Introduction to Combustion

Catalog description

Concepts related to laminar and turbulent premixed and nonpremixed combustion with applications to propulsion and stationary systems. EGEE (M E) 430 Introduction to Combustion (3) This course provides an introductory treatment of combustion science. The objectives of the course are to develop in the students an understanding of combustion kinetics, combustion thermochemistry, flame dynamics, flame stability, and pollutant formation. Coverage includes laminar and turbulent flames, premixed and diffusion flames, and detonations. Emphasis is placed on the role that Kinetics, heat transfer, mass transfer, and fluid dynamics have on flame structure and flame stability. The course includes some laboratory demonstrations of flat flame and diffusion flame burners, and incorporates numerical calculations of thermodynamic and kinetic combustion phenomena. The course begins with a review of transport phenomena, physical gas dynamics, and thermochemistry. Then, the concept of the laminar flame speed is introduced in the context of a one-dimensional flame and a propagating chemical wave. Issues of premixed flame structure and stability are presented along with a discussion of flammability limits. Next, laminar diffusion flames are presented via the Burke-Schumann analysis. From laminar flames, the emphasis shifts to turbulent premixed and diffusion flames, and the concepts of flame stretch and strain. Detonations are considered, with emphasis on thermodynamic analysis of the detonation and the structure of the detonation wave. Details of chemical kinetics for the hydrogen-oxygen and hydrocarbon-air reaction systems are presented, with linkage back to earlier topics such as flame stabilization and flammability limits. After kinetic phenomena, the course then considers pollutant formation focusing on soot and NOx. The fundamental aspects of combustion are applied to analysis of the combustion process and pollutant formation in international combustion engines and catalytic combustors. The course wraps up with discussion of atmospheric chemistry, the fate of pollutants, and the formation of secondary pollutants.