Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Formaldehyde is a key species produced during oxidation of virtually all hydrocarbon and oxygenated fuels, and it is also a regulated hazardous air pollutant. An improved understanding of its formation and destruction chemistry is therefore vital to the study of many energy conversion processes. To this end, this work experimentally and numerically investigates the flame chemistry of formaldehyde (CH2O) at atmospheric pressure. The laminar burning rate of 1,3,5-trioxane/O2/N2 mixtures is measured in outwardly propagating spherical flames, where high concentrations of formaldehyde are generated early in the flame structure from decomposition of 1,3,5-trioxane.

Though laminar burning rate predictions of several combustion …

Thermal radiation is usually not considered in the interpretation of laminar burning rates measured by the outwardly propagating spherical flame method. However, it may contribute significantly to measurement uncertainty, especially for model-constraining conditions at lower flame temperatures and higher pressures. The present work derives a conservative analytical estimate of the effects of radiation heat loss, which include radiation-induced burned gas motion, decreasing flame temperature due to conduction to the radiating burned gas, and radiation loss from the flame zone. Detailed numerical simulations covering a range of burning conditions serve to validate this analytical tool. Modeling results from both detailed simulation …