Vapourization of Fuel Drops on a Hot Plate

Life times and behaviour of fuel drops, vapourizing on a hot plate in open and closed atmospheres were recorded. The vapourizing mass was photographed sequentially. The parameters varied are: (1) fuel (iso-octane, n-heptane, ∝-methyl naphthalene and n-hexadecane), (2) ambient atmosphere (air and nitrogen), (3) ambient pressure (1,2,3,5 and 9 atm. abs.) and (4) plate temperature (50 to 350°C). Differences were observed in the vapourization characteristics. The size, shape and vapourization rate of film boiling drops were analysed and compared with the predicted values. The predictions were made using two models (part sphere and sphere) for different drop volumes. Reasonable agreement was observed.