Computational and Experimental Study of Laminar Diffusion Flames in a Microgravity Environment

A detailed computational and experimental study of coflow diffusion flames in a microgravity environment has been initiated. The overall goal of the program is to apply adaptive computational algorithms and advanced imaging techniques to a simple, well-characterized burner. The results will provide new information on the formation of NOx, soot, and the interaction of convection, diffusion, and chemistry in a nonbuoyant environment. In previous work on this flame at normal gravity, quantitative two-dimensional species concentration profiles were modeled computationally and were measured using spontaneous Raman scattering and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). In extending the study to microgravity conditions, improvements to the computational model have been made and new calculations performed for a range of gravity conditions. In addition, modifications to the experimental approach have been necessitated by the constraints imposed by existing microgravity facilities. Initial results from the computations and experiments are presented in the following sections.