Ignition delay study of aluminium oxide liquid nano-fuel in a shock tube

Abstract

The ignition delay of aluminium oxide (Al2O3) liquid nano-fuel was compared with that of base-fuel to study the feasibility of its use for high-speed aerospace applications. The base-fuel was aviation turbine fuel that was mixed with Al2O3 nanoparticles to produce a nano-fuel which could be used for regenerative cooling of the combustor walls before injection. The experiments were carried out in a shock tube. The fuel was introduced into the shock tube in the form of a wall droplet. The ignition delay time of the nano-fuel was observed to increase slightly, by about 11% (maximum) in comparison with the baseline, at an equivalence ratio of unity.