Formation and Combustion of Unconfined Drop Clusters in Microgravity

Single-drop and droplet array studies have become common methods to isolate and investigate the effects of any of the complexities that enter into the drop combustion process. Microgravity environments are required to allow larger drops to be studied while minimizing or eliminating the confounding effects of buoyancy. Based on the results from current isolated drop, drop array, and spray studies funded through the Microgravity Science and Applications Division, it has become clear that even with the effects of buoyancy removed, the extrapolation of results from droplet array studies to spray flames is difficult. The problem occurs because even the simplest spray systems introduce complexities of multi-disperse drop sizes and drop-drop interactions, coupled with more complicated fluid dynamics. Not only do these features make the interpretation of experimental data difficult, they also make the problem very difficult to analyze computationally. Group combustion models, in which the interaction between droplets is treated on a statistical manner, have become a popular method to investigate the behavior of large numbers of interacting droplets, particularly through the work of Ryan et al. and Bellan and co-workers. While these models idealize the actual spray systems to a point where they can be treated computationally, the experimental analogy to these models is difficult to achieve because it requires the formation and Combustion of drop clusters without the effects of buoyancy. Therefore, even though these models have provided useful and insightful information, the verification of the results by direct comparison with experimental data is still lacking.