VIENNA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

HOMEWORK 3

Drops of fuel (with initial diameter Di and velocity vi along x-direction) are injected
inside a combustion chamber. Neglecting gravity and assuming Stokes’s regime:

1. Compute the stopping distance (maximal distance that a drop can travel).

2. During the flight, the fuel burns at rate c = K · πD(t)2 , where D(t) is the diameter
(whose value depends on time) and K is a constant expressed in kg/m2 s. Write the
balance equation for the droplet dynamics and recompute the stopping distance.

Exhaust gases seeded with ash particles (considered as small spherical particles) exit
from a combustion chamber. Ash particles have a density ρp = 800 kg/m3 , a minimal
diameter Dp,min = 0.5 µm and a maximal diameter Dp,max = 50 µm. Ash particles
must be removed (through a separation system) before exhaust gases are released in the
environment. The separation system (Fig. 1) is composed by a gravity chamber, suitable
to remove large particles, followed by an electrostatic chamber, suitable to remove small
particles. Exhaust gases, characterized by density ρf = 1.4 kg/m3 and viscosity µf =
1.8·10−5 P a·s, are issued at a flow rate Qf = 0.6m3 /s. Under the hypothesis of steady-state
flow and Stokes’s regime compute:

1. The length of the gravity chamber considering that the width is 2 m and the height
is 1.5 m.

2. the electric potential difference to be applied to the two plates of the electrostatic
chamber (assuming a distance d = 0.2 m between the plates, an height of 1.5 m
and a length of 3 m) to remove the smallest particles. Assume a charge of the ash
particles equal to qp = 1.6 · 10−15 C.

c
An empty sphere of glass has apparent density ρp = 2.62 kg/m3 and falls inside a fluid of
density ρ = 1.59 kg/m3 and viscosity µ = 9.58 · 10−5 P a · s. Find the sphere diameter if
the terminal velocity of the sphere is vp = 1.22 m/s.

1
Figura 1: Sketch of the separation scheme: gravity chamber (first section), electrostatic
chamber (second section).

d
A flow (viscosity µ) moves in laminar condition within the gap between two coaxial cylin-
ders having radius R1 and R2 , respectively (with R1 < R2 ). The external cylinder moves
with angular velocity Ω. In this configuration, the flow is purely circumferential, with vθ ,
i.e. the only velocity component different from zero:

R2 r R2
 
vθ (r) = Ω 2 2 2 1 − 21 . (1)
R2 − R1 r

1. A particle of diameter Dp and density ρp has initial position ri , θi . Find an expres-

sion for the radial particle velocity assuming a stationary flow (the particle moves
tangentially with the same velocity of the flow and under the assumption of a Stoke’s
regime)

2. Compute the length of the arch ∆θ travelled by the particle moving from the initial
position up to the instant in which it impacts the external cylinder at radius R2 .

e
A sphere of diameter Dp = 1 mm and density ρp = 103 kg/m3 moves in air (ρ =
1.38 kg/m3 , µ = 21.5 · 10−5 P a · s). The flow has velocity v = 30 m/s, whereas the
sphere has initial position x = 0 and initial velocity vp = 0. Assume that CD = 0.44
(Newton’s regime). Compute the time the particle takes to reach the 80% of its maximum
velocity, and the corresponding distance in the two following cases:

1. Assuming that the flow velocity is horizontal and that gravity is negligible.

2. Assuming that the flow velocity is vertical (and pointing upwards) and gravity cannot
be neglected.