Kinetic and fuel property effects on forward smoldering combustion

In this paper, we present the results from a one-dimensional transient model of forward smoldering. Fuel oxidation and pyrolysis reactions as well as a char oxidation reaction are included in the model. The solid energy, solid species, gas energy, oxygen species (bulk gas and surface), and overall mass conservation equations were discretized in space using finite-difference techniques and were solved using VODE, an ordinary differential equation integrator designed for stiff equations. Local thermal and chemical nonequilibrium are allowed in this model and transfer coefficients are derived from a Nusselt number correlation. A base case is chosen to represent experimental conditions reported in the literature. The effects of inlet gas velocity, kinetic frequency factors, inlet oxygen concentration, and fuel properties such as specific heat, density, conductivity, and pore diameter were studied using this model. (C) 1999 by The Combustion Institute.