Burning of Single Droplets of Hydrocarbon Fuels in Oxidizing Atmospheres

Citation

Perkins, Carlton Kay (1954) Burning of Single Droplets of Hydrocarbon Fuels in Oxidizing Atmospheres. Engineer's thesis, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/DMX1-0Y63. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-12052003-093547

Abstract

Experiments have been conducted in order to determine the burning, rates of single droplets of liquid fuels in oxidizing atmospheres. N-heptane and absolute ethyl alcohol were tested in nitrogen-oxygen mixtures for oxygen weight fractions between 0.10 and 0.90. Measurements were made also for benzene and toluene; for oxygen weight fractions greater than for air, a carbon residue formed during the burning of these fuels, which made it impossible to obtain accurate data. For all nitrogen-oxygen mixtures it was found that the mass burning rate of single droplets of fuel is proportional to the first power of the drop diameter. The theoretical analysis on the burning of single droplets of fuels in an oxidizing atmosphere by Goldsmith and Penner was used to obtain values for the evaporation constants of the fuels tested. The experimentally determined values of the evaporation constants were found to be in good agreement with the calculated values for all fuels tested which did not form carbon.

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