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DOI: 10.1615/THMT-18
ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-468-7
ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-467-0
ISSN Print: 2377-2816
Spherically expanding turbulent flames in fuel-droplet mists: A Direct Numerical Simulation analysis
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ABSTRACT
Three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) with a modified single-step Arrhenius chemistry have been used to analyse spherically expanding n-heptane flames propagating into fuel-droplet mists for different droplet diameters for an overall equivalence ratio of unity. The evolutions of flame surface area and burned gas volume for both laminar and turbulent spherically expanding droplet flames have been compared to the corresponding gaseous stoichiometric premixed spherically expanding flames with the same initial burned gas radius. It has been found that the initial droplet diameter significantly affects the burning rate, which increases with decreasing droplet diameter. Moreover, combustion takes place predominantly in a fuel-lean mode in the droplet cases and most of the heat release arises due to the premixed mode of burning. The droplet-flame interaction plays a key role in determining flame wrinkling under laminar conditions, whereas this influence is not distinguishable from turbulence-induced wrinkling for the turbulent cases considered here.