A droplet stream combustion experiment was developed to understand the effect of reducing droplet size to a micrometer scale on the combustion characteristics of nanofluid fuels, which are liquid fuels with a stable suspension of nanoparticles. Pure ethanol and ethanol with aluminum nanoparticles at varying concentrations (up to 5 wt%) and droplet sizes were studied. The effect of particle addition on the droplet-burning rate was determined, and the mechanisms that are responsible for that effect were identified. The results show that the droplet-burning rate increases with increasing particle concentration. For example, with a 5 wt% addition of 80 nm aluminum nanoparticles, the burning rate increased by 140%. The burning rate enhancement is mainly attributed to strong radiation absorption of the nanoparticles suspended within the droplets, which provides more energy from the exothermic reaction (the flame) to the liquid phase (the droplets) for vaporization, thus increasing the burning rate. The radiation absorption effect becomes increasingly important as the droplet size increases.
Effect of Addition of Energetic Nanoparticles on Droplet-Burning Rate of Liquid Fuels
Journal of Propulsion and Power ; 31 , 1 ; 408-415
2015-01-01
Conference paper , Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Effect of Addition of Energetic Nanoparticles on Droplet-Burning Rate of Liquid Fuels
Online Contents | 2015
|Burning Rate Studies of Energetic Materials
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2002
|AIAA | 1981
|Burning of liquid and gaseous fuels
Engineering Index Backfile | 1932