Combustion and Flame 153 (2008) 58–70 www.elsevier.com/locate/combustflame Characterization of a gas burner to simulate a prope flame and evaluate aluminum particle combustion Matt Jackson a , Michelle L. Pantoya b,∗ , Walt Gill c a Engineering Department, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USA b Mechanical Engineering Department, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA c Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA Received 19 February 2007; received in revised form 10 November 2007; accepted 15 November 2007 Available online 4 March 2008 Abstract This study details the characterization and implementation of a burner designed to simulate solid fires.The burner was designed with the ability to introduce particles (particularly aluminum) into a g The aluminized flame conditions produced by this burner are characterized based on temperature a measurements. Using these results, flame conditions are quantified in comparison to other well-characteriz reactions including hydrocarbon and propellant fires. The aluminized flame is also used to measure rate of the particles. This work describes the application of this burner for re-creating small-scale pr conditions and as a test platform for experiments that contribute to the development of a particle combustion model, particularly in propellant fires.  2008 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Aluminum particle combustion; Hydrocarbon combustion; Diffusion flame burner; Propellant simulatio 1. Introduction Aluminized solid rocket propellants are widely used in a variety of civilian and military applications. The heat release associated with the aluminum com- bustion provides a key increase in the specific impulse for these motors, and much effort has gone into under- standing the influence of aluminum burning rate on proper rocket motor design. One aspect of propellant combustion that is stillnotwidely understood is an aluminized propellant flame burning in an off-design configuration such as that which would occur in an * Corresponding author. Fax: +1 806 742 3540. E-mail address: michelle.pantoya@ttu.edu (M.L. Pantoya). accident scenario. Transporting and handling solid propellants introduces an unusual hazard in these sit uations, because propellant fires are not susceptible oxygen starvation and exhibit much higher tempera- tures than typical hydrocarbon fuel fires,the higher temperatures being associated with the aluminum ox idation. Understanding how an object, such as a haz- ardous materials container or munitions, will be af- fected when exposed to an accidental propellant fire a multiphysics problem involving coupled flow, com- bustion, and heat/mass transfer phenomena. Method that address this problem are based on propellant nu merical simulation models [1–5] and actual propellant experiments [6–8]. In the experimental work, it is ev- ident that a gas-fueled, propellant-simulating burner would greatly aid the analysis of propellant burn dy- 0010-2180/$ – see front matter  2008 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.combustflame.2007.11.014