Combustion Characteristics of N-Butanol/N-Heptane Blend Using Reduced Chemical Kinetic Mechanism

The detailed mechanisms of n-heptane and n-butanol were reduced for the target condition of ignition delay time using the direct relationship diagram method based on error transfer, the direct relationship diagram method based on coupling error transfer and sensitivity analysis, and the total material sensitivity analysis method. The reduced n-heptane (132 species and 585 reactions) and n-butanol (82 species and 383 reactions) were used to verify the ignition delay time and concentrations of the major species, respectively. The results showed that the reduced mechanism has a good prediction ability for the ignition delay time. The predicted mole fraction results of the major species were in good agreement. These reduced mechanisms were combined to finally construct a reduced mechanism for the n-heptane/butanol fuel mixture, which included 166 species and 746 reactions. Finally, the reduced mechanism was used to simulate the HCCI combustion mode, and the results showed that the reduced mechanism can better predict the ignition and combustion timings of HCCI under different conditions and maintain the ignition and combustion characteristics of the detailed mechanism; this indicates that the mechanism model constructed in this study is reliable.

Automated summary

The mechanisms of n-heptane and n-butanol were reduced using different methods and the reduced mechanisms were verified. The reduced mechanism showed good prediction ability for ignition delay time and concentrations of major species. A simplified mechanism for n-heptane/butanol fuel mixture was constructed, which can accurately predict the ignition and combustion timings of HCCI under different conditions.