Transient heating and evaporation of moving fuel droplets

In combustion devices involving direct injection of low-volatility liquid fuel (e.g., bio-oils from pyrolysis process) into the combustor, transient heating and vaporization is an important controlling factor in ignition and combustion of
the fuel vapor/air mixture. As a result, quite many experimental and numerical efforts have been made on this topic. In this paper, a comprehensive 3D model that addresses the internal circulation, heat and mass transfer within a moving droplet has been successfully developed. The model is calibrated by analytical solutions for simplified cases and validated by experimental results available in literature. The model not only reliably produces all the details that help to achieve an in-depth understanding of the underlying physical processes and to derive simplified models for liquid fuel droplet heating and evaporation, but also can be readily reformulated for solid fuel heating and conversion.