Microgravity Spherical Droplet Evaporation and Entropy Effects

Abstract

Recent efforts to understand low-temperature combustion (LTC) in internal combustion engines highlight the need to improve chemical kinetic mechanisms involved in the negative temperature coefficient (aka cool flame) regime. Interestingly, microgravity droplet combustion experiments demonstrate this cool flame behavior, allowing a greater focus on chemistry after buoyancy, and the corresponding influence of the conservation of momentum is removed. In Experimental terms, the LTC regime is often characterized by a reduction in heat transfer losses. Novel findings in this area demonstrate that lower entropy generation, in conjunction with diminished heat transfer losses, could more definitively define the LTC regime. As a result, the simulation of the entropy equation for spherical droplet combustion under microgravity could help us to investigate fundamental LTC chemical kinetic pathways. To provide a starting point for researchers who are new to this field, this effort first provides a comprehensive and detailed derivation of the conservation of entropy equation using spherical coordinates and gathers all relevant information under one cohesive framework, which is a resource not readily available in the literature. Subsequently, the well-known d2 law analytical model is determined and compared to experimental data that highlight shortcomings of the law. The potential improvements in the d2 law are then discussed, and a numerical model is presented that includes entropy. The resulting codes are available in an online repository to ensure that other researchers interested in expanding this field of work have a fundamental starting point.