Two-phase combustion of fuel droplets
Résumé
Liquid fuels energy density provides access to an excellent power / weight ratio as well as an incomparable autonomy. This justifies the research efforts necessary to provide a better control of combustion processes in propulsion systems.
Real spray combustion is a very complex phenomenon involving many processes: droplet interaction and vaporization, turbulence, chemical kinetics, heterogeneous combustion. These interactions have been studied extensively with droplet configured single and prescribed in array, but some questions remain open. The validation of complete models requires a careful comparison with experiments involving these processes for thermodynamic conditions similar to those encountered in industrial applications. Unfortunately, few quantitative experimental data are available.
An original experimental approach has been developed to achieve this objective, allowing observation of the propagation of a spherical flame in a controlled heterogeneous environment composed of fuel droplets and gas. A fuel aerosol is generated from an initial gaseous mixture using the condensation technique of expansion cooling. Several optical diagnostics were implemented for a simultaneous monitoring of droplet size, speed and distance to the flame front. Flame speed and fuel droplet speed were determined by shadowgraph and laser tomography respectively, and particle size by laser interferometry.
Moreover, all experiments were conducted in low gravity conditions, with parabolic flights aboard the Airbus A310-0g of the CNES, in order to reach the best conditions of sprays creation. Thanks to these results, a better comprehension of two-phase combustion will be provided and the classification of combustion regimes based on the comparison of the characteristic times of kinetic and vaporization will be improved.