Combustion Science and Technology, Vol.179, No.5, 863-881, 2007
Vapor distribution measurement of higher and lower volatile components in an evaporating fuel spray via laser absorption scattering (LAS) technique
A laser imaging technique has been proposed in this article for measuring vapor distribution of lower and high volatile components in a multicomponent fuel spray, based on the LAS technique. For a two-component fuel spray which contains n-octane (boiling point: 399 K) and n-tridecane (boiling point: 508 K), vapor distribution of the low boiling point (LBP) component, n-octane, has been determined by using p-xylene (boiling point: 411 K) as its substitute, which has the similar physical properties and absorbs the ultraviolet light but not the visible light, according to the requirements of the LAS technique. Likewise, vapor behavior of the higher boiling point (HBP) component, n-tridecane, has been obtained by using alpha-methylnaphthalene (boiling point: 517 K). It has been found that difference in vaporization rate between the LBP and HBP components is great over the spray plume at 473 K, this difference, however, reduces significantly as the ambient temperature increases to 573 K; The LBP component vaporizes mainly in the outer region, while the HBP mostly in the inner region of the spray.