• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.12-22
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• 2004

In order to evaluate the potential of partial hydrocarbon substitution to improve the safety of hydrogen use in general and the performance of internal combustion engines in particular, the outward propagation and development of surface cellular instability of spark-ignited spherical premixed flames of mixtures of hydrogen, hydrocarbon, and air were experimentally studied at NTP (normal temperature and pressure) condition in a constant-pressure combustion chamber. With propane being the substituent, the laminar burning velocities, the Markstein lengths, and the propensity of cell formation were experimentally determined, while the laminar burning velocities and the associated flame thicknesses were computed using a recent kinetic mechanism. Results show substantial reduction of laminar burning velocities with propane substitution, and support the potential of propane as a suppressant of both diffusional-thermal and hydrodynamic cellular instabilities in hydrogen-air flames.