Microgravity Flame Structure

Sponsored by NASA

Microgravity Flame Structure

Studies of flame and combustion processes on earth are frequently complicated by the inevitable presence of buoyancy, which not only quantitatively affects the combustion rate but can also severely distort the flame configuration from some degree of symmetry needed for fundamental understanding of the flame structure. In this project we study the structure of perfectly cylindrical and spherical flames obtainable only in the microgravity environments of drop towers, parabolic flights, and space stations.