Experimental and numerical investigation of droplet evaporation under diesel engine conditions

Evaporation of mono-disperse fuel droplets under high temperature and high pressure conditions is investigated. The time-dependent growth of the boundary layer of the droplets and the influence of neighboring droplets are examined analytically. A transient Nusselt number is calculated from numerical data and compared to the quasi-steady correlations available in literature. The analogy between heat and mass transfer is tested considering transient and quasi-steady calculations for the gas phase up to the critical point for a single droplet. The droplet evaporation in a droplet chain is examined numerically. Experimental investigations are performed to examine the influence of neighboring droplets on the drag coefficients. The results are compared with drag coefficient models for single droplets in a temperature range from T = 293–550 K and gas pressure p = 0.1–2 MPa. The experimental data provide basis for model validation in computational fluid dynamics.     

Monodisperse droplet heating and evaporation: Experimental study and modelling

Results of experimental studies and the modelling of heating and evaporation of monodisperse ethanol and acetone droplets in two regimes are presented. Firstly, pure heating and evaporation of droplets in a flow of air of prescribed temperature are considered. Secondly, droplet heating and evaporation in a flame produced by previously injected combusting droplets are studied. The phase Doppler anemometry technique is used for droplet velocity and size measurements. Two-colour laser induced fluorescence thermometry is used to estimate droplet temperatures. The experiments have been performed for various distances between droplets and various initial droplet radii and velocities. The experimental data have been compared with the results of modelling, based on given gas temperatures, measured by coherent anti-stokes Raman spectroscopy, and Nusselt and Sherwood numbers calculated using measured values of droplet relative velocities. When estimating the latter numbers the finite distance between droplets was taken into account. The model is based on the assumption that droplets are spherically symmetrical, but takes into account the radial distribution of temperature inside droplets. It is pointed out that for relatively small droplets (initial radii about 65 μm) the experimentally measured droplet temperatures are close to the predicted average droplet temperatures, while for larger droplets (initial radii about 120 μm) the experimentally measured droplet temperatures are close to the temperatures predicted at the centre of the droplets.     

Numerical solution for film evaporation of a spherical liquid droplet on an isothermal and adiabatic surface

A numerical solution for the problem of film evaporation of a liquid droplet on a horizontal surface is presented. The droplets are small enough to be assumed spherical. Two principal cases are considered: (1) the horizontal surface is maintained at a constant temperature (case I), and (2) the surface is insulated while the ambience is hot (case II). The complete set of equations governing this problem were solved under the following assumptions : (1) evaporation is quasi-steady, (2) no internal liquid circulation, (3) constant properties, and (4) the droplet temperature is spatially uniform but temporally varying. The Lewis number is not assumed to be unity; gas phase viscous effects, Stefan type convection, and gas phase inertia are included in the analysis. The total droplet evaporation time was found to decrease with increasing plate (I) or ambient (II) temperature as expected, and the droplet progressively moves away from the plate as it evaporates. The numerical results agree with the analytical solution for film evaporation of a droplet above an adiabatic surface in a hot ambience in the limit of large effective Reynolds number (i.e. potential flow).     

Experimental study on spreading and evaporation of inkjet printed pico-liter droplet on a heated substrate

In this work, the spreading and evaporation of 2–70 pL droplet (17–50 μm diameter) of water and ethylene glycol jetted by drop-on-demand piezo-driven jetting head on the heated substrate are studied. According to the experimental results, the interfacial oscillation phenomena of water droplet whose Ohnesorge number (Oh) is about 10^?2 is similar to that in inviscid impact driven region, while that of ethylene glycol droplet (Oh ≈10^?1) is similar to that in highly viscous impact driven region followed by capillary driven extra spreading. In addition, various time scales used for nano/micro-liter droplets agree well with the times for interfacial oscillation, viscous damping, extra wetting, and evaporation in pico-liter droplets. In the case of water droplet, the spreading processes end before the evaporation becomes significant. However, in the case of highly viscous ethylene glycol droplet, the extra wetting overlaps the evaporation at high temperature.     

