Low hydrocarbon mixtures ignition delay times investigation behind reflected shock waves

Ignition delays for low alkanes/oxygen mixtures highly diluted with argon were measured behind a reflected shock wave using ultraviolet emission spectrometry in wide ranges of temperature (1200–2700 K), pressure (0.1–1.8 MPa), equivalence ratio (0.5–2) and dilution (89–99%). For each alkane (methane, ethane and propane), a correlation between ignition delay time, temperature, pressure and concentration is proposed and compared with those obtained in previous studies. This correlation enables the estimation of the delay time with an accuracy better than 20% for all measurement ranges. Results are compared with those from a recent study of the detailed kinetic modelling of the alkane oxidation. Received 12 March 2001 / Accepted 28 August 2001