Interactive combustion of two-dimensionally arranged quasi-droplet clusters under microgravity

Abstract

To investigate the mutual interactions between droplets in the spray combustion, combustion of 2-dimensionally arranged quasi-droplet clusters is studied under microgravity. Quasi-droplet samples, which are solid in room temperature and change into liquid just after the ignition, consist of alcohol (propanol, butanol, pentanol, or hexanol) and polyethylene glycol with a volumetric ratio of 2:1. Seven samples sustained by glass rods form a 2-dimensional quasi-droplet cluster. Electrically heated nichrome wires ignite all samples in the cluster simultaneously. Single envelope flames that surround the clusters appeared. The results show that the sample spacing has a strong effect on the shape and movement of the flame. Sample clusters with large sample spacings come to the external group combustion through the scavenging combustion mode, whereas the small spacing clusters start directly with the external group combustion. At large sample spacings, the distance from the edge of the sample cluster to the flame (flame distance) increases to a maximum value and then decreases with time. The period of flame growth is prolonged with decreasing sample spacing and finally, at a small enough sample spacing, the flame distance keeps increasing until the flame disappears. This flame movement is attributed to the fuel vapor accumulation effect, which becomes more dominant with decreasing sample spacing. The burning lifetime decreases monotonically and approaches the value of the single flame with increasing sample spacing. The flame distance decreases monotonically and approaches the single flame radius with increasing sample spacing also. These results render important confirmations of the external group combustion phenomena and prove the importance of the two kinds of unsteadiness, that is, the scavenging combustion with large droplet interval and the fuel vapor accumulation effect with small droplet interval, in group combustion.