2012 Volume 43 Issue 6 Pages 1227-1232
The effects of chemical structure on the ignition delay time (IDT) have been investigated by detailed chemical kinetic simulations. IDTs were calculated for stoichiometric and homogeneous fuel/air mixtures of all C3-C10 alkane isomers under the adiabatic constant-volume condition. From the variations of IDT with chemical structure of the fuel, the following trends have been identified with some exceptions for lower alkanes; IDT decreases with the length of main chain while it is unchanged by the side-chain length, IDT increases with the numbers of tertiary and quaternary carbon atoms, the latter of which shows larger effect than the former, and IDT is elongated especially when the branchings occur at adjacent carbons. These effects of the chemical structure are pronounced especially under the low-temperature oxidation conditions.
