Experimental study and numerical simulation of chemiluminescence emission during the self-ignition of hydrocarbon fuels

Abstract

Abstract The time evolution of the chemiluminescence emission signals of CH*, OH*, C2*, and CO2* during the self-ignition of a number of the simple hydrocarbons is studied. The experiments are performed behind reflected shock waves over a temperature range of 1100–1900 K at a pressure of ∼1\xa0bar. The effects of fuel-to-oxidizer equivalence ratio and the structure of the hydrocarbon molecule on the time profiles of the signals for each of the emitters are examined. A detailed kinetic mechanism for describing the emission signals from CH*, OH*, C2*, and CO2* recorded during the self-ignition of hydrocarbons is developed. To make the simulations more rigorous and reliable, the NASA thermodynamic polynomials for C2*, and CO2* were calculated based on the respective rotational and vibrational parameters given in the literature. Numerical simulations satisfactorily reproduce the measured time profiles of the signals from the studied emitters.