Radiative structures of lycopodium-air flames in low gravity
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Facca, L..
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Results are presented on a study of flames supported by clouds of particles suspended in air, at pressures about 100 times lower than normal. In the experiment, an acoustic driver (4-in speaker) placed at one end of a closed tube, 0.75-m long and 0.05 m in diameter, disperses a cloud of lycopodium particles during a 0.5-sec powerful acoustic burst. Properties of the particle cloud and the flame were recorded by high-speed motion pictures and optical transmission detectors. Novel flame structures were observed, which owe their features to partial confinement, which encourages flame-acoustic interactions, segregation of particle clouds into laminae, and penetration of the flame's radiative flux density into the unburned particle-cloud regimes. Results of these experiments imply that, for particles in confined spaces, uncontrolled fire and explosion may be a threat even if the Phi(0) values are below some apparent lean limit.
Quasi-steady flame propagation through clouds of combustible particles requires quasi-steady transport properties and quasi-steady particle number density. Microgravity conditions may be employed to help achieve the conditions of quiescent, uniform clouds needed for such combustion studies. Joint experimental and theoretical NASA-UCSD studies were concerned with the use of acoustic, electrostatic, and other methods of dispersion of fuel particulates. Results of these studies are presented for particle clouds in long cylindrical tubes.
Initially uniform clouds of fuel particulates in air sustain processes which may lead to particle cloud nonuniformities. In low gravity, flame-induced Kundt's Tube phenomena are observed to form regular patterns of nonuniform particle concentrations. Irregular patterns of particle concentrations also are observed to result from selected nonuniform mixing processes. Low gravity flame propagation for each of these classes of particle cloud flames has been found to depend importantly on the flame-generated infrared radiative fields. The spatial structures of these radiative fields are described. Application is made for the observed clases of lycopodium-air flames.