Laminar burning velocity of gasolines with addition of ethanol

The adiabatic laminar burning velocities of a commercial gasoline and of a model fuel (n-heptane, iso-octane, and toluene mixture) of close research octane number have been measured at 358 K. Non-stretched flames were stabilized on a perforated plate burner at 1 atm. The heat flux method was used to determine burning velocities under conditions for which the net heat loss of the flame is zero. Very similar values of flame velocities have been obtained for the commercial gasoline and for the proposed model fuel. The influence of ethanol as an oxygenated additive has been investigated for these two fuels and has been found to be negligible for values up to 15% (vol). Measurements were also performed for ethanol and the three pure components of the model fuel at 298, 358 and 398 K. The results obtained for the studied mixtures, and for pure n-heptane, iso-octane, toluene and ethanol, have been satisfactorily simulated using a detailed kinetic mechanism.