This program is currently used for ME 438 Internal Combustion Engines taught at the University of Michigan. In this program you can simulate what the adiabatic flame temperature would be for a constant volume or constant pressure process for a mixture of 30 different fuels, air and burned gases consisting of internal residual and/or Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR). The idea of the program is to simulate the maximum temperatures and chemical species seen in-cylinder during the combustion event based on the type of engine.
If you would like to use this program, please contact the author at chris@depcik.com. I have been giving the program away to students and researchers as long as they agree to the following conditions (shareware): The program is not to be distributed to anyone else as I would like to be the main source of the program. This way I can distribute information about the program like updates and bug fixes. Any results (plots/data/etc.) that are generated by the program and used in any publication medium (journal/web/etc) must reference the author of the program and this website.
To navigate this website, you may either use the following links or just scroll down:
The temperature that results from a combustion process that occurs adiabatically with no work or changes in kinetic or potential energy involved is commonly referred to as the (constant volume) adiabatic flame temperature. Because of the assumptions of no work and no changes in kinetic or potential energy, this is the maximum temperature that can be achieved for the given reactants because any heat transfer or work from the reacting substances and any incomplete combustion would tend to lower the temperature of the products. Neglecting the effects of dissociation, this adiabatic flame temperature can be calculated by hand by using thermodynamic tables and the stoichiometric combustion reaction. However, if we wish to add these dissociation effects, a computer program is needed to determine the correct values of these species according to thermodynamic equilibrium constraints.
There are a number of engines that can be simulated:
It is important to note that the user should set the temperatures and pressure to those that are typically seen after the compression event. For instance, in a typical port-fuel injected, spark ignition engine running at wide open throttle with a compression ratio of 9 (g = 1.3), the user should calculate the following pressures and temperatures to use for the initial pressure and temperature of the combustion process:
So, given an inlet temperature of 300 K and inlet pressure of 1 bar, the reactant temperature will equal 580 K and reactant pressure will equal 17.4 bar.
By default the program does not calculate dissociation in the
lean phase but does calculate simple dissociation in the rich phase from the
water gas shift equilibrium reaction (
).
If you wish to include the equilibrium dissociation program developed by the
author (see M.S.M.E. thesis), you will need to check the Use
Full Equilibrium Calculation option in the Options
menu (click
here for illustration).
In order to be able to run the simulation, the user will have to link to a thermodynamic database created by the author. This is done through the File menu by selecting Load Thermodynamic Data, the program will then prompt the user to select the appropriate database file. To save the data on the plots, select the File menu and then select Save Data, you will then be prompted for a filename to save the data. The Help option really doesn't help you at all. Eventually, it will probably link to this page where the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are.
The fuels currently available in the program are (click to see GUI):
Isooctane:  |
Methane:  |
Nitromethane:  |
Methanol:  |
Gasoline 1:  |
Diesel 1:  |
Acetylene:  |
Ammonia:  |
Benzene:  |
Cyanogen:  |
Ethane:  |
Ethanol:  |
Ethene:  |
1-Butene:  |
1-Heptene:  |
1-Hexene:  |
1-Octene:  |
1-Pentene:  |
n-Butane:  |
n-Heptane:  |
n-Hexane:  |
n-Pentane:  |
Phenol:  |
Propane:  |
Gasoline 2:  |
Gasoline 3:  |
Diesel 2:  |
Kerosene:  |
Gylcerin:  |
Hydrogen:  |
Also, by default the fuel is assumed to be a gas. If you would like to use liquid fuel, you will need to check the Inject Fuel as a Liquid (up to Tcritical) option. You may notice that the results for few fuels will not change when using this option. In this case either: a) the heat of vaporization of the fuel was not available or b) the critical temperature of the fuel is lower than the Fuel Temperature value that you specified.
The composition of air can be altered by the user along with
the temperature and pressure (click
to see GUI). Normal mole fraction composition of dry air consists of: 0.20946
,
0.78084 
,
0.00934 Ar and 0.033 
.
Typically for engine simulations, the assumption of 0.21
and 0.79
is used.
You have the option to specify what percent of the initial reactant mixture are burned gases (similar to internal residual and/or Exhaust Gas Recirculation: EGR) (click to see GUI).
Plot #1 illustrates the internal energy and enthalpy of the reactants and products as a function of temperature. The reactants are held constant at the pressure, equivalence ratio, and burned gas properties specified by the user. For the products, the mole fractions determined by the representative adiabatic process (constant volume or constant pressure) are held constant along with the corresponding adiabatic flame pressure. The yellow dots with the black line show the corresponding adiabatic points (constant volume or constant pressure) specified by the user.
Plot #2 illustrates the mole fraction of NO of the products
as a function of temperature and either the constant-volume
or constant-pressure
process. In this case, the equivalence ratio specified by the user is held constant
along with the adiabatic flame pressure calculated by the corresponding adiabatic
process (constant volume or constant pressure). The yellow dots show the corresponding
adiabatic points (constant volume or constant pressure) specified by the user.
The mole fractions that are available for plotting are: 
.
Plot #3 illustrates the adiabatic flame temperature (constant volume and constant pressure) as a function of equivalence ratio or lambda. In this case, the temperature, pressure, burned mass fraction, burned mass pressure and burned mass temperature specified by the user (reactants) is held constant while the equivalence ratio/lambda varies. The yellow dots show the corresponding adiabatic points (constant volume or constant pressure) specified by the user.
Plot #4 illustrates the adiabatic flame pressure (constant volume and constant pressure) as a function of equivalence ratio or lambda. In this case, the temperature, pressure, burned mass fraction, burned mass pressure and burned mass temperature specified by the author (reactants) is held constant while the equivalence ratio/lambda varies. The yellow dots show the corresponding adiabatic points (constant volume or constant pressure) specified by the user.
