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Ecole Nationale Supé rieure de Mé canique et d'Aé rotechnique, Futuroscope Chasseneuil Cedex, FranceThis work presents results of quenching distance and heat flux measurements during the head-on quenching of transient laminar stoichiometric methane=air flame in the pressure range 0.05-1.7 MPa. The results of direct visualization have been used to measure the quenching distance and to prove the relationship relating the quenching distance and heat flux to the wall over the global combustion reaction rate. It is shown that quenching distance decreases from 0.43 to 0.016 mm with pressure rise from 0.05 to 1.7 MPa. The maximum wall heat flux increases nonlinearly from 0.35 to 2.3 MW=m 2 with pressure rise from 0.05 to 1.7 MPa. The dimensionless value of the heat flux depends only slightly on the pressure and decreases from 0.3 to 0.2 with rise of pressure in this pressure range. Flame-wall interaction time is about constant and equal to 0.15-0.155 ms in all ranges of pressure variation.

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The homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion process is an advanced operating mode for automotive engines. The self-ignition mechanisms that occur within the combustion chamber exhibit extreme temperature dependence. Therefore, the thorough understanding of corresponding phenomena requires the use of diagnostic methods featuring a sufficient thermal sensitivity, applicable in severe conditions similar to those encountered within engines. In this respect, toluene planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) is applied to the inert compression flow generated within an optical rapid compression machine (RCM). A relatively simple diagnostic system is retained: a single wavelength excitation device (266 nm) and a single (filtered) collection system. This diagnostic system is associated with an image processing strategy specifically adapted to RCM devices. Despite the severe conditions under consideration (40 bar, 700–950 K), the method allows us to obtain relatively large two-dimensional temperature fields that display a level of description seldom achieved in such devices. In particular the temperature gradients, which play a crucial role in HCCI combustion processes, can be estimated. The present experimental results confirm the good reliability and accuracy of the method. The information gathered with this toluene PLIF method puts in evidence its high potentialities for the study of aero-thermal-reactive processes as they take place in real engine conditions. The retained strategy also brings new possibilities of non-intrusive analysis for flows practically encountered within industrial devices.

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Experimental and modelling studies of ion formation during combustion of propane/air mixtures are presented. The positive and negative ions mass/charge spectra in propane/air stoichiometric flame at atmospheric pressure are recorded in the range from 0 to 512 atomic mass units. The C 2 H 3 O + and HCO − 2 ions are found to be the most abundant ionic species in the flame front region. By increasing the distance from the flame front the ion composition changes significantly. In the burnt gas region the H 3 O + , NO + , CO − 3 , HCO − 3 ions are found to be the major charged species. To explain the experimental results the extended kinetic model describing the ion formation in flame and in the extraction system of the mass-spectrometer as well as ion-soot interaction is developed. It is shown that the ionic clusters, which are observed experimentally, form during the adiabatic expansion in the extraction system, and the presence of soot particles may change the total positive and negative ion concentrations in the gas phase.