical transportation fuels, the combustion properties of aromatic compounds are still not well characterized. In the present investigation, the laminar flame speeds and extinction strain rates of m-xylene/air and (77% n-dodecane + 23% m-xylene)/air flames were experimentally determined as functions of equivalence ratio at elevated temperatures and atmospheric pressure. The n-dodecane/m-xylene mixture was studied as the simplest surrogate fuel to mimic the heat release rate and sooting tendency of JP8 flames. Experiments were performed in the counterflow configuration and the flow velocities were measured using Laser Doppler Velocimetry. The results reveal that the propagation rates of m-xylene/air mixtures are about 15% lower than those of n-dodecane/air, and flames of the proposed 77%-23% surrogate fuel were shown to burn slightly faster than JP8 flames.