Impact of temperature-dependent speciation data on the development of HyChem Model for RP-3 kerosene

Modeling the combustion chemistry of multi-component liquid fuels, such as RP-3 kerosene, faces intricate challenges. A recently proposed HyChem approach offers a physics-based modeling path, with models constrained by experimental speciation data followed by validation by global combustion properties. Intermediate speciation data obtained under appropriate temperature and/or reaction time are crucial for the HyChem model development, yet their impact has not been fully elucidated. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the impact of temperature-dependent speciation data on the development of HyChem models. Pyrolysis and oxidation experiments were conducted in a flow reactor system over a temperature range of 1000 K–1355 K to characterize the distribution of critical intermediate species during RP-3 decomposition. Multiple HyChem models were developed based on speciation data obtained from experiments conducted at various temperatures. These models were subsequently validated using global combustion properties, specifically ignition delay time and laminar flame speed. The HyChem models were developed using speciation datasets from various temperatures, resulting in different stoichiometric and rate coefficients in their fuel decomposition submodel. Despite these differences, most models showed remarkably consistent predictions that closely aligned with experimental measurements of global combustion properties. The above findings in the present study may relieve the researchers in the selection and determination of experimental conditions for obtaining speciation data to the development of HyChem models.