Effects Of Gravity On Laminar Gas Jet Diffusion Flames

An experimental program was conducted to study the burning of laminar gas jet diffusion flames in a zero-gravity environment. The tests were conducted in the Lewis Research Center 2.2-Second Zero-Gravity Facility. The photographic results indicated that a sudden decrease in gravity level from 1 to 0 effected an immediate reduction in the length of the flame. Continued time in zero gravity resulted in the flame expanding away from the burner until extinguishment appeared to occur. Nondimensionalization of the governing flow equation yielded the parameters used to correlate the buoyancy effects.