Location
Utah State University
Start Date
5-9-2012 9:30 AM
Description
A thin wire, subcooled boiling experiment was performed onboard an aircraft flying a parabolic trajectory as a means to provide microgravity conditions. Microgravity allows for improved observation of jet flow phenomena and the ability to investigate their behavior in the absence of buoyant forces. A new mode of jet flows was observed in microgravity which accounts for the high heat fluxes measured on the wire heater. A relative bubble area analysis method was able to quantify vapor production and bubble behavior across multiple frames of video. A cross-correlation calculation similar to particle image velocimetry (PIV) provided velocities of the micro-bubbles in the flow. These micro-bubble jet flows and the convection currents they induce have the potential to allow for sustained boiling to occur in microgravity at high heat fluxes.
Jet Flow Behavior Observed during Microgravity
Utah State University
A thin wire, subcooled boiling experiment was performed onboard an aircraft flying a parabolic trajectory as a means to provide microgravity conditions. Microgravity allows for improved observation of jet flow phenomena and the ability to investigate their behavior in the absence of buoyant forces. A new mode of jet flows was observed in microgravity which accounts for the high heat fluxes measured on the wire heater. A relative bubble area analysis method was able to quantify vapor production and bubble behavior across multiple frames of video. A cross-correlation calculation similar to particle image velocimetry (PIV) provided velocities of the micro-bubbles in the flow. These micro-bubble jet flows and the convection currents they induce have the potential to allow for sustained boiling to occur in microgravity at high heat fluxes.