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Combustion of N-butane and isobutane in an internal combustion engine: A comparison of experimental and modeling results
Journal article   Open access

Combustion of N-butane and isobutane in an internal combustion engine: A comparison of experimental and modeling results

R.D. Wilk, W.J. Pitz, C.K. Westbrook, S. Addagarla, D.L. Miller, N.P. Cernansky and R.M. Green
Symposium, International, on Combustion, v 23(1), pp 1047-1053
1991
url
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6966527View

Abstract

n-Butane and isobutane are used in a test engine to examine the importance of molecular structure in determining knock tendency. The experimental results are interpreted using a detailed chemical kinetic model. Temporally resolved samples were withdrawn from the combustion chamber, providing measured histories of the concentrations of a wide variety of reactant, olefin, carbonyl, and other intermediate and product species. Calculations show that RO 2 isomerization reactions are more important contributors to chain branching in the oxidation of n-butane than isobutane. Chain branching in isobutane oxidation is dependent on H-atom abstraction reactions involving HO 2 and CH 3O 2 radicals that occur at higher temperatures than RO 2 isomerization reactions. Therefore, an isobutane mixture must be raised to a higher temperature than a n-butane mixture to achieve the same overall rate of reaction.

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