Droplet combustion in standing sound waves

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Interaction between droplet combustion and acoustic oscillation is clarified. As the simplest model, an isolated fuel droplet is combusted in a standing sound wave. Apart from the conventional idea that oscillatory component of flow influences heat and mass transfer and promotes combustion, a new model that a secondary flow dominates combustion promotion is examined. The secondary flow, found by the authors in the previous work, is driven by acoustic radiation force due to Reynolds normal stress, and named as thermo-acoustic streaming. Since the force is described by the same equation as buoyancy, i.e., F = Δ ρVg, the nature of the streaming is thought to be the same as natural convection. The flow patterns of the streaming are analyzed and its influence on burning rate of a droplet is predicted. Experimental investigation was mainly done with burning droplets located in the middle of node and anti-node of standing sound waves. This location realizes the strongest streaming. By varying sound pressure level, ambient pressure, and acoustic frequency, the strength of the streaming was controlled. Flame configuration including soot and burning rate were examined. Microgravity conditions were employed to clarify the influence of acoustic field through the streaming, since it is similar to and must be distinguished from natural convection. Experiments using microgravity conditions confirmed the new combustion promotion model and the way to quantify it. By introducing a new non-dimensional number Gr a, that is the ratio of acoustic radiation force to viscosity, burning rate constants for various ambient and sound conditions are rearranged. As a result, it was found that the excess burning rate ( k/ k 0 − 1) is proportional to Gr a 0.5 or Gr a 0.25 , for weak sound and for strong sound, respectively.