Flame-spread limit from interactive burning droplets in microgravity

Abstract This research conducted microgravity experiments on the flame spread over droplet-cloud elements with strong droplet interaction aboard Kibo on the ISS. The droplet-cloud element represents a local droplet pattern appearing in randomly distributed droplet clouds near the group-combustion-excitation limit and consists of small-droplet-spacing droplets and large-droplet-spacing droplets. As droplet-cloud elements, we used four n -decane droplets, Droplets C, B, A and L, placed at fiber intersections of two-dimensional SiC-fiber lattice with a 4-mm fiber interval in a combustion chamber. The flame spreads over the droplet-cloud element in order of Droplets C, B, A and L. The position of Droplet L relative to Droplet A was varied to investigate the flame-spread-limit distribution around burning Droplet A. The position of Droplet B relative to Droplet A was varied to investigate the effect of two-droplet interaction between Droplets B and A on the flame spread to Droplet L. The position of Droplet C relative to Droplet B was also varied to investigate the effect of three-droplet interaction among Droplets C, B and A. The results shows that in the case with the strong interaction by two or three interactive droplets, the high-temperature region is enlarged by the droplet interaction, centers near the center of mass of the interactive droplets and plays an important role in the flame-spread-limit distribution. Since the burning lifetime of Droplet A is finite, the flame-spread time from burning Droplet A to Droplet L is limited by burning lifetime of Droplet A and is less than 80% of the burning lifetime of Droplet A, which increases with the interactive effect. The flame-spread-limit distance from the center of mass of the interactive droplets increases with the burning lifetime.