title: The effect of azeotropism on combustion characteristics of blended fuel pool fire.
abstract: The effect of azeotropism on combustion characteristics of blended fuel pool fire was experimentally studied in an open fire test space of State Key Laboratory of Fire Science. A 30 cm × 30 cm square pool filled with n-heptane and ethanol blended fuel was employed. Flame images, burning rate and temperature distribution were collected and recorded in the whole combustion process. Results show that azeotropism obviously dominates the combustion behavior of n-heptane/ethanol blended fuel pool fire. The combustion process after ignition exhibits four typical stages: initial development, azeotropic burning, single-component burning and decay stage. Azeotropism appears when temperature of fuel surface reaches azeotropic point and blended fuel burns at azeotropic ratio. Compared with individual pure fuel, the effect of azeotropism on main fire parameters, such as flame height, burning rate, flame puffing frequency and centerline temperature were analyzed. Burning rate and centerline temperature of blended fuel are higher than that of individual pure fuel respectively at azeotropic burning stage, and flame puffing frequency follows the empirical formula between Strouhal and Froude number for pure fuel.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Heifei 230027, China.
authors.forename: Yanming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Heifei 230027, China. Electronic address: chjwang@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Changjian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Heifei 230027, China. Electronic address: sxlu@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shouxiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000431:Ethanol; D005390:Fires; D006536:Heptanes; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D006536:Heptanes; D000431:Ethanol; C028618:n-heptane
keywords: Azeotropism; Burning rate; Centerline temperature; Flame height; Pool fire