Measurement of transient evaporation of an ethanol droplet stream with phase rainbow refractometry and high-speed microscopic shadowgraphy

Abstract

Quantifying the evaporation rate of droplets is of great importance in many applications and this is especially true if the evaporation occurs in a rapidly changing environment, such that models describing evaporation under steady state conditions are no longer valid. To achieve such information from experiments, the phase rainbow refractometry (PRR) technique has recently be shown to be capable of simultaneously measuring temperature, size, and size variation at the nanometer scale, quantities essential for quantifying transient evaporation rates. The present study examines the use of the PRR technique to characterize the evaporation of monodispersed droplets in a droplet stream injected into ambient air. This is combined with high-speed microscopic shadowgraphy, yielding as measured quantities droplet diameter, diameter change, temperature evolution, velocity and computed transient evaporation rate of the droplet stream. The accuracy and resolution of the measurements are evaluated by comparison with theoretical values and values measured with alternative means. Furthermore, the results are used to investigate how the evaporation rate is modified by interaction among droplets in the droplet stream and how these rates differ from evaporation rates predicted for isolated droplets, using the well proven Abramzon and Sirignano model. Finally, the evaporation rate, including the influence of droplet interaction, is shown to be in line with correlations suggested by Virepinte; refinement to this correlation is proposed.