Application of factor analysis in the determination of carburetor icing tendency in aviation gasoline, RON 97, RON 98, RON 100, and the blends in lycoming O-320 engine

Abstract

Carburetor icing (CI) was the most commonly cited factors in general aviation accident category with 1,019 (34%) accidents. The objective of the study is to measure the CI tendency of selected fuels by the application of factor analysis (FA). All the test fuels were characterized based on chemical and physical properties of the fuels. Gas chromatographic (GC) analysis of the tested fuels were categorized based on hydrocarbon types and basic fuel properties. The study considered sixteen variables for CI assessment, using the selected and calculated fuel properties. Twenty-three aviation fuels from literatures were collected and, using FA, model equations explaining the CI tendency of the aviation fuels were derived, and their respective factor scores were calculated. The model was applied to the 14 fuels in this study, and their respective factor scores were calculated. All the fuels were ranked using the factor score from the best to worst. Brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of the fuels was derived experimentally. FA results showed that FA explain 94.246% of the variance for CI. Best CI tendency was shown by RON 97 and RON 98 with comprehensive factor scores of 1.478341 and 1.194748, respectively, and the best experimental CI tendency was exhibited by RON 97 and RON 98 too. The findings showed that motor gasolines (MOGAS) RON 97 and RON 98 were able to outperform the commercial aviation gasoline (AVGAS) 100LL in terms of CI characteristics.