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U.S. Department of Energy
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Droplet vaporization in turbulent flow

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6287340
The droplet vaporization in the turbulent flow of a mixture of air and fuel vapor is studied theoretically. The theoretical prediction of transport phenomena in the turbulent flow, including the laminar flow within the droplet, involves the solution of the two-dimensional continuity, momentum, energy, and species-concentration equations in both gas and liquid phases. To calculate the correlations that represent the turbulent effect, a low-Reynolds-number version of the k-element of turbulence model is used. The set of partial differential equations governing the conservation of momentum, energy, and species were solved by finite differences using a modified procedure of Patankar. The gas-phase analysis is coupled with liquid-phase analysis for the internal motion and heat transfer. The coupled problem is solved for different initial Reynolds number and various turbulence intensities. Verification of the numerical model was made for two cases: turbulent flow over the solid sphere and laminar flow over the liquid drop. The results show that the droplet vaporization rate increases as the turbulence intensity increases. The change of droplet lifetime due to the turbulence intensity is not sensitive to the ambient temperature and fuel volatility for the ranges examined in this work.
Research Organization:
Wisconsin Univ., Madison (USA)
OSTI ID:
6287340
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English