Shock tube ignition delay time measurements in propane/O2/argon mixtures at near-constant-volume conditions

Shock tube measurements of ignition delay times with high activation energies are strongly sensitive to variations in reflected shock temperatures. At longer shock tube test times, as are needed at low reaction temperatures, small gradual increases in pressure (and simultaneous increases in temperature) that result from incident shock wave attenuation and boundary layer growth can significantly shorten measured ignition delay times. To obviate this pressure increase, we made use of a recently developed driver-insert method of Hong et al. [8] that allows generation of near-constant-volume test conditions for reflected shock measurements. Using this method, we have measured propane ignition delay times in a lean mixture (0.8% C3H8/8% O2/Ar) over temperatures between 980 and 1400 K and nominal pressures of 6, 24 and 60 atm, under both conventional shock tube operation (with post-shock fractional pressure variation dP5/dt ∼ 1–7%/ms) and near-constant-volume operation (with dP5/dt ∼ 0%/ms). The near-constant-volume ignition delay times provide a database for low-temperature propane model development that is independent of non-ideal fluid flow and heat transfer effects. Comparisons of these near-constant-volume measurements with predictions using the JetSurF v1.0 mechanism of Sirjean et al. [10] and the Curran et al. mechanism of NUI Galway [5] were performed. Ignition delay times measured with dP5/dt ∼ 1–7%/ms were found to be significantly shorter (about 1/3 of the near-constant-volume values) at the lowest temperatures and highest pressures studied. However, these ignition times are successfully simulated using the JetSurF v1.0 mechanism when an appropriate gasdynamic model that accounts for changes in pressure and temperature is used.