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On the Formation of Nitrogen Oxides During the Combustion of ...

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B<br />

Investigated Conditions<br />

There are a number <strong>of</strong> parameters and conditions having a major impact on<br />

<strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> scientific results as presented in <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>sis at hand. For instance,<br />

it is essential to provide an equal and reproducible pre-vaporization rate Ψ<br />

(Fig. 3.1). Producing equally sized droplets <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> diameter D 0 is most important<br />

in achieving this constraint in experiments. If <strong>the</strong>re is a spatially uniform<br />

temperature T ∞ , <strong>the</strong> droplet size at ignition D ign shows as a function <strong>of</strong> prevaporization<br />

time t Ψ only [294]. As far as <strong>the</strong> numerical part <strong>of</strong> this research<br />

is concerned, <strong>the</strong> spatial position <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ignition source is most crucial for <strong>the</strong><br />

overall NO x production. Besides, different values <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> emission index EI NOx<br />

are likely to be obtained by relating <strong>the</strong> raw values <strong>of</strong> NO x formation to <strong>the</strong> reacting<br />

fuel instead <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> initial droplet mass [297]. Hence, this chapter gives a<br />

supplementary overview <strong>of</strong> investigated conditions and sensitive parameters.<br />

B.1 Experiment Operation Conditions for Droplet Array<br />

<strong>Combustion</strong><br />

The microgravity environment, as employed in <strong>the</strong> experiments <strong>of</strong> this<br />

study, provided ideal conditions for achieving a reproducible degree <strong>of</strong><br />

droplet vaporization by avoiding <strong>the</strong> disturbing effects <strong>of</strong> natural convection<br />

(cf. Fig. 1.2). This allowed <strong>the</strong> study <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> interacting phenomena <strong>of</strong> multiphase<br />

flow, <strong>the</strong>rmodynamics, and chemical kinetics [208, 293, 294, 296].<br />

Systematic Experiment Approach<br />

Flame propagation in <strong>the</strong> investigated linear droplet arrangement (Fig. 3.1)<br />

has an “averaging” effect on combustion temperature and exhaust gas production.<br />

The experimentally obtained, averaged production <strong>of</strong> NO x can <strong>the</strong>refore<br />

be considered as representing <strong>the</strong> NO x quantities <strong>of</strong> what a single droplet<br />

208

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