The Effect of Turbulence on the Hydrocarbon Emissions from Combustion in a Constant Volume Reactor

A cylindrical combustion bomb with dynamic charging system and electro-hydraulic sampling valve is used to study the effects of turbulence on hydrocarbon (HC) emissions from a quench layer and from artificial crevices. The turbulence level is varied by changing the delay time between induction of combustible charge and ignition. Propane-air mixtures were studied over an initial pressure range of 150 to 500 kPa and equivalence ratios of 0.7 to 1.4.

Sampling valve experiments show that quench-layer fuel hydrocarbons are extensively oxidized within 5 ms of flame arrival under laminar conditions and that turbulence further reduces the already low level. Upper limit estimates of the residual wall layer HC concentration show that residual quench layer hydrocarbons are only a small fraction of the exhaust HC emission.

Artificial crevice experiments show that the exhaust HC emission is directly proportional to crevice volume and that the initial equivalence ratio strongly influences the species distribution in the exhaust. However, the experiments show little effect of turbulence on the HC emission from these crevices,