With increasing concerns of energy security and climate change, development of alternative fuels and advanced engine technologies using high pressure, low temperature, thermal and compositional stratified flow, homogeneous charge compression ignition, and non-equilibrium plasma discharge combustion at near flammability limit conditions provide potential approaches to increasing energy efficiency and reducing air pollutant emissions. The recent nuclear accident in Japan further emphasizes that combustion will remain a major energy source for even longer than previously forecast. New combustion technologies at extreme conditions often lead to increased flame instability and incomplete combustion. It is also of great importance to advance fundamental understanding of ignition and flame chemistry at extreme conditions to achieve accurate control of ignition timing, heat release rate, flame instability as well as emission.
To better understand this subject, NSF will support the 1st International Workshop on Flame Chemistry from July 28 to 29, 2012 in Warsaw of Poland before the 34th International Symposium. The goal of this workshop is to assemble 60 experts and young researchers in combustion chemistry, flames, modeling, and diagnostics to identify the pathways for the development of predictive high pressure flame chemistry and collaborative research. The workshop plans to have 15 to 40-minutes invited lectures on high pressure chemistry, kinetic mechanism, combustion diagnostics, flame chemistry, and laminar and turbulent transport; young researchers poster presentations; and separate panel discussions on key challenges, opportunities, and international collaborations. The workshop will review the recent progresses in flame chemistry and dynamics, to identify the pathways for the development of predictive high-pressure flame chemistry in turbulent flows, and to establish an international collaborative research relationship. In addition it will provide opportunities for young researchers to interact with experts. The workshop addresses the key problems in combustion with new fuels, strong turbulence, and high pressure. It is the first workshop of this kind. Several challenges in high pressure flame chemistry will be addressed and this workshop will make focused recommendations of the grand challenge topics in flame chemistry to combustion research community. It will also formulate collaborative relationships in research and education. This workshop is expected to activate international collaboration in high pressure flame chemistry, accelerate the knowledge transfer between researchers, and provide a good opportunity to nurse the next generation leaders in combustion. Detailed information will be available on the following website: http://engine.princeton.edu/1st-flamechemistry-workshop/The_1st_Flame_Chemistry_Workshop-draft.pdf
The 1st International Workshop on Flame Chemistry was held in Warsaw, Poland from July 28 to 29, 2012. The goal this workshop was to assemble experts in combustion chemistry, flames, kinetic modeling, and diagnostics to identify the gap of knowledge and pathways for the development of predictive high pressure flame chemistry and to establish framework of collaborative research. The Workshop had four invited lecture sessions with 10 invited lectures, respectively, on Flame Chemistry and Transport, Elementary Reactions and Kinetics, Uncertainty Quantification of Mechanisms, and Combustion Diagnostics; one poster session; and three panel discussion sessions. 130 professional researchers and graduate students attended the workshop. The three panel discussions came up with recommendations of future research, data sharing and collaboration. The presented work including lecture slides, poster presentations, and a summary of the major discussion topics and research recommendation were made available on the Workshop Website: www.princeton.edu/~yju/1st_flame_chemistry_workshop.html. The workshop was very successful and led to one international collaboration topic on high pressure propene kinetics. In addition, it provided an excellent opportunity for researchers from different countries to exchange research information and share research experience and techniques. All participants agreed to continue this workshop in 2014. The workshop was jointly supported by the AFOSR European Office of Aerospace Research (EOARD), Office of Naval Research (ONR), and National Science Foundation (NSF).
