INTERACTIVE VAPORIZATION AND COMBUSTION OF BINARY DROPLET SYSTEMS.

The interactive vaporization and combustion of two horizontally-aligned droplets were experimentally studied using an automated data acquisition and reduction system. Factors investigated include the droplet spacing and size, ambient oxygen concentration, fuel type, droplets of unequal sizes and dissimilar fuels, intensity of buoyancy, and pure vaporization. Results show that the existing theory over-predicts the extent of interaction, that interaction depends on other factors in addition to the scaled droplet separation distance which is the only parameter present in the theory, that interactive buoyant convection can substantially augment the droplet gasification rate to exceed the isolated value, and that the vaporization rate of a non-volatile droplet can be significantly enhanced in the presence of a volatile droplet. Much of the burning results can be interpreted on the bases of the flame size and oxygen competition.