Effect of the ambient temperature and oxygen concentration in droplet combustion under natural convection conditions

Abstract

A numerical investigation of combustion of n-heptane droplets in natural convection conditions is presented. The focus is on the effects of ambient temperature and oxygen concentration on the combustion characteristics. Ambient temperatures range from 900K to 1400K, and volume fraction of oxygen range from 17% to 21%, and pressure is 0.1MPa. The results show that ambient temperature and oxygen concentration have a great influence on burning rates and ignition delay times. The ignition delay times decreases with increasing temperature. In addition, the burning rates of with and without natural convection compare to existing theoretical model. The burning rate increase under natural convection.