Variation of burning velocity of laminar flames with pressure by the burner-area method

• Main Author: Charles, John M.
• Format: Others
• Published: 1954
• Online Access: https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/4710/1/charles_jm_1954.pdf; Charles, John M. (1954) Variation of burning velocity of laminar flames with pressure by the burner-area method. Engineer's thesis, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/PVFG-9X18. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-12022003-160702 <https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-12022003-160702>

Because of the disagreement in the published data on the effect of pressure on the burning velocity of laminar flames a general study was undertaken at the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory to determine the variation of burning velocity with pressure by the burner-area method. This report is a portion of that study. The mixtures utilized for this investigation were ethylene-air, isobutylene-air, propylene-oxygen-nitrogen, and propylene-air. Expressing the pressure dependence of burning velocity as p[superscript n], the value found for n is ?0.13 for ethylene-air, -0.186 for isobutylene-air, -0.153 for propylene-oxygen-nitrogen, and ?0.132 for propylene-air. The results compare reasonably well with the experimental findings of Pardee (10), Cullen (6), and Culshaw and Garside (5). At atmospheric pressure the values of burning velocity of the mixtures studied in this report are in close agreement with several experimental investigators. Also investigated was the effect on the burning velocity of a mixture of acetylene-oxygen with the addition of helium. The trend found is that the burning velocity of an acetylene-oxygen mixture increases with the addition of helium up to a maximum at a certain percentage of helium and then decreases as more helium is added.