Autoignition behavior of unsaturated hydrocarbons in the low and high temperature regions

In this work, numerical and experimental techniques are used to investigate the effect of the position of the double bond on the ignition properties of pentene and hexene linear isomers. A wide-range kinetic model for the oxidation of C-5-C-6 linear alkenes has been developed. Literature rapid compression machine data were used to validate the model at low temperatures of 660-850 K and new shock tube experiments were performed in order to assess the behavior of the considered alkenes in the high temperature region of 990-1770 K. The experiments and mechanism validations were performed at pressures up to 11 atm to validate the mechanism at conditions found in internal combustion engines. Some interesting inversions in the relative reactivity of the isomers were detected as the temperature is increased. The model successfully reproduced the measured behavior and allowed insight into the reason for these reactivity changes. The information gathered will be applied to the development of the kinetic mechanisms of larger unsaturated components. (C) 2010 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.