Development and application of a surrogate distillate fuel

A surrogate fuel comprised of 14 pure hydrocarbons is formulated based on the distillation curve and compound class composition of a petroleum-derived JP-4. The goal is to establish a fuel of controlled composition for modeling, and for the study of fuel property and chemical composition effects in the combustion of JP-4 fuels. Spatially resolved interferometric measurements of droplet size and droplet velocity are obtained and compared for both the petroleum and surrogate JP-4 in a nonreacting spray chamber. Measurements are also obtained for a high aromatic JP-5 of purposefully disparate properties. The performance of these three fuels is then compared in a swirl-stabilized, spray-atomized model laboratory combustor where in-flame measurements of velocity and temperature are acquired and compared. The nonreacting measurements of atomization quality establish that the atomization characteristics of the petroleum and surrogate JP-4 are identical, whereas the atomization performance of the JP-5 is significantly different. Under reacting conditions, substantial differences between the JP-4 and JP-5 are observed in both the velocity and thermal fields, whereas the surrogate, in contrast, yields an identical velocity and thermal field to that of the petroleum JP-4. © 1989, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., All rights reserved