Non-monotonic behaviors of laminar burning velocities of H2/O2/He mixtures at elevated pressures and temperatures

Abstract Both experimental and calculated laminar burning velocities of H 2 /O 2 /He mixtures were obtained, with equivalence ratios of 0.6–4.0, initial pressures of 0.1 MPa–0.5 MPa, initial temperature of 373 K, and dilution ratio of 7.0. Laminar burning velocities changed non-monotonically with the increasing initial pressures at equivalence ratios of 1.0–3.0. The decrease of overall reaction orders can explain the non-monotonic relationship between the laminar burning velocities and initial pressures. Consumption and production of both H and HO 2 radicals were also obtained to explain the decrease of overall reaction order. The competition of H and HO 2 radical between elemental reactions were also discussed. The three body reaction R15 (H + O 2 (+M) = HO 2 (+M)) gained more H radical in the competition with R1 (H + O 2  = O + OH), producing more HO 2 radical. Through the reaction pathway analysis, the restraint in production of both OH and H leaded to a reducing radical pool. The poorer reaction pool would restrain the overall reaction and lead to the reduction of overall reaction order and the non-monotonic behavior of the laminar burning velocity.