3. Experimental platforms for combustion studies

The complexity of kinetic models and their dependence on numerous parameters means that their predictive performance needs to be tested on experimental measurements. These experimental data must be obtained under conditions that are as independent as possible of external parameters other than temperature, pressure and the composition of the initial mixture, and thus represent a measure of the chemical kinetics of combustion. Numerous experimental systems of varying complexity have thus been developed. These systems are complementary in that each measures a variable characteristic of a combustion phenomenon: fundamental flame speed, flame extinction, auto-ignition delay, quantitative monitoring of combustion intermediates and products.