Droplet Combustion under Microgravity Conditions
Combustion de gouttes en microgravité
Résumé
New experimental results concerning the envelope flame burning of n-heptane droplets under reduced gravit y are presented. In this work, the parabolic flights of an aircraft are used to create a reduced gravit y environment of the order of 10-2 g. The results presented here constitute an experimental confirmation of the nonsteady behavior of droplet burning whereas the spherical symmetry is conserved, by showing essentially that the flame first moves away from the droplet, then backs towards it, and that the instantaneous ratio of flame to drop let diameter increases continuously during combustion