Laminar Flame Characteristics of C1–C5 Primary Alcohol-Isooctane Blends at Elevated Temperature

Abstract: The laminar combustion characteristics of blends of isooctane and C1–C5 primary alcohols (i.e., methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol and n-pentanol) were investigated using the spherical expanding flame methodology in a constant volume chamber at various equivalence ratios and volume fractions of alcohol. The stretch effect was removed using the nonlinear methodology. The results indicate that the laminar flame speeds of alcohol-isooctane blends increase monotonously with the increasing volume fraction of alcohol. Among the five alcohols, the addition of methanol is identified to be the most effective in enhancing laminar flame speed. The addition of ethanol results in an approximately equivalent laminar flame speed enhancement rate as those of n-propanol, n-butanol and n-pentanol at ratios of 0.8 and 1.5, and a higher rate at 1.0 and 1.2. An empirical correlation is provided to describe the laminar flame speed variation with the volume fraction of alcohol. Meanwhile, the laminar flame speed increases with the mass content of oxygen in the fuel blends. At the equivalence ratio of 0.8 and fixed oxygen content, similar laminar flame speeds are observed with different alcohols blended into isooctane. Nevertheless, with the increase of equivalence ratio, heavier alcohol-isooctane blends tend to exhibit higher values. Markstein lengths of alcohol-isooctane blends decrease with the addition of alcohol into isooctane at 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2, however they increase at 1.5. This is consistent with the behavior deduced from the Schlieren images.