Unsteady vaporization of stationary dodecane and alcohol droplets suspended in a hot non-reactive environment

Abstract

A computer model is developed to calculate the transport properties of a single droplet during vaporization in heterogeneous combustion systems. A fourth-order Runge-Kutta technique determines the liquid phase properties and the film properties in terms of time. The model computes the history of droplet size, temperature, vapour pressure, rate of mass vaporization, rates of heat transfer and heat flux, and cumulative values of both evaporated mass and heat transfer. A new approach is presented in this investigation for calculating the evaporation constant of single droplets. The results presented show that the use of alcohols as alternate fuels in heterogeneous combustion systems requires higher chamber temperatures and smaller droplets in order to keep the vaporization time within the acceptable range.