Interaction of Burning Metal Particles

Multiple particle/droplet flames are ubiquitous in practical combustion systems, and thus the flame interaction processes are of great practical importance. This explains the strong current interest in interactive combustion phenomena. Numerous theoretical and experimental combustion studies of liquid fuel drop arrays have been conducted to determine the interaction effects. Major results in this field were recently summarized in a comprehensive review. Recent experiments with two adjacent liquid droplets burning under microgravity conditions revealed new aspects of flame interaction processes, such as positive and negative interactions, which can either increase or decrease burning rates depending on the droplet separation and the combustion stage. Interaction of solid fuel flames has been studied only for bulk samples and for relatively low temperature flames.