Unraveling Hidden Physics in Multiphase Combustion: Preferential Vaporization at Elevated Pressure

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Transportation liquid fuels, such as gasoline, jet, and diesel fuels, contain hundreds of molecules with wide variations in their sizes and chemical structures. Consequently, the combustion of liquid fuels involves complex coupling between chemical reaction rates dictated by various molecules in the fuel and spray size distribution. The principal aim of this project is to establish fundamental knowledge of the fuel vaporization process, particularly at high-pressure conditions relevant to the applications of internal combustion engines. The outcomes of the project will provide a fundamental foundation for developing next-generation advanced combustion engines, allowing the reduction in emission as well as increase overall efficiency. The project will also encompass significant educational activities, including both graduate and undergraduate research programs and an outreach program geared towards local high school students and teachers to fulfill the mission of the NSF. The project will allow nurturing of the next generation of U.S. innovators in energy and engineering sciences. The goal of the proposed research is to establish fundamental knowledge of preferential vaporization impacts by designing and performing well-defined experiments at elevated pressure conditions, which will be used for validating and evaluating the fidelity of the sub-model of preferential vaporization. The project will perform three experimental tasks and one modeling task: 1) Experimental characterization of isolated single droplet vaporization for multi-component fuels; 2) Experimental investigation of isolated single droplet interaction with flames; 3) Experiments on near-limit combustion behaviors by controlling the extent of fuel vaporization with well-defined multi-component fuel mixtures; 4) Development and validation of spray sub-model capable of describing preferential vaporization characteristics. The results of this project are expected to provide insightful guidance to the development of alternative fuels and their synthetic methodologies and a fundamental foundation to develop advanced fuel specification protocol.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.