In this study, the response of a liquid-fueled resonant pulse combustor to changes in
liquid fuel composition was investigated. Experiments were performed with gasoline-
ethanol, gasoline-diesel, and gasoline-heptane mixtures selected to produce meaningful variations in the ignition delay time. A review of ignition quality tester (IQT) data provided an expected increase in the overall delay for gasoline-ethanol mixtures with increasing ethanol concentrations, and a decrease for gasoline-diesel mixtures with increasing diesel concentrations in the mixture.
By taking the phase of the ion signal as an indicator of heat release timing, the experimental results showed an agreement of gasoline-ethanol cases with the IQT data with a near linear increase with increasing ethanol concentrations. However, for gasoline-diesel, there exit no linear relation with
the IQT data. For the case of gasoline-heptane mixtures, the results showed a linear
decrease in delay with increasing heptane concentrations.
Furthermore, it was shown that small changes in the physical properties of the fuel can significantly in sequence the cold-start operation of the combustor and alter the coupling between the unsteady
heat release and resonant acoustic pressure wave during resonant operation. Dynamic
combustion chamber pressure, stagnation temperature and pressure are recorded after a fixed warm-up time to characterize the performance and operation of the device.
Results are interpreted in the context of fuel sensitivity and performance optimization
of a resonant pulse combustor for pressure gain turbine applications.
Date of Award | Jul 2018 |
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Original language | English (US) |
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Awarding Institution | - Physical Sciences and Engineering
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Supervisor | William Roberts (Supervisor) |
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- Pulse combustor
- Pressure gain
- Liquid Fuels