Study of Extinction Characteristics of Hydrocarbon Flames at Elevated Pressures

Abstract

Extinction characteristics of both diffusion and premixed hydrocarbon (CH₄, C₃H₈, and DME) flames at elevated pressures were studied using counter flow configuration. Experiments were conducted under N₂ dilution and CO₂ dilution conditions. For all fuels, flames were found to become hard to be extinguished either with increasing pressure or using CO₂ dilution in place of N₂ dilution with keeping the same adiabatic flame temperature. The effect of pressure on extinction characteristics was quantitatively discussed in terms of Damkohler number using numerical simulation. In addition, the difference in extinction characteristics between N₂ dilution and CO₂ dilution was investigated in terms of Lewis number effect.