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Abstract: Combustion experiments of fuel droplet array in fuel-vapor/air mixture were performed at normal and microgravities to investigate mechanism of flame spread. A 10-droplet array was inserted into the test section filled with a saturated fuel-vapor/air mixture as a simple model of prevaporized sprays. Gas equivalence ratio of the fuel-vapor/air mixture was controlled by the test section temperature. n-Decane droplets of 0.8mm in the initial diameter were employed. The first droplet was ignited by a hot wire to initiate flame spread along a fuel droplet array. Sequential magnified backlit-images of the target droplets in the droplet array were taken during flame spread. From those images, ignition behavior of droplets at the vicinity of the leading edge of a spreading flame was observed. The onset of droplet-heating was obtained from the history of droplet diameter. The ignition of the target droplet was detected by the glowing of the suspenders. Ignition delay time was defined as the time difference between the onset of droplet-heating and the ignition of the droplet. Flame spread induction time was defined as the time difference between the ignitions of the neighboring droplets. Effects of droplet spacing and gas equivalence ratio on the ignition delay time were examined. Nondimensional droplet spacing S/d 0 and gas equivalence ratio were varied from 2 to 12.75 and from 0 to 0.5, respectively. The ignition delay time slightly decreased as the increase in the gas equivalence ratio at all normalized droplet spacings. In the range of S/d 0 <5, a spreading flame heated two unburnt droplets simultaneously. Around 6.25 in S/d 0, the time required for expansion of the thermal-effect zone of a flame occupied certain amount of the flame spread induction time. At 12.75 in S/d 0, the ignition delay time was a dominant factor for the flame spread induction time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Combustion experiments of fuel droplet array in fuel vapor-air mixture were performed at microgravities to investigate growth mechanism of group combustion of fuel droplets. A 10-droplet array was inserted into the test section filled with a saturated fuel vapor-air mixture as a simple model of prevaporized sprays. Gas equivalence ratio of the fuel vapor-air mixture was regulated by the test section temperature. n-Decane droplets of 0.8mm in the initial diameter were suspended at the crossing points of 10 sets of X-shaped suspenders. The first droplet was ignited by a hot wire to initiate flame spread along a fuel droplet array. Flame spread speed was obtained from the history of the leading edge position of a spreading flame. Effects of droplet spacing and gas equivalence ratio on the flame spreading behavior and the flame spread speed were examined. The droplet spacing and the gas equivalence ratio were varied from 1.6 to 10.2mm and from 0.2 to 0.7, respectively. The gas equivalence ratio has little effect on the relationship between the flame spreading behavior and the droplet spacing. The flame spread speed increases as the increase in the gas equivalence ratio at all droplet spacings. The influence of the gas equivalence ratio on the flame spread speed becomes strong as the increase in the droplet spacings. The flame spread speed increases as the increase in the droplet spacing, and then decreases. The maximum flame spread speed appears in the range from 2.4 to 3mm at all gas equivalence ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A partially prevaporized spray burner was developed to investigate the interaction between fuel droplets and a flame. Monodispersed partially prevaporized ethanol sprays with narrow diameter distribution were generated by the condensation method using rapid pressure reduction of a saturated ethanol vapor–air mixture. A tilted flat flame was stabilized at the nozzle exit using a hot wire. Particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) was applied to measurements of the droplet velocity; the laminar burning velocity was obtained from gas velocity derived from the droplet velocity. Observations were made of flames in partially prevaporized spray streams with mean droplet diameters of 7μm and the liquid equivalence ratios of 0.2; the total equivalence ratio was varied. In all cases, a sharp vaporization plane was observed in front of the blue flame. Flame oscillation was observed on the fuel-rich side. At strain rates under 50s−1, the change in the burning velocity with the strain rate is small in fuel-lean spray streams. In spray streams of 0.7 and 0.8 in the total equivalence ratio, burning velocity increases with strain rates of greater than 50s−1. However, in spray streams with 0.9 and 1.0 in the total equivalence ratio, burning velocity decreases as the strain rate increases. At strain rates greater than 80s−1, burning velocity decreases with an increased gas equivalence ratio. The effect of mean droplet diameter, and the entry length of droplets into a flame on the laminar burning velocity, were also investigated to interpret the effect of the strain rate on the laminar burning velocity of partially prevaporized sprays. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Combustion experiments on fuel droplet–vapor–air mixtures have been performed with a rapid expansion apparatus which generates monodispersed droplet clouds with narrow diameter distribution using the condensation method. The effects of fine fuel droplets on flame propagation were investigated for ethanol droplet–vapor–air mixtures at various pressures from 0.2 to 1.0MPa. A stagnant fuel droplet–vapor–air mixture, generated in a rapid expansion chamber, was ignited at the center of the chamber using an ignition wire. Spherical flame propagation under constant-pressure conditions was observed with a high-speed video camera and flame speed was measured. Total equivalence ratio, and the ratio of liquid fuel mass to total fuel mass, was varied from 0.6 to 1.4 and from zero to 56%, respectively. The mean droplet diameter of fuel droplet–vapor–air mixtures was set at 8.5 and 11μm. It was found that the flame speed of droplet–vapor–air mixtures less than 0.9 in the total equivalence ratio exceeds that of premixed gases of the same total equivalence ratio at all pressures. The flame speed of fuel droplet–vapor–air mixtures decreases as the pressure increases in all total equivalence ratios. At large ratios of liquid fuel mass to total fuel mass, the normalized flame speed (the flame speed of droplet–vapor–air mixtures divided by the flame speed of the premixed gas with the same total equivalence ratio), increases with the increase in pressure for fuel-lean mixtures, and it decreases for fuel-rich mixtures. The outcome is reversed at small ratios of liquid fuel mass to total fuel mass; the normalized flame speed decreases with the increase in pressure for fuel-lean mixtures, and increases for fuel-rich mixtures. The results suggest that the increase in pressure promotes droplet evaporation in the preheat zone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]