Experimental Investigation of Laminar Flame Speed Measurement for Kerosene Fuels: Jet A-1, Surrogate Fuel, and Its Pure Components

Abstract

The present work investigated the laminar flame speed measurement of kerosene-relevant fuel, including Jet A-1 commercial kerosene, and surrogate kerosene fuel and its pure components (n-decane, n-propyl benzene, and propyl cyclohexane) using a high-pressure Bunsen flame burner. The OH* chemiluminescence technique and the kerosene-PLIF technique were used for flame contours detection in order to calculate the laminar flame speed. The experiments were first conducted for n-decane/air flame at T = 400 K, φ = 0.6–1.3, and atmospheric pressure conditions in order to validate the whole experimental system and measurement methodology. The laminar flame speed of Jet A-1/air, surrogate/air, and pure kerosene component (n-decane, n-propyl benzene, and propyl cyclohexane) was then measured under large operating conditions, including temperature T = 400–473 K, pressure P = 0.1–1.0 MPa, and equivalence ratio φ = 0.7–1.3. It was found that these three pure components of kerosene have very similar laminar flame speed. By comparing the experimental results of surrogate kerosene and Jet A-1 commercial kerosene, it was observed that the proposed surrogate kerosene, i.e., mixtures of 76.7 wt % n-decane, 13.2 wt % n-propyl benzene, and 10.1 wt % propyl cyclohexane, can appropriately reproduce the flame speed property of Jet A-1 commercial kerosene fuel. The experimental results were further compared with simulation results using a skeletal kerosene mechanism.