Appearance of cool flame in flame spread over fuel droplets in microgravity

• Published in: Proceedings of the Combustion Institute Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 2449 - 2459
• Main Authors: Mikami, Masato, Matsumoto, Kodai, Chikami, Yuto, Kikuchi, Masao, Dietrich, Daniel L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 2023
• Subjects: Cool flame; Droplet array; Flame spread; Microgravity; Flame spread; Droplet array; Microgravity; Cool flame
• ISSN: 1540-7489; 1873-2704
• DOI: 10.1016/j.proci.2022.07.053

This research conducted microgravity experiments to investigate phenomena appearing around a droplet existing outside the flame-spread limit. n-Decane droplets are tethered at intersections of SiC fibers. The flame spreads to two- or three-interactive droplets to heat a droplet placed outside the flame-spread limit of the interactive droplets. The cool-flame appearance during the flame spread over droplets was detected using different methods. The droplet diameter was measured with a back illumination to evaluate the vaporization-rate constant and to judge whether the cool flame appears or not. The temperature around the droplet was measured by the thin-filament pyrometry using a near-infrared camera to detect the temperature rise due to cool-flame appearance. The infrared radiation distribution from the combustion products was measured using a mid-wave infrared camera to judge the cool-flame appearance. The results show that a cool flame appears around the droplet existing outside the hot-flame-spread limit and the vaporization completes with the cool flame if the heat input from the hot flame is sufficiently large. This type of flame spread is called hot-to-cool flame spread. The definition of flame spread should be extended considering the cool flame.