Statistical Model of Evaporating Multicomponent Fuel Drops

An improved statistical model has been developed to describe the chemical composition of an evaporating multicomponent- liquid drop and of the mixture of gases surrounding the drop. The model is intended for use in computational simulations of the evaporation and combustion of sprayed liquid fuels, which are typically mixtures of as many as hundreds of different hydrocarbon compounds. Since an exact model providing a detailed account of all of the compounds would be computationally intractable, the present statistical model is an approximation designed to afford results that are accurate enough to contribute to understanding of the simulated physical and chemical phenomena, without imposing an unduly large computational burden.