Computational results are presented supporting the suggestion that the primary process in fuel-rich acetylene combustion is reaction with OH to yield ketene, and that acetylene does not decay, primarily, through the methane family. The methodology for modeling higher hydrocarbon decay is discussed.
A. INTRODUCTION
With increasing utilization of "dirty" hydrocarbon fuels, and increasing concern for the environmental impact of trace pollutants emitted, the combustion community faces a rapidly intensifying requirement to model, in ever greater detail, the combustion chemistry of higher hydrocarbons. It is recognized, of course, that the residence times in most combustors are inadequate to achieve chemical equilibrium, that most trace pollutants of concern (for example, NOx) are formed under kinetically constrained conditions, and that the modeler therefore is forced to solve, in some approximation, the timedependent, nonequilibrium problem. Fortunately, the development of efficient computer codes for the numerical integration of the coupled chemical rate equations now permits rather complex reaction schemes to be routinely tested against experimental data, and reasonably comprehensive mechanisms and refined rate data are proliferating for increasingly complex systems.
B. THE COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGY
Despite the advances cited, the reality of modeling the detailed combustion chemistry of real fuels of current practical interest remains remote, both