The problem of transient droplet vaporization in a hot convective environment is examined. The main objective of the present study is to develop an algorithm for the droplet vaporization which is simple enough to be feasibly incorporated into a complete spray combustion analysis and yet will also account for the important physics such as liquid-phase internal circulation, unsteady droplet heating and axisymmetric gas-phase convection. A simplified liquid-phase model has been obtained based on the assumption of the existence of a Hill's spherical vortex inside the droplet together with some approximations made in the governing diffusion equation. The use of the simplified model in a spray situation has also been examined. It has been found that droplet heating and vaporization are essentially unsteady and droplet temperature is nonuniform for a significant portion of its lifetime. It has also been found that the droplet vaporization characteristic can be quite sensitive to the particular liquid-phase and gas-phase models. The results of the various models are compared with the existing experimental data. Due to large scattering in the experimental measurements, particularly the droplet diameter, no definite conclusion can be drawn based on the experimental data. Finally, certain research problems which are related to the …