Engineering Combustion Essentials

Book excerpt: Whether in the Stone Age or in Greek mythology, fire has always been the essence of life. As G.G. Brown put it in 1928, “Combustion is without exaggeration the most important reaction to the human race. All human and animal existence depends upon combustion as its course of energy.” This book provides a detailed description of the elements of combustion, offering descriptive figures, illustrative quips, and analogies to facilitate understanding. It begins with some historical highlights of the understanding of combustion and technological progresses. It then discusses the thermodynamic and chemical kinetics underlying the fast chemical reactions, before expounding on the fundamental combustion wave, or flame. After this, the book moves onto the premixed turbulent flame and the spark-ignited turbulent flame, before considering the diffusion-controlled, non-premixed flame in both laminar and turbulent forms. The book concludes with explanations of wonderful natural combustion, fire, fire-retarding slime and DNA, and the amazing bombardier beetle.