EVAPORATION OF MULTICOMPONENT LIQUID FUEL DROPLETS

A theoretical investigation on evaporation of a two-component liquid f uel droplet in high-temperature quiescent gaseous surroundings has bee n made from the numerical solution of conservation equations of heat, mass and momentum transports in the carrier and droplet phases. Liquid fuel droplets containing (i) components of widely varying volatilitie s, namely, n-hexane and n-hexadecane and (ii) components of closely sp aced volatilities, namely, n-hexane and benzene, have been considered for the studies. The evaporation characteristics, namely mass depletio n, droplet temperature and droplet composition histories with time, ha ve been evaluated in terms of the pertinent input parameters, namely t he initial composition of the drop constituents and the free stream te mperature. The present studies have been made on the basis of both (i) the interdiffusion (finite diffusion in the droplet phase) model, and (ii) the rapid mixing (infinite diffusion in the droplet phase) model . The results from both the models have been compared to ascertain the accuracy of the rapid mixing model.