Download Mechanism
C3Mech is a novel detailed kinetic mechanism for surrogate fuels, available to the public free of charge. The mechanism contains components for dozens of fuels, from hydrogen up to C0–C12 hydrocarbon species, and includes chemistry for poly-aromatic hydrocarbons and NOx. The mechanism has been thoroughly validated against an expansive set of experimental data for many fuels and blends over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, and equivalence ratios.
C3Mech represents the first time that the combustion community has developed and validated a mechanism combining small, intermediate, and large species in a self-consistent, comprehensive, and hierarchical way. This first-of-its-kind mechanism presents a valuable opportunity for combustion researchers to explore low-carbon, carbon-neutral, and carbon-free fuels to help decarbonize sectors all across industry.
Each published version of C3Mech is available for download, including two reduced versions of the mechanism. Check out the table below for an overview of the fuels included in each version.
Overview of Fuels in C3Mech
C3MechV4.0.1
This is the latest version of C3Mech. C3MechV4.0.1 comprises 5,044 species and 21,814 reactions. It contains all of the fuel validations present in C3MechV3.3, but extends the fuel range to include cyclopentane and cyclohexane (as cycloalkane surrogate components), 2,4,4-trimethyl-2-pentene, 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene, and 2-methyl decane. The mechanism additionally includes dimethyl carbonate and ethylene carbonate, which are some of the solvents used in lithium-ion batteries, along with the chemistry of xylene. Moreover, in the validations of the mechanism, there is a particular emphasis on fuel mixtures, including zero- and low-carbon fuels, such as hydrogen and ammonia, as well as conventional surrogate gasoline fuels.
Please note that the reported number of reactions may vary slightly between tools.
C3MECHLITE
C3MechLite is a reduced chemical kinetic mechanism based on C3MechV4.0.1 that contains 61 species and 519 reactions—comparable to GRI-Mech (53 species), but applicable to a wider range of conditions (fuel blends, temperatures, and pressures). C3MechLite can accurately predict the combustion characteristics of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, ammonia, methane, natural gas, nitrogen oxides, and their mixtures for a wide range of conditions.
Please note that the reported number of reactions may vary slightly between tools.
C3MECHCORE
C3MechCore is a reduced chemical kinetic mechanism based on C3MechV4.0.1 that contains 118 species and 1,006 reactions. C3MechCore targets a more comprehensive range of C0-C3 fuels than C3MechLite and has additionally been validated against ammonia, methanol, ethanol, and dimethyl ether.
Please note that the reported number of reactions may vary slightly between tools.
C3MechV3.3
This is the original public version of C3Mech. Consisting of 3,761 species and 16,522 reactions, C3MechV3.3 contains detailed chemistry for small species including hydrogen, syngas, natural gas, methanol, ethanol, and dimethyl ether. In addition, the mechanism incorporates important surrogate fuel components for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, as well as NOx and PAHs. The model has been validated extensively against experimental data.
Please note that the reported number of reactions may vary slightly between tools.