122
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Forced thermal ignition of a polydisperse fuel spray

&
Pages 849-877 | Received 27 Aug 2017, Accepted 07 Dec 2017, Published online: 26 Feb 2018
 

ABSTRACT

A new mathematical model is presented for determining critical conditions for forced thermal ignition of an arbitrary polydisperse fuel spray/oxidant mixture. An asymptotic analysis is used to ascertain both the necessary initial applied temperature as well as the time needed to accumulate enough fuel vapor through droplet evaporation in order that thermal runaway, indicating ignition, should occur. The influence of the combined effect of heat loss due to evaporation and volumetric heat loss on critical ignition conditions is accounted for. The quenching distance is analyzed and found to match the expression used in the literature. It is demonstrated that, for practical purposes, even when volumetric heat loss alone does not prevent ignition, the presence of the fuel droplets can do so. The impact of liquid fuel-related parameters on ignition conditions is discussed in detail.

Acknowledgments

JBG wishes to acknowledge the partial support of the Lady Davis Chair in Aerospace Engineering.

Nomenclature

Subscripts

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.