Theoretical analysis on droplet vaporization at elevated temperatures and pressures

Droplet vaporization has a great impact on combustion of liquid fuels and might greatly affects the engine performance. Physical understanding and theoretical interpretation of the droplet vaporization behavior are decisive to constitute appropriate models for spray combustion. In this work, we proposed a fully transient formulation for the droplet vaporization at wide ranges of temperature and pressure. The governing equations are solved analytically by means of suitable coordinate transformations. The droplet surface temperature and mass fraction of fuel vapor are determined by the matching conditions at the liquid-gas interface. Accordingly, a theoretical model, characterizing the time change of droplet size during its vaporization, is proposed in terms of the unsteadiness factor and droplet vaporization lifetime. The theoretical model successfully reveals the conventional recognition of droplet vaporization characteristics, and its predicted droplet size history agrees well with experimental results reported in the literature. Besides, based on the present theoretical analysis, the experimentally observed dual effect of pressure upon droplet vaporization is analyzed with help of an explicit formula for enthalpy of vaporization indicating its temperature-dependence.