Assessment of conventional droplet evaporation models for spray flames

Abstract

The present work investigates droplet evaporation rates in inert and reactive environments using fully resolved Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). The droplets are arranged in regular droplet layers and the evaporation of two different fuels, n-heptane and kerosene, is investigated under engine like conditions. It is found that the performance of standard models fort he evaporation rate strongly depends on the modelling of the representative properties. The conventional 1/3-rule for their computation does not necessarily lead to good agreement between model and DNS. This holds for droplet evaporation in non-reacting and reacting environments. Conditions at the droplet surface would need to be more heavily weighted for better model performance. The droplet loading has a minor effect on the validity of the standard single droplet evaporation models. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012.