Development of a novel high-pressure well-stirred turbulent combustor for kinetic studies at gas turbine conditions

A novel autoignition-assisted, high-temperature High-Pressure Well-Stirred Turbulent Combustor (HP-WSTC) has been developed for detailed kinetic studies of fuels under gas-turbine conditions that were difficult to obtain with conventional reactors and flame chemistry facilities. It is designed for operations at 1–20 atm, 1200–2200 K, and residence times of 1–100 ms, enabling treatment as a zero-dimensional premixed-combustion system. Methane combustion experiments at 1–10 atm were compared with 0D simulations, showing good agreement for major species across a wide equivalence-ratio range, demonstrating the reliability of the HP-WSTC. Although methane combustion kinetics are well established, NO predictions still show large discrepancies, even at atmospheric pressure. Sensitivity analyses identify CH-pool reactions, including CH 2 + O 2 = CH 2 O + O and CH + CO 2 = HCO + CO, as key uncertain reactions. The developed HP-WSTC provides a new platform for fuel kinetic investigations and bridges the gap between reactor and flame facilities for high-temperature kinetic studies under gas-turbine conditions.