Effects of gravity and ambient pressure on liquid fuel droplet evaporation

An axisymmetric numerical model has been developed to conduct a study of single droplet evaporation over a wide range of ambient pressures both under normal and microgravity conditions. Results for droplet lifetime as a function of ambient pressure and initial droplet diameter are presented. The enhancement in the droplet evaporation rate due to natural convection is predicted. This enhancement becomes more dominant with increasing ambient pressure due to the increase in the Grashof number. The higher the ambient pressure, the closer the Grashof number remains to its initial value throughout most of the droplet lifetime because of the droplet swelling and the heat-up of the droplet interior. Results should be particularly of interest to researchers conducting experiments on droplet evaporation at elevated pressures within a normal gravity environment. The model developed is in good agreement with experimental data at low pressures. Explanations have been provided for its deviation at high pressures.     

Numerical simulation of droplet impact and evaporation on a porous surface

Numerical simulation is performed for the evaporation of a droplet impacted on a porous surface. A level-set formulation for tracking the droplet deformation is extended to include the effects of evaporation coupled to heat and mass transfer, porosity and porous drag and capillary forces. The local volume averaged conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy and vapor fraction for the porous region are simultaneously solved with the conservation equations for the external fluid region. The computations demonstrate not only the evolution of the liquid-gas interface during the whole period of droplet penetration and evaporation in a porous medium, but also the associated flow, temperature and vapor fraction fields. The effects of impact velocity, porosity and particle size on the droplet deformation and evaporation are quantified.     

加热板液滴蒸发的理论分析及实验研究

液滴蒸发是由气-液浓度差驱动的一种常见而复杂的扩散现象.通过实验与理论相结合对去离子水在玻璃表面和有机硅油表面的蒸发特性进行研究,测量了液滴接触角和接触直径随时间的动态演变过程.结果 发现:玻璃表面的液滴蒸发为典型的定底半径模式和混合模式;而液滴在有机硅油表面较为特殊,除了定底半径模式和混合模式还有周期性的黏滑模式.出...     

Effects of nanoparticles on nanofluid droplet evaporation

Laponite, Fe₂O₃ and Ag nanoparticles were added to deionized water to study their effect of evaporation rates. The results show that these nanofluid droplets evaporate at different rates (as indicated by the evaporation rate constant K in the well known D²-law) from the base fluid. Different particles lead to different values of K. As the particle concentration increases due to evaporation, K values of various Ag and Fe₂O₃ nanofluids go through a transition from one value to another, further demonstrating the effect of increasing nanoparticle concentration. The implication for the heat of vaporization (h_fg) is discussed.     

Flow and thermal field in sessile droplet evaporation at various environmental conditions

Sessile droplets' evaporation is a complex process that involves fluid flow coupled with heat and mass transfer. In this study, mathematical modelling of sessile droplet evaporation on hydrophobic substrates is developed and simulations are carried out on COMSOL. The model results are validated with the data available in the literature. Postvalidation, the simulation of droplet evaporation is carried out on the various substrate hydrophobicities and various environmental conditions. For these conditions, contours are plotted for temperature, velocity, and mass concentration for the droplet and moist air domain. The result shows that Marangoni convection plays a very important role in droplet evaporation. A high rate of evaporation is observed at the droplet interface at low relative humidity and a large degree of subheating. The effect of air velocity on the evaporation rate is studied, however, its effect is very marginal as compared to relative humidity and degree of subheating. The heat flux at the three-phase contact line is large for a smaller Prandtl number fluid. Overall, the evaporation rate increases with increasing the Prandtl number because it has a large value of Marangoni convection.     

Forced convection droplet evaporation with finite vaporization kinetics and liquid heat transfer

Stagnation point calculations, including the effects of liquid phase heat transfer and finite rate evaporation kinetics, are presented for the case of a high Reynolds number flow over a vaporizing droplet. A correlation is developed to compute the entire droplet vaporization rate from the stagnation point results. Numerical emphasis is placed on high temperature, rapid vaporization processes such as occur in flight vehicle engines, and sufficient calculations are presented to allow estimates for any given case to be made.     

