Laminar Burning Velocities of Fuels for Advanced Combustion Engines (FACE) Gasoline and Gasoline Surrogates with and without Ethanol Blending Associated with Octane Rating

Laminar burning velocities of fuels for advanced combustion engines (FACE) C gasoline and of several blends of surrogate toluene reference fuels (TRFs) (n-heptane, iso-octane, and toluene mixtures) of the same research octane number are presented. Effects of ethanol addition on laminar flame speed of FACE-C and its surrogate are addressed. Measurements were conducted using a constant volume spherical combustion vessel in the constant pressure, stable flame regime at an initial temperature of 358 K and initial pressures up to 0.6 MPa with the equivalence ratios ranging from 0.8 to 1.6. Comparable values in the laminar burning velocities were measured for the FACE-C gasoline and the proposed surrogate fuel (17.60% n-heptane + 77.40% iso-octane + 5% toluene) over the range of experimental conditions. Sensitivity of flame propagation to total stretch rate effects and thermo-diffusive instability was quantified by determining Markstein length. Two percentages of an oxygenated fuel of ethanol as an additive, namely, 60 vol% and 85 vol% were investigated. The addition of ethanol to FACE-C and its surrogate TRF-1 (17.60% n-heptane + 77.40% iso-octane + 5% toluene) resulted in a relatively similar increase in the laminar burning velocities. The high-pressure measured values of Markstein length for the studied fuels blended with ethanol showed minimal influence of ethanol addition on the flame’s response to stretch rate and thermo-diffusive instability. © 2016 Taylor & Francis.