Modeling the kinetics of the Shockless Explosion Combustion

The Shockless Explosion Combustion (SEC) is a novel approach to approximating constant volume combustion in gas turbines. It promises an efficiency gain comparable to that of pulse detonation combustion without the drawbacks associated with detonations. It utilizes quasi-homogeneous combustion of a volume of fuel & air mixture to avoid strong shock waves, similar to the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) process in internal combustion engines. Recharging is handled in analogy to a pulse jet combustor through resonant pressure waves in the combustion chamber. To achieve nearly homogeneous auto-ignition, a stratified layer of fuel/air is set up such that almost constant time to ignition remains across the charge once the recharging process is completed. Here we introduce simplified chemical kinetics models that enable efficient computational modeling of the entire process. Based on numerical simulations we assess essential influences of chemical kinetics on the subtle gasdynamics involved in the SEC process and discuss results on its feasibility.