Response of spherical diffusion flames subjected to rotation: Microgravity experimentation and computational simulation

Sean W. Yoo, Swetaprovo Chaudhuri, Kurt R. Sacksteder, Peng Zhang, Delin Zhu, Chung King Law

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Microgravity experiments were conducted in the 2.2-s drop tower and zero-gravity facility at NASA-GRC to gain fundamental understanding of the effects of spinning on an otherwise spherical diffusion flame. The flames were generated by injecting either a fuel or an oxidizer mixture from a porous burner to a controlled ambient of either an oxidizer or fuel mixture, respectively. Results show that the polar flame location scales with the angular velocity monotonically as ω a, where a is greater and smaller than unity for small and large spinning velocities, respectively. On the contrary, the equatorial flame location responds nonmonotonically to increasing spinning velocity: first increasing and then decreasing. The experimental observations agree well with the computational simulation where the simulated results demonstrate that the nonmonotonic response of the equatorial flame location is caused by dilution of the reactant concentration in the outwardly-directed radial flow by the product and inert that are carried by the inwardly-directed polar flow upon traversing the flame segment in the polar region.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)665-672
Number of pages8
JournalCombustion and Flame
Volume159
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

Keywords

  • Rotating spherical diffusion flame

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