COMBUSTION EFFICIENCIES IN HYDROCARBON-AIR SYSTEMS AT REDUCED PRESSURES

摘要

In preliminary results obtained with quiescent fuel-air mixtures and with small diffusion flames, combustion efficiencies close to 100 percent were obtained at pressures much lower than those found in turbojet combustors at altitudes of 60,000-feet;in general, efficiencies were high at pressures approaching the limiting values for inflamma¬tion. It is apparently possible to burn hydrocarbons with high effi¬ciency at high altitudes if sufficient volume is available and undesired quenching processes do not occur. The reaction-zone volume required to effect a given rate of heat release rapidly increased with a decrease in pressure. It appears, however, that only a small frac¬tion of the volume available in a turbojet combustor is required to effect the engine's design rate of heat release.