1Department of Mechanical Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA.
2Shouman Associates Engineering, 1006 Bloomdale Dr., Las Cruces, NM 88005, USA.
*E-mail: bdonalds@nmsu.edu
**E-mail: yilmaznadir@yahoo.com
***E-mail: shouman@zianet.com
Correlation in the literature between lower flammability limit and enthalpy of combustion are examined in light of the thermal explosion theory. When the calculated average equivalence ratio was used to predict the LFL, the value obtained was found to be higher than the measured LFL by 7%. When a modified equivalence ratio (the ratio of the fuel mole fraction to the mole fraction of the fuel in the stoichiometric mixture) was used instead, the predicted LFL value was lower than the measured value by 22%. These observations allow estimation of bounds for flammability limits when data is not available. It was also found that the enthalpy of reaction of 113 of the compounds correlates linearly with number of moles of oxygen needed for stoichiometric combustion of the fuel.
Lower Flammability Limit, Upper Flammability Limit, Thermal Explosion Theory
