A well-defined plasma assisted combustion system with novel in situ discharge in a counterflow diffusion flame was developed to study the direct coupling kinetic effect of non-equilibrium plasma on flame ignition and extinction. A uniform discharge was generated between the burner nozzles by placing porous metal electrodes at the nozzle exits. The ignition and extinction characteristics of CH4/...

The homogeneous (gas-phase) and heterogeneous (catalytic) ignition of fuel-lean premixtures is investigated analytically and numerically in two-dimensional laminar channel-flow configurations with uniform incoming properties and isothermal catalytic walls. First-order matched activation energy asymptotics are employed, along with a one-step catalytic reaction and a one-step large activation ene...

To characterize the ignition process in homogeneous charge compression ignition engines, high fidelity simulations are performed to study the effects of different initial temperature distributions on the autoignition of a turbulent homogeneous mixture at high pressure. The effects of the initial temperature distribution on the ignition and subsequent heat release are studied by comparison of si...

Radiation-driven, low-adiabat, cryogenic DT layered plastic capsule implosions were carried out on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to study the sensitivity of performance to peak power and drive duration. An implosion with extended drive and at reduced peak power of 350 TW achieved the highest compression with fuel areal density of ~1.3±0.1 g/cm2, representing a significant step from previ...

Abstract The characteristics of auto-ignition in HCCI engines in the presence of charge stratification is studied theoretically using activation energy asymptotics. Some preliminary results on the effects of mixture stratification on the duration of burning and the sensitivity of ignition delay to initial temperature are presented. The analysis accounts for the effects of pressure rise due to p...

There are several mechanisms that affect a gas when using discharge plasma to initiate combustion or to stabilize a flame. There are two thermal mechanisms-the homogeneous and inhomogeneous heating of the gas due to 'hot' atom thermalization and vibrational and electronic energy relaxation. The homogeneous heating causes the acceleration of the chemical reactions. The inhomogeneous heating gene...