Understanding of turbulent combustion remains one of the great challenges in classical physics. Notable efforts have been focused on the topic for more than 70 years, and significant progress has been made especially since the 80’s due to the development of advanced laser diagnostics and computer hardware and algorithms. However, the emphasis has been largely on the fluid mechanics aspects of the problem as it is apparent from the use of one-step chemistry in simulations of highly turbulent flows, while nearly 90% of the experimental studies have been carried out for methane flames. It is unclear though, whether the obtained knowledge can be extrapolated to combustion of real heavy fuels as is the case in internal combustion engines and high-speed air-breathing propulsion. In this presentation a new effort will be outlined in which the effect of fuel composition and chemistry are investigated. A unique facility has been developed at the University of Southern California that allows for achieving Re numbers up to 105 and for handling fuels ranging from hydrogen to C16 hydrocarbons. Preliminary results indicate strong fuel effects on the flame behavior especially at high Re number conditions. Insight has been provided based on potential fluid mechanics effects on the structure of the preheat zone as well as effects due to fuel decomposition.

 

Fokion N. Egolfopoulos received a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in February 1981 and a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University in December 1984. Subsequently, he received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of California at Davis in June 1990, after having spent the last two years of his doctoral research at Princeton University. After his formal education he has been associated with the Combustion and Fuels Laboratory at Princeton University as a Research Associate from June 1990 to August 1991. In August 1991 he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California at the rank of Assistant Professor. In April 1997 he was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and from January

1998 until November of 2001 he was appointed also as Visiting Associate and Lecturer of the Department of Aeronautics at the California Institute of Technology. In June of 2002 we promoted to the rank of Full Professor. In April 2013 he was appointed to the William E. Leonhard Professorship in Engineering.

 

Professor Egolfopoulos' current research interests include: aerodynamic and kinetic processes in flames, propulsion, alternative fuels including biofuels, practical fuels used in transportation and air-breathing propulsion, pollutant formation, particle-laden reacting flows, detailed modeling of reacting flows, and laser diagnostics. He has authored and co-authored one hundred sixteen (116) archival journal publications, two (2) book chapters, one hundred and fifty one (151) conference proceedings and reports, and has given one hundred thirty five (135) scholarly presentations.

 

He was a recipient of the Silver Medal of the Combustion Institute at the Twenty-Second International Combustion Symposium. In 2009, he was elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). In 2010, he was elected Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is currently the Editor in Chief of Combustion and Flame, the leading combustion journal, after having served as an Associate Editor of the journal from January 2003 until December 2008. On July 2014, he was elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Combustion Institute