An expert with 25 years of experience in the field of fuel chemistry and chemical kinetics, Dr. Pitz addresses these questions in my interview with him:

1. Why are chemical mechanisms relevant? Who should study them and why?
2. From a kinetecist point of view a mechanism can never be proven to be correct, only shown to be incorrect. What is the point of testing mechanisms against experimental data? Would they always be “incorrect” and is it better to just stick to experiments?
3. Could computations that use chemical mechanisms ever be useful?
4. What is the difference between detailed and reduced chemistry mechanisms? What do you see as being the biggest challenge in obtaining reduced mechanisms?
5. What is the biggest misconception that engineers have about chemical mechanisms?
6. What is the biggest challenge in reactive flow simulation and modeling?
7. If you had to give one piece of advice to an engineer who is thinking of adding some reactive flow modeling to his research and is looking for mechanisms – what would it be?

Dr. Pitz Bio:

Dr. Pitz received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Professor Robert F. Sawyer. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering science from Purdue University.  He has been developing chemical kinetic mechanisms for hydrocarbon fuels and alternative fuels at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for over 25 years.  He has been using these mechanisms to study applied problems of ignition and pollutant emissions from HCCI and diesel engines, and engine knock in spark ignition engines.  For his work, he has received the Horning Award and the Cowell Merit Award from the society of automotive engineers.

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