Recently, Prof. Bin Yang and Prof. Yu Cheng Liu of Center for Combustion Energy presented final reports on their 2024 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) surface projects. After comprehensive evaluation, both projects were rated “Excellent” and the two principle investigators have been invited to deliver talks at the 2025 Annual Academic Conference of the Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics.
Prof. Yang Bin’s project, “Experimental and Modeling Study of Low-Temperature Oxidation Kinetics with Ozone Addition,” tackled the long-standing challenge of low-temperature reaction kinetics. A novel experimental strategy that blends ozone and other active species into combustion was developed, markedly enhancing low-temperature reactivity and yielding ignition data for low-reactivity fuels near their fundamental low-temperature limits. Methodologically, the team built the ozone-assisted low-temperature oxidation platform and, for the first time anywhere, implemented ultra-fast time-resolved mass-spectrometry diagnostics of fuel ignition in a rapid-compression machine, providing an entirely new experimental tool for probing transient ignition events. On the modeling side, the project created a suite of AI-enabled algorithms for uncertainty quantification, model optimization and experiment design, and assembled them into a unique platform named OptEx that dramatically improves both the efficiency of model optimization and the accuracy of predictions. During the project 50 papers were published, 32 of them in the field’s leading journals Combustion and Flame or Proceedings of the Combustion Institute. Principal investigator Bin Yang was elected a Fellow of The Combustion Institute and awarded an NSFC Distinguished Young Scholar grant; participating student Wanxiong rLiao eceived the Wu Zhonghua Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award.
Prof. Yu Cheng Liu’s project, “A Quasi-Discrete Droplet Combustion Model Based on Governing Equation Properties and Experimental Validation,” addressed the difficulty of constructing complex petroleum-based fuel models for spray-combustion simulation. Starting from a “continuous” model that uses molecular weight as the distribution variable, the team built reaction-kinetic, gas- and liquid-phase transport, and gas–liquid interface equilibrium models for four hydrocarbon families: n-alkanes, iso-alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics. An open-source code named DropletPalette was developed for single-droplet evaporation and combustion with a discrete-species model, serving as a benchmark for the “quasi-continuous” approach. Preliminary validation was carried out by comparing simulations with micro-gravity single-droplet evaporation and combustion experiments performed in a ground-based drop tower. The project exemplifies the spirit of “forging a new path” in fundamental research and offers an economical numerical framework for spray-combustion simulations of both conventional and emerging bio-derived fuels. Twelve SCI/EI journal papers appeared during the project, including articles in Combustion and Flame and Microgravity Science and Technology. Principal investigator Yu Cheng Liu was elected an AIAA Associate Fellow; participating student Yuhang Sun won the Best Paper Award at the 2025 Annual Academic Conference of the Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics.
