Experimental Study of Droplet Evaporation in a High-Temperature Air Stream

Abstract

Heat transfer rates to simulated and freely suspended liquid droplets were measured in an atmospheric hot air tunnel. The experiments were limited to water, methanol, and heptane droplets in a Reynolds number range of 25 to 2000, and a mass transfer number range of 0.07 to 2.79. The present experimental data together with data by others can best be correlated by Nuf(1+Bf).7 = 2 + 0.57 ReM1/2 Prf1/3, where properties are evaluated at film conditions except for the density in the Reynolds number which is the free-stream density. Thus the data shows that at higher temperatures, evaporation reduces heat transfer rates directly by a factor of (1 + Bf).7. Indirectly, evaporation affects heat transfer rates through the changes in both the composition and temperature of the surrounding gaseous medium.