In the present study, ignition characteristics of methane-air mixture were investigated by numerical analysis using detailed chemical kinetics. Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) is an important parameter of ignition ability of the system. In order to investigate the effect of the equivalence ratio, electrode gap and size on MIE in the quiescent methane/air mixture, ignition processes were examined considering the heat loss to electrode for axisymmetric numerical model, in which the temperatures of electrode wall were set at 300, 1000 and 2000 K. The calculation results were compared with experimental results. The results with heat loss to electrode of wall temperature 300 K showed good agreement with experimental results for the relationships of MIE to the equivalence ratio and electrode gap.

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