Correlating laminar burning velocities using perfectly stirred reactor theory

Published values of laminar burning velocity (LBV) of several gaseous fuel/oxidant mixtures, e.g., CH₄/air, C₃H₈/O₂, NH₃/O₂, CO/air, were correlated with a calculated quantity based on the thermal diffusivity of the feed mixture and the space time at extinction (blowout) of a hypothetical perfectly stirred reactor. The stirred combustor calculation was not enough to correlate the burning velocities, thus relative transport rates were included, as with the thermal diffusivities. The method provided an engineering approach to calculate LBV of fuel/oxidant pairs assuming detailed reaction mechanisms are available. It was suggested that the correlation be extended to even more fuel/oxidant systems, including fuel gas mixtures, elevated pressures, and different feed temperatures.