Ignition delay times of methyl oleate and methyl linoleate behind reflected shock waves

Ignition delay times for methyl oleate (C19H36O2, CAS: 112-62-9) and methyl linoleate (C19H34O2, CAS: 112-63-0) were measured for the first time behind reflected shock waves, using an aerosol shock tube. The aerosol shock tube enabled study of these very-low-vapor-pressure fuels by introducing a spatially-uniform fuel aerosol/4% oxygen/argon mixture into the shock tube and employing the incident shock wave to produce complete fuel evaporation, diffusion, and mixing. Reflected shock conditions covered temperatures from 1100 to 1400 K, pressures of 3.5 and 7.0 atm, and equivalence ratios from 0.6 to 2.4. Ignition delay times for both fuels were found to be similar over a wide range of conditions. The most notable trend in the observed ignition delay times was that the pressure and equivalence ratio scaling were a strong function of temperature, and exhibited cross-over temperatures at which there was no sensitivity to either parameter. Data were also compared to the biodiesel kinetic mechanism of Westbrook et al. (2011) [10], which underpredicts ignition delay times by about 50%. Differences between experimental and computed ignition delay times were strongly related to existing errors and uncertainties in the thermochemistry of the large methyl ester species, and when these were corrected, the kinetic simulations agreed significantly better with the experimental measurements.