| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/C008103/1 |
| Title: |
Towards Asymptotic Description of Flames with Chain-Branching Intermediate Kinetics |
| Principal Investigator: |
Dold, Professor J |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Mathematics |
| Organisation: |
University of Manchester, The |
| Scheme: |
Mathematics Small Grant PreFEC |
| Starts: |
01 February 2005 |
Ends: |
31 March 2007 |
Value (£): |
10,302
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Continuum Mechanics |
Non-linear Systems Mathematics |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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| Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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When gas or petrol burn in air they are normally thought to produce water, carbon dioxide and heat. But there are other compounds that are produced and destroyed in the process, such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, amongst many others. These compounds carry a significant amount of the energy, so that the destruction of the fuel molecules and the oxygen molecules is not turned immediately into heat. Instead, the intermediate compounds act as a buffer between consumption of the fuel and the production of heat. A lot of the mathematical theory of flames has been based on equations that represent the immediate conversion of fuel into heat, but this research project uses a different approach. It takes into account the mediating effect of the transient compounds, in order to find out what difference they make in the nature and behaviour of flames, at least as far as can be learnt through mathematical study. The project will investigate more deeply what are the right sort of equations that will provide a mathematical formulation that is simple enough to be solved using advanced techniques but that represents real processes in real flames reasonably well. Another grant application will be prepared later on to use these equations in studying different kinds of flames once it is clear that a good formulation has been developed. However, there is already one formulation that does include a role for intermediate compounds, but that does not take into account the role of oxygen very well. This will be used right away to study how instabilities can arise in some flames. It will also be used to study an unusual type of flame, known as a flame-ball. Stable flame-balls have been observed when burning hydrogen in experiments carried out in space; one of them even lasted long enough to orbit the Earth aboard a space shuttle, burning very gently and quietly for about 80 minutes.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.man.ac.uk |