Experimental Database for Development of a HiFiRE JP-7 Surrogate Fuel Mechanism

We report on the status of an experimental chemical kinetics database for the HiFiRE JP-7 surrogate fuel. HiFiRE hypersonic flight tests are being performed with a twocomponent gas-phase surrogate simulating partially-cracked JP-7. This two-component surrogate (36% methane/64% ethylene) closely simulates the behavior of partially-cracked JP-7 in ignition, extinction and flame strength experimental tests. Accurate CFD modeling of HiFiRE engine behavior requires the development of a high-fidelity reaction mechanism that can simulate the performance of this surrogate under various combustion conditions. Our experimental chemical kinetics database includes shock tube/laser absorption measurements of ignition delay times, species concentration time-histories, and individual elementary reaction rate constants over a wide range of temperature, pressure and mixture conditions. The development of this reaction mechanism uses a hierarchical approach based on an improved H2/O2 sub-mechanism developed at Stanford University and a C2 submechanism validated using this new chemical kinetics database.