Shock-Induced C₂H₂ Pyrolysis and CO Emissivity

Citation

Hooker, William Joseph (1958) Shock-Induced C₂H₂ Pyrolysis and CO Emissivity. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/J37Y-C144. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-10072004-144737

Abstract

PART I: Shock Tube Studies of Acetylene Decomposition

Extensive experimental studies have been conducted on the rate of decomposition of argon-acetylene mixtures by means of shock waves. Activation energies of 26 and 33 kcal/mole, respectively, have been found for the first- and second-order decomposition reactions of acetylene.

A well defined curve of temperature versus induction time for incipient carbon formation has been established. Analysis of these data suggests that possibly a somewhat better correlation is obtained for decomposition reactions of order n=1 and n=1.5 than for n=2. The corresponding activation energies are 10, 13 and 16 kcal/mole for n= 1, 1.5 and 2, respectively.

The effects of impurity and diluent gas radiation, as well as molecular and solid particle light scattering, have been shown to have a negligibly small influence on the results.

PART II: An Analysis of Equilibrium Infrared Gas Emissivities for Diatomic Molecules Based on a Just-overlapping Rotational Line Model

General equations are developed for the engineering emissivity of diatomic molecules with equally intense R- and P-branches and just-overlapping rotational line structures. Integral expressions for the emissivity are evaluated by exact numerical integration and by approximate series representations.

The results are applied to the molecules CO and HC ℓ. Comparisons are made with emissivity predictions for the same molecules with a completely overlapped rotational line model and an isolated rotational line model. The theoretical emissivity calculations for CO are in fair accord with empirically determined estimates.

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