Combustion of cylindrical and spherical random clusters of char/carbon particles

The interaction between burning char/carbon particles of different sizes is analyzed using a quasi-steady approximation. The method of solution is based on the expansion into irreducible multipoles developed in the earlier paper. It is assumed that the chemical reaction which occurs at the surface of particles is of first order. The method is applied for the analysis of the burning rate of spherical and cylindrical clouds of particles. The results are presented in terms of correction factor which is defined as a ratio of a burning rate of a particle located inside a cloud to an isolated particle burning rate. It is shown that the burning rate of a cloud of particles is determined by a combustion rate of a primary (central) particle with the radius which is equal to the average radius of particles in a cluster. The results obtained with the developed model are validated by comparison with the available experimental data.