Measurement of Laminar Burning Speeds and Investigation of Flame Stability of Acetylene (C₂H₂)/Air Mixtures

Laminar burning speeds and flame structures of spherically expanding flames of mixtures of acetylene (C2H2) with air have been investigated over a wide range of equivalence ratios, temperatures, and pressures. Experiments have been conducted in a constant volume cylindrical vessel with two large end windows. The vessel was installed in a shadowgraph system equipped with a high speed CMOS camera, capable of taking pictures up to 40,000 frames per second. Shadowgraphy was used to study flame structures and transition from smooth to cellular flames during flame propagation. Pressure measurements have been done using a pressure transducer during the combustion process. Laminar burning speeds were measured using a thermodynamic model employing the dynamic pressure rise during the flame propagation. Burning speeds were measured for temperature range of 300 to 590 K and pressure range of 0.5 to 3.3 atmospheres, and the range of equivalence ratios covered from 0.6 to 2. The measured values of burning speeds compared well with existing data and extended for a wider range of temperatures. Burning speed measurements have only been reported for smooth and laminar flames.