Efficient Development of Accurate Detailed Combustion Chemistry Models

摘要

A large number of alternative fuels have been proposed recently to supplement conventional petroleum, many of them based on bioengineering organisms to produce specific fuel molecules. It is not practical to synthesize large quantities of each of these proposed fuels and to then test their performance in every potential future engine over the full operating range. We are pursuing the alternative approach of predicting the combustion chemistry of each new fuel, and then using the computer to make a preliminary assessment of which fuels are worth pursuing. This requires an efficient method for constructing accurate combustion chemistry models. Recent successes of this approach will be presented, with the focus on the chemistry of the butanol isomers, and some unresolved challenges will be outlined.