New approaches to numerical modelling of droplet transient heating and evaporation

Sergei Sazhin, W.A. Abdelghaffar, P.A. Krutitskii, Elena Sazhina, Morgan Heikal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

New approaches to numerical modelling of droplet heating and evaporation by convection and radiation from the surrounding hot gas are suggested. The finite thermal conductivity of droplets and recirculation in them are taken into account. These approaches are based on the incorporation of new analytical solutions of the heat conduction equation inside the droplets (constant or almost constant h) or replacement of the numerical solution of this equation by the numerical solution of the integral equation (arbitrary h). It is shown that the solution based on the assumption of constant convective heat transfer coefficient is the most computer efficient for implementation into numerical codes. This solution is applied to the first time step, using the initial distribution of temperature inside the droplet. The results of the analytical solution over this time step are used as the initial condition for the second time step etc. This approach is applied to the numerical modelling of fuel droplet heating and evaporation in conditions relevant to diesel engines, but without taking into account the effects of droplet break-up. It is shown to be more effective than the approach based on the numerical solution of the discretised heat conduction equation inside the droplet, and more accurate than the solution based on the parabolic temperature profile model. The relatively small contribution of thermal radiation to droplet heating and evaporation allows us to take it into account using a simplified model, which does not consider the variation of radiation absorption inside droplets.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4215-4228
Number of pages14
JournalInternational Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
Volume48
Issue number19-20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2005

Keywords

  • Droplet heating
  • Conduction
  • Radiation
  • Evaporation
  • Diesel fuel

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