The effect of ambient pressure on the evaporation of a single droplet and a spray

The effect of ambient pressure on the evaporation of a droplet and a spray of n-heptane was investigated using a model for evaporation at high pressure. This model considered phase equilibrium using the fugacities of the liquid and gas phases for the behavior of a gas being real, and its importance in the calculation of the evaporation of a droplet or spray at high pressures was demonstrated. For the evaporation of a single droplet, the fact that the droplet's lifetime increased with pressure at a low ambient temperature, but decreased at high temperatures, was explained with pressure and the droplet's temperature determining phase equilibrium. In this study, it was also found that the evaporation of a spray can be explained in terms of multiplex dependencies of the atomization and evaporation of a single droplet. The evaporation of a spray was enhanced by increasing the ambient pressure and this effect was more dominant at higher ambient temperatures.     

A study of the liquid evaporation with Darcian resistance effect on mixed convection in porous media

A problem of the evaporation of liquid with Darcian resistance effect on mixed convection flow over a vertical plate in an isotropic porous medium has been studied. Two flow models, aiding and opposing flows, are considered. The boundary layer equations are integrated numerically to obtain the non-similar solutions for the velocity, temperature and concentration distributions for several values of the Darcian resistance and buoyancy force parameters. The results show that the evaporation of liquid on the wall increases when the buoyancy force Ra_K / Pe_x is gradually increased and the overall heat transfer rate will be pronounced when the Darcian resistance ζ is very small.     

Experimental investigation of capillary-assisted evaporation on the outside surface of horizontal tubes

Capillary-assisted evaporation is a typical heat transfer method in heat pipes which is characterized by high evaporation coefficient due to extremely thin liquid film. This paper introduces such a micro-scale heat transfer method into normal-scale applications. A series of enhanced heat transfer tubes with circumferential rectangular micro-grooves on the outside surfaces have been experimentally investigated. The aim is to investigate the influence of the tubes’ geometries and operating parameters on the evaporation heat transfer coefficients. In the experiment, the tested tubes are hold horizontally and the bottom surfaces are immersed into a pool of liquid. The heat is added to the thin liquid film inside the micro-grooves through the heating fluid flowing inside the tubes. The factors influencing the capillary-assisted evaporation performance, such as the immersion depth, evaporation pressure, superheating degree, etc. are considered. The experimental results have indicated that there is a positive correlation between the evaporation heat transfer coefficient and evaporation pressure, and negative for the superheating and immersion depth. For water, under the evaporation saturated temperature of 5.0 ± 0.1 °C, the superheating of 4.0 ± 0.1 °C and the dimensionless liquid level of 1/2, the film side evaporation heat transfer coefficients are 3100–3500 W/m² K, which are equivalent to those of the falling film evaporator in LiBr–water absorption machine (2800–4500 W/m² K [Y.Q. Dai, Y.Q. Zheng, LiBr–water Absorption Machine, first ed., Chinese National Defence Industry Press, Beijing, China, 1980.]).     

A numerical investigation of the evaporation process of a liquid droplet impinging onto a hot substrate

A numerical investigation of the evaporation process of n-heptane and water liquid droplets impinging onto a hot substrate is presented. Three different temperatures are investigated, covering flow regimes below and above Leidenfrost temperature. The Navier–Stokes equations expressing the flow distribution of the liquid and gas phases, coupled with the Volume of Fluid Method (VOF) for tracking the liquid–gas interface, are solved numerically using the finite volume methodology. Both two-dimensional axisymmetric and fully three-dimensional domains are utilized. An evaporation model coupled with the VOF methodology predicts the vapor blanket height between the evaporating droplet and the substrate, for cases with substrate temperature above the Leidenfrost point, and the formation of vapor bubbles in the region of nucleate boiling regime. The results are compared with available experimental data indicating the outcome of the impingement and the droplet shape during the impingement process, while additional information for the droplet evaporation rate and the temperature and vapor concentration fields is provided by the computational model.     

Experimental study on the heat exchange effectiveness of a dry coil indirect evaporation cooler under various operating conditions

In this study, a pilot Dry Coil IEC unit, an indirect evaporation cooler established by connecting a direct evaporation cooler and a sensible heat exchanger (SHE) in series, was made, and the effectiveness data of the pilot unit were acquired under various operation conditions in an environmental chamber realizing a wide-range of indoor and outdoor air conditions. The test result shows that over 40% effectiveness can be acquired even in hot and humid climates by using the Dry Coil IEC proposed in this paper. The Dry Coil IEC reduces the cooling coil size by pre-cooling the process air during the cooling season. It can also be used as an SHE reclaiming the sensible heat from the exhaust air during winter operation. The pilot unit recovered over 60% of sensible heat in the test. In addition, a simplified model of Dry Coil IEC returning the various operation conditions was developed based on existing models of an SHE and a direct evaporative cooler. A polynomial equation returning the effectiveness of the Dry Coil IEC was derived as a function of seven independent variables highly influencing the performance of the unit. The experimental data acquired by the pilot unit operation agree well with the effectiveness values of the Dry Coil IEC predicted by the proposed model. It was also identified that the proposed equation agrees well with the existing model of the Dry Coil IEC applied to the energy simulation program.     

