Theory of Combustion Spring 2020

Homework #1
Due Mar 25th, 2020

Please write legibly on ONE SIDE of A4 SIZE paper only. All charts should be
created using Excel or graphing software. STAPLE your pages together. Show all
assumptions and your derivations STEP BY STEP.

1. (10%) Why is the equivalence ratio frequently more meaningful than the air-fuel
(or fuel-air) ratio when comparing different fuels?
2. (10%) Determine the chemical structure of 3-ethtyl-3-methylpentane.
3. (20%) Propellant chemists have proposed a new high energy liquid oxidizer, penta-
oxygen O5, which is also a monopropellant. Calculate the monopropellant
decomposition temperature at a chamber pressure of 10 atm if it assumed the only
products are O atoms and O2 molecules. The heat of formation of the new oxidizer
is estimated to be very high, +1025 kJ/mol. Obviously, the amounts of O2 and O
must be calculated for one mole of O5 decomposing. The O5 enters the system at
298 K. Hint: The answer will lie somewhere between 4000 and 5000 K.
4. (60%) A furnace is operating with propane and air at heat release rate of 100 kW.
It is found that oxygen concentration in the flue gas is 3 % on dry basis, which
means that moisture was taken out before measurements. Assume complete
combustion.
a) Determine the flow rates of propane and air.
b) Determine the equivalence ratio and percent excess air.
c) Determine the adiabatic flame temperature by hand calculation.
d) Calculate adiabatic flame temperatures of the mixtures in part (c) using NASA
CEA, attach the output file.
e) Calculate adiabatic flame temperatures of the mixtures in part (c) using
Cantera adiabatic.py with thermodynamic properties from GRI-Mech 3.0,
attach the input file.
f) Compare the results with the value derived in part (c), (d), and (e). Show your
comparison through a bar chart and discuss the result.

1/1