Shock Tube Laser Schlieren Study of the Pyrolysis of Isopropyl Nitrate

The
decomposition of isopropyl nitrate was measured behind incident
shock waves using laser schlieren densitometry in a diaphragmless
shock tube. Experiments were conducted over the temperature range
of 700–1000 K and at pressures of 71, 126, and 240 Torr. Electronic
structure theory and RRKM Master Equation methods were used to predict
the decomposition kinetics. RRKM/ME parameters were optimized against
the experimental data to provide an accurate prediction over a broader
range of conditions. The initial decomposition i-C3H7ONO2 ⇌ i-C3H7O + NO2 has a high-pressure limit rate coefficient of 5.70 ×
1022T–1.80 exp­[−21287.5/T] s–1. A new chemical kinetic mechanism
was developed to model the chemistry after the initial dissociation.
A new shock tube module was developed for Cantera, which allows for
arbitrarily large mechanisms in the simulation of laser schlieren
experiments. The present work is in good agreement with previous experimental
studies.