A shock tube study of ignition delay times in diluted methane, ethylene, propene and their blends at elevated pressures

Ignition delay times (IDT) of small hydrocarbons at elevated pressures provide a valuable constraint for the refinement of the core small-hydrocarbon sub-mechanisms used in all combustion kinetics. Current knowledge of these core mechanisms is based largely on low-pressure data, with only limited high-pressure data available. To remedy this, the present study focuses on ignition delay times in methane, ethylene, propene and their blends at elevated pressures. IDT measurements were performed in 4% O₂, balance Ar mixtures, over the temperature range of 950–1800 K, at pressures of 14–60 atm and equivalence ratios of 1 and 2. IDT was determined from recorded sidewall pressure, OH^∗ emission measurements and fuel time-histories measured using laser absorption at 3.39 μm. These measurements extend the test conditions of earlier studies, with the advantage that they have all been performed at similar conditions and with the same facility and should provide a uniform set of kinetics targets for the evaluation of core small-hydrocarbon mechanisms. This dataset also allowed the temperature variation of the pressure and equivalence ratio scaling for methane and ethylene IDT to be investigated.