Plot #5 illustrates the product mole fractions (constant
volume and constant
pressure) as a function of equivalence ratio or lambda. In this case, the
temperature, pressure, burned mass fraction, burned mass pressure and burned
mass temperature specified by the author (reactants) is held constant while
the equivalence ratio/lambda varies. The yellow dots show the corresponding
adiabatic points (constant volume or constant pressure) specified by the user.
The mole fractions that are available for plotting are: .
There are two options for saving the data from the simulation reachable through the File menu. The user can either save it as a tab-delimited or comma-delimited text-file through the Save as type option in the file dialog box that appears. These can be easily opened within Microsoft Excel using the File...Open...Text Files (*.prn, *.txt, *.csv) option. When using the *.txt option, make sure to select the Delimited option (Next >) and then check the Tab delimiters box (Finish). The same process can be used to open the *.csv files just make sure to check the Comma delimiters box. It is important to mention that the program will only save the data for the plot that is displayed, in other words, what you see is what you get.
If you are already using a version of AFTP and a new version is indicated here (either by version number or date), feel free to download the new version any time you want by using the same link location and password as indicated in my original e-mail. Note: I will be moving AFTP to Visual Studio 2005 this year (2007) along with adding E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) as a fuel, so keep watching this area for the new version.
| Version Number | Date | Description of Changes |
| 1.1.1.1 | 06/23/2006 | Added glycerin(L) as a fuel |
| 1.1.1.0 | 01/30/2006 | Added  as an input parameter for the air. |
| 1.1.0.2 | 10/17/2005 | Added kerosene as a fuel |
| 1.1.0.1 | 09/20/2004 | Changed the input data file to make it common between
AFTP and the thermodynamic cycle simulation that I have created (cycles).
Added error checking in regards to the thermodynamic data file to make
sure that it is present before the program will run. This should eliminate
the program from crashing when this file has not been linked to the program.
Added the ability to save the data as comma-delimited, in addition to
tab-delimited. |
| 1.1.0.0 | 02/26/2004 | Revised AFTP to make it more robust and faster. Fixed
equilibrium dissociation program so that Ammonia, Hydrogen and Cyanogen
work. Created a thermodynamic input file that is read into the program
to handle all of the chemical species curve-fits. This allows me to more
easily add more species to the program at a later date instead of having
them hardwired into the program. Oscillations that were present in previous
versions of the program should have been eliminated. I did not change
anything in regards to the GUI. |
| 1.0.0.1 | 10/23/2003 |
Fixed small error in calculation of reactant temperature
and removed dll installation into system folder from installation program. |
| 1.0.0.0 | 10/05/2003 |
Initial version of Adiabatic Flame Temperature Program |
Do you want to help make this program better, here is a number of suggestions by the author of the program. If you do have suggestions and do come up with additional code, I will credit you here with your work. I will also send you a GUI version of the code for your own personal/educational use. This program is not intended for commercial applications (i.e. don't take my program and sell it as your own).
).
The curve-fits should be broken up into a low temperature range and high
temperature range if possible ensuring that the properties match at the
temperature switch point (like CHEMKIN thermodynamic databases instead of
NASA thermodynamic databases). One possible place to look for data is the
NIST Chemistry
WebBook. Additional data sent to the author should encompass phase change
data (i.e. heat of vaporization with critical temperature) which may be
a curve-fit or a single value (curve-fits preferred). 
(Ozone), C(s) (Solid Carbon), (Methane
can form in extremely rich combustion), etc...I have placed a number of links here to other adiabatic flame temperature sites along with a small description of the site. Please let me know if you have a site that you feel should be listed here.
Installation of the program should be pretty straightforward. If you have contacted me and agreed to the conditions mentioned in the introduction to this website, you will receive the installation program along with a password. Installing the program is similar to all other Windows programs with it being reachable through the Start Menu (Programs...U of M...aftp.exe). The thermodynamic data file that you need should have been installed in the same directory as the executable (thermodata.cyd) and if you selected the default installation, it will be at: C:\Program Files\University of Michigan\aftp
A few people have had problems installing the program, most likely because I have not mastered the installation program yet:
I usually have no problems installing aftp on other computers that I might use, but it all depends on what software is already on the computer and its configuration/security settings. I have yet to have anyone not be able to use the program, it just might take an iteration or two. I am sorry if it causes you any inconvenience during the installation.
ENJOY!!!
Publications that have used AFTP:
A few researchers are using AFTP at the following universities and companies:
| Central Virginia Community College | Diponegoro University Indonesia | New Jersey Institute of Technology | Ecole de Technologie Supérieure de Montreal |
| Ecole des Mines de Paris | Electric Power Research Institute | Instituto Politécnico Nacional | Florida State University |
| Gaz de France | GE Global Research | Universität Bremen | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee | Instituto de Cerámica y Vidrio | University of Pretoria, South Africa | Iowa State University |
| Larson & Toubro Limited | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Montgomery College | National Taiwan University |
| Pavilion Technologies Inc. | Sandia National Laboratories | Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences | Stanford University |
| Suez Canal Container Terminal | Trident Technical College | Karpagam College of Engineering | Universidad Metropolitana Caracas, Venezuela |
| Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira in Colombia | University of California, Irvine | Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad De México | University of Michigan |
| University of Minnesota | Wayne State University | bp | Aachen University |
| Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited | Ford Motor Company | Jacobs Engineering Group |
Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material of
whatever nature created by Dr. Christopher D. Depcik (chris)
and included in this website and any related pages is licensed under a Creative
Commons License.
Date Created: May 28, 2003
Last Revised:
January 4, 2007
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