Numerical Investigation of Laminar Flame Speed of Gasoline - Ethanol/Air Mixtures with Varying Pressure, Temperature and Dilution

A numerical analysis was performed to study the variation of the laminar burning speed of gasoline-ethanol blend, pressure, temperature and dilution using the one-dimensional premixed flame code CHEMKIN™. A semi-detailed validated chemical kinetic model (142 species and 672 reactions) for a gasoline surrogate fuel was used. The pure components in the surrogate fuel consist of n-heptane, isooctane and toluene. The ethanol mole fraction was varied from 0 to 85 percent, initial pressure from 4 to 8 bar, initial temperature from 300 to 600K, and the EGR dilution from 0 to 32% to represent the in-cylinder conditions of a spark-ignition engine. The laminar flame speed is found to increase with ethanol concentration and temperature but decrease with pressure and dilution. A correlation has been proposed to calculate laminar flame speeds of gasoline-ethanol/air mixtures at different pressures, temperatures, and EGR that can be used in parametric burn rate combustion models for engine simulation.