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Numerical Calculation of Minimum Ignition Energy for Hydrogen and Methane Fuels

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Abstract

Minimum ignition energies of hydrogen/air and methane/air mixtures have been investigated numerically by solving unsteady one-dimensional conservation equations with detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms. Initial kernel size needed for numerical calculation is a sensitive function of initial pressure of a mixture and should be estimated properly to obtain quantitative agreement with experimental results. A simple macroscopic model to determine minimum ignition energy has been proposed, where the initial kernel size is correlated with the quenching distance of a mixture and evaluated from the quenching distance determined from experiment. The simulation predicts minimum ignition energies of two sample mixtures successfully which are in a good agreement with the experimental data for the ranges of pressure and equivalence ratio.

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Abbreviations

Ai :

Pre-exponential factor ini-th reaction step

a:

Constant

bi :

Temperature exponent ini-th reaction step

Cp :

Constant-pressure specific heat

Dj :

Diffusion coefficient of speciesj

Ds :

Energy source density

dq :

Quenching distance

Eig :

Ignition energy

Ei :

Activation energy ini-th reaction step

h:

Specific enthalpy of mixture

hj :

Specific enthalpy of speciesj

ki :

Reaction rate constant ini-th reaction step

n:

Exponent in Eq. (9)

\(\bar M\) :

Mean molecular weight

Mj :

Molecular weight of speciesj

ns :

Number of species

p:

Pressure

\(\dot q\) :

Energy source

\(\bar R\) :

Universal gas constant

R0 :

Domain size

r:

Spatial coordinate

rs :

Radius of energy source (=initial kernel size)

SL :

Burning velocity

T:

Temperature

t:

Time

u:

Velocity

Vc :

Correction factor for diffusion velocity

Vo :

Mixture volume to be heated by supplied ignition energy

Vj :

Diffusion velocity of speciesj

X:

Mole fraction

Y:

Mass fraction

α:

Geometric factor

δ:

Flame thickness

Θj :

Thermal diffusion ratio of speciesj

μ:

Viscosity of mixture

λ:

Conductivity of mixture

φ:

Equivalence ratio

ϱ:

Density

τrr, τθθ :

Stresses defined in Eq. (6)

τ:

Duration of supplied energy

wj :

Net production rate of speciesj

o:

Initial state

min:

Minimum

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Yusung, P.O.Box 113, 305-600, Daejeon, Korea

    Hong Jip Kim

  2. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, 151-742, Seoul, Korea

    Suk Ho Chung

  3. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Chosun University, 501-759, Gwangju, Korea

    Chae Hoon Sohn

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  1. Hong Jip Kim
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  2. Suk Ho Chung
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  3. Chae Hoon Sohn
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Correspondence to Chae Hoon Sohn.

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Kim, H.J., Chung, S.H. & Sohn, C.H. Numerical Calculation of Minimum Ignition Energy for Hydrogen and Methane Fuels. KSME International Journal 18, 838–846 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02990303

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02990303

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