Evaporation characteristics of fuel droplets with the addition of nanoparticles under natural and forced convections

Evaporation characteristics of fuel droplets containing suspended aluminum nanoparticles were determined under natural and weak forced convections at varying flow temperatures. The results show that under higher convection temperatures droplet evaporation follows the classical D-2-law. Under low forced convection temperatures or natural convection, however, a departure from the classical D-2-law was observed and the evaporation rate gradually slowed. A modeling based on the population balance equation was performed to understand the dynamic particle aggregation process. The modeling results suggest that particle aggregation is likely the cause of the D-2-law-deviation phenomena. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.