Experimental study on static/circulatory flash evaporation

Comparative study on heat and mass transfer properties of static/circulatory flash evaporation, i.e., non-equilibrium fraction (NEF), evaporated mass and heat transfer coefficient, was presented based on two experimental systems. NEF evolution in static flash was newly fitted by error function equation, based on which a unified calculating model for heat and mass transfer properties of both flashes was set up initially. At last, heat transfer coefficient was redefined as average heat flux released from unit volume of waterfilm under unit superheat. Results suggested that this coefficient was a time-depended function and a peak value existed in its evolution versus time.     

横管降膜蒸发过程中管间距对传热系数影响的实验研究

针对横管降膜蒸发器的4种主要布管方式(三角形、正方形、转角三角形、转角正方形)所对应的3种管间距下,以海水和纯水作为实验工质的传热系数进行了实验研究。研究结果表明:转角正方形布置(管间距为45.7mm)下的传热系数最高,三角形布置(管间距为57.2mm)次之,正方形、转角三角形布置(管间距为33.02mm)的传热系数最低;随着蒸发温度的升高,纯水作为实验工质时的三种管间距传热系数差异减小,而海水实验结果则正好相反;不同管间距传热系数产生差异的主要区域为管周向0~135°区域。     

Experimental study on the characteristics of ethanol evaporation and its diffusion flame under the effect of DC field

Smaller scale and higher energy density power sources have received increasing interest in last few years. A photographic method was adopted to study the characteristics of ethanol evaporation and its diffusion flame under the effect of a DC field in present study. A transparent quartz glass tube with an inner diameter of 1.8 mm and an outer diameter of 3 mm was used as a burner. A laminar diffusion flame was established on top of the vertical burner, and a DC field was imposed on the flame along the jet direction. Test conditions involved fuel mass flow rates of 1.0 to 2.2 ml/h, and electric field voltages of 0 to 10 kV. The extremely small ethanol flow rates were accurately controlled by a syringe pump. The flame shapes and the dynamic ethanol vapor–liquid interface were visually observed using a high speed CCD camera. It was found from the experiments that the extent of ethanol evaporation and the diffusion flame shape both change with the mass flow rates of ethanol. The direction and intensity of the DC field have a great impact on the extent of evaporation, flame structure, and soot emission. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20283     

A molecular dynamics simulation of droplet evaporation

A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method is developed to study the evaporation of submicron droplets in a gaseous surrounding. A new methodology is proposed to specify initial conditions for the droplet and the ambient fluid, and to identify droplet shape during the vaporization process. The vaporization of xenon droplets in nitrogen ambient under subcritical and supercritical conditions is examined. Both spherical and non-spherical droplets are considered. The MD simulations are shown to be independent of the droplet and system sizes considered, although the observed vaporization behavior exhibits some scatter, as expected. The MD results are used to examine the effects of ambient and droplet properties on the vaporization characteristics of submicron droplets. For subcritical conditions, it is shown that a spherical droplet maintains its sphericity, while an initially non-spherical droplet attains the spherical shape very early in its lifetime, i.e., within 10% of the lifetime. For both spherical and non-spherical droplets, the subcritical vaporization, which is characterized by the migration of xenon particles that constitute the droplet to the ambient, exhibits characteristics that are analogous to those reported for “continuum-size” droplets. The vaporization process consists of an initial liquid-heating stage during which the vaporization rate is relatively low, followed by nearly constant liquid-temperature evaporation at a “pseudo wet-bulb temperature”. The rate of vaporization increases as the ambient temperature and/or the initial droplet temperature are increased. For the supercritical case, the droplet does not return to the spherical configuration, i.e., its sphericity deteriorates sharply, and its temperature increases continuously during the “vaporization” process.