Effect of Ignition Delay Time on Autoignited Laminar Lifted Flames

Autoignition characteristic is an important parameter for designing diesel or PCCI engines. In particular, diesel spray flames are lifted from the nozzle and the initial flame is formed by an autoignition phenomenon. The lifted nature of diesel spray flames influences soot formation, since air will be entrained into the spray core by the entrainment of air between the nozzle region and the lifted flame base. The objective of the present study was to identify the effect of heat loss on the ignition delay time by adopting a coflow jet as a model problem. Methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4), ethane (C2H6), propene (C3H6), propane (C3H8), and normal butane (n-C4H10) fuels were injected into high temperature air, and the liftoff height was measured experimentally. As the result, a correlation was determined between the liftoff height of the autoignited lifted flame and the ignition delay time considering the heat loss to the atmosphere.