STIMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LAMINAR-FLOW REACTORS FOR THE STUDYOF COMBUSTION SYSTEMS OF ETHANE, METHANE AND DEBORANE

A physical model for simulating combustion systems in laminar flow rea ctors has been developed. The model is one-dimensional and includes tr ansport phenomena. It is derived from conservation equations and therm odynamic relations. The present model is an extension of zero-dimensio nal models which were proposed by others. It enables one to accurately interpret the chemical time. A numerical program, LIOR, has been deve loped for solving the governing equations. It has been coupled with bo th CHEMKIN, an advanced package designed to facilitate simulations of elementary chemical reactions, and with TRANSPORT, a package capable o f evaluating the transport property coefficients. The numerical code h as been validated via the simulation of ethane (C2H6) combustion. The results were compared to available experimental results. Good agreemen t was evident. The model has been used to examine methane (CH4) and et hane combustion in a synthetic atmosphere system where nitrogen is rep laced as a diluent with carbon dioxide. Special attention is given to the role of the detailed chemistry in the problem using a scheme conta ining about 100 elementary reactions. Examination of a set of model pr oblems show that under such conditions, where there is a large concent ration of carbon dioxide, the chemistry effects are very important. Th e typical area of application of this work is sub-sea vehicles and oth er closed-environment machines. The model also served a study aimed at elucidating the oxidation mechanism of the energy enriched fuel, debo rane (B2H6) The results obtained can provide the basis for further inv estigation of this mechanism. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.