An algorithm for solution of a model for heating and evaporation of a fuel droplet has been developed. The objective of the work is to develop a computationally economic solution module for simulating droplet evaporation that can be incorporated in spray combustion CFD model that handles a large number of droplets. The liquid-phase transient diffusive equation has been solved semi-analytically, which involves a spatially closed-form and temporally discretized solution procedure. The model takes into account droplet surface regression, nonunity gas-phase Lewis number and variation of latent heat with temperature. The accuracy of the model is identical to a Finite Volume solution obtained on a very fine nonuniform grid, but the computational cost is significantly less, making this approach suitable for use in a spray combustion code. The evaporation of isolated heptane droplet in a quiescent ambient has been investigated for ambient pressures of 1 to 5 bar.

Issue Section:
Technical Briefs
Keywords:
fuel, evaporation, drops, two-phase flow, heating, flow simulation, sprays, combustion, computational fluid dynamics, chemically reactive flow, diffusion, latent heat
Topics:
Combustion, Drops, Evaporation, Fuels, Sprays, Temperature, Heating, Diffusion (Physics), Computational fluid dynamics, Latent heat, Transients (Dynamics)
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Copyright © 2005
 by ASME
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