Flame propagation over liquid alcohols - Part II. Steady propagation regimes

The different spreading regimes above liquid fuels have been experimentally characterized for surface temperatures close to the flash-point temperature. Two different spreading regimes are observed: for temperatures larger than some critical value, flame spreading velocity is well described by the De Ris solid fuel-like model. For temperature values lower than the critical one, a preheating thermocapillary region has been observed in the fuel, which can be described by a purely thermodynamic non-reactive model. The critical transition temperature has shown to present common characteristics for the four alcohols used in the experiments.