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Title: Numerical investigation of the pressure-dependence of yield sooting indices for n-alkane and aromatic species

Journal Article · · Fuel

The pressure-dependence of the Yield Sooting Index (YSI), as a measure of sooting tendency, is numerically investigated for pressures ranging from 1 atm to 15 atm. Straight-chain alkanes, including ethane, propane, n-hexane, n-heptane, and n-dodecane, and aromatic species, including benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene, are selected as test fuels. A detailed chemical mechanism is used for all test fuels considered, and a flamelet-based YSI simulation methodology is employed, where the YSI values are computed based on the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) dimer production rate at each pressure. It is found that the maximum flame centerline soot volume fraction increases with increasing pressure for all test compounds. However, the pressure dependence of the maximum soot volume fraction is similar for the hydrocarbons within the same class (n-alkane or aromatics). As a consequence, the YSI values computed at pressures up to 15 atm show only small deviations from their values computed and measured at atmospheric pressure. These results suggest that YSI is robust also at elevated pressures, close to those found in practical combustion devices. This study is entirely based on numerical simulations without any experimental measurements available for direct validation. Experimental YSI measurements at high pressures would be required to fully confirm the conclusions reported in this manuscript. Still, our numerical results provide some guidelines for the design of such experiments in the future.

Research Organization:
Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0007983
OSTI ID:
1799411
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1544896
Journal Information:
Fuel, Vol. 254, Issue C; ISSN 0016-2361
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 20 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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