Reduced kinetic model for the combustion of n-cetane and heptamethylnonane based on a primary reference fuel reduced kinetic model

Abstract

A reduced kinetic model for the combustion of n-heptane, i-octane, n-cetane and heptamethylnonane was developed based on a prior model designed for use with a primary reference fuel consisting of n-heptane and i-octane. The present model, which can be easily employed in conjunction with a conventional computational fluid dynamics code, contains 59 chemical species and 96 reactions. Predicted ignition delay times under high pressure and temperature conditions were generated using this new kinetic model and compared with those obtained from full kinetic models. The results indicate that the general trends exhibited by the ignition delay times as temperature and pressure are varied are accurately predicted with this reduced model. The present model was also combined with a commercial computational fluid dynamics code and used to simulate the ignition of a diesel spray at high pressure and temperature. Finally, the effects of the cetane number of the fuel on the ignition process were investigated.