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The effect of mixture ratio on combustion characteristics of n-propyl alcohol–water binary mixture

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Abstract

The combustion characteristics of n-propyl alcohol–water blended fuel with various mixture ratios were investigated. A round pool with a diameter of 30 cm was employed. Mass loss rate, temperature profiles at flame centerline, and flame shape were recorded during the combustion process. A balance was employed to measure the fuel mass loss, and a digital video camera with the maximum capture rate of 25 frames per second was employed for flame images. The centerline temperature and fuel temperature were measured by K-type thermocouples. The results show that the burning behaviors of the blended fuel are less active than that of the pure fuel. Compared with individual pure fuel, the mass loss rate, flame height, and centerline temperature of the blended fuel are lower. The mass loss rate and flame height profiles clearly exhibit three typical stages: initial development stage, quasi-steady burning stage, and decay stage. Azeotropic phenomenon can be observed in the process of the blended fuel combustion, and the azeotropism dominates the whole quasi-steady burning stage. The correlations of mass loss rate, mean and maximum flame heights and the centerline temperature were proposed for n-propyl alcohol–water blended fuels.

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Abbreviations

\(\eta\) :

n-Propyl alcohol mass fraction in the blended fuel

\(Me\) :

n-Propyl alcohol mass, g

\(Mt\) :

Total mass of blended fuel, g

\(\dot{m}^{\prime \prime }\) :

Average mass loss rate, kg m−2 s−1, in Eq. (1)

\(I\left( H \right)\) :

Intermittent rate

H :

Flame height, m

D :

Diameter of pool, m

\(\dot{Q}\) :

Heat release rate, J s−1

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass loss rate, kg m−2 s−1

\(\Delta H_{\text{c}}\) :

Calorific value of fuel, J kg−1

\(\Delta T_{0}\) :

Centerline values of mean excess temperature, K

\(T_{\infty }\) :

Ambient temperature, K

\(\dot{Q}_{\text{c}}\) :

Convective heat release rate, J s−1

\(\alpha\) :

Convective heat coefficient for above blended fuel

\(z\) :

Elevation above the fire source, m

\(z_{0}\) :

Elevation of the virtual origin above the fire source, m

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, Anhui, China

    Haoran Liu, Changjian Wang, Qiyin Luo, Hao Sun & Shenlin Yang

  2. State Grid Anhui Electric Power Research Institute, Hefei, 230601, China

    Jiaqing Zhang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China

    Mingjun Xu

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  1. Haoran Liu
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  2. Changjian Wang
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Correspondence to Changjian Wang.

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Liu, H., Wang, C., Zhang, J. et al. The effect of mixture ratio on combustion characteristics of n-propyl alcohol–water binary mixture. J Therm Anal Calorim 134, 2255–2264 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7281-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7281-0

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