Fundamental engine fuel studies at intermediate & high pressures & temperatures

Completed

Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Oil and gas combustion)

Basic and strategic applied research

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor D Bradley
Mechanical Engineering
University of Leeds

Standard

EPSRC

01 July 2004

30 June 2007

36 months

£291,206

Mechanical engineering

Yorkshire & Humberside

Mechanical Engineering Responsive -- Materials, Mechanical and Medical Eng

Professor D Bradley, Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds

Dr R Woolley, University of Leeds

Project Contact, Rolls-Royce PLC
Project Contact, Jaguar Land Rover Limited
Project Contact, Shell Global Solutions UK
Project Contact, Alstom Power Ltd
Project Contact, Lotus Engineering

Growing concern about global warming, atmospheric pollution, and energy conservation have prompted far-reaching remedial measures. These cover the use of new fuels, new types of power unit and new modes of burning. Changes are likely to be evolutionary and the internal combustion engine will co-exist for some time with fuel cells and batteries. In the coming decades combustion will probably be of lean mixtures, burning in both deflagrative and autoignitive modes. Because of this and compatibility with fuel cells, a number of new fuels can be envisaged. The proposal embraces the lean combustion of some possible fuels, most in the deflagrative, but some in the autoignitive mode. Most previous fundamental combustion studies have only been able to obtain satisfactory data on flame structure and burning rates at pressures of a few atmospheres. Engines operate at high pressures, at which flame instabilities can become increasingly important. It therefore is proposed to develop a novel explosion bomb technique to enable measurements to be made up to about 40 atmospheres in the final stages of explosions. Optical access to the flames will enable their structures and burning mechanisms to be observed, while high speed photography will be used to determine laminar and turbulent burning velocities.

01/01/07