Modeling of one-dimensional smoldering of polyurethane in microgravity conditions

Results are presented from a model of forward smoldering combustion of polyurethane foam in microgravity. The transient one-dimensional numerical-model is based on that developed at the University of Texas at Austin. The conservation equations of energy, species, and mass in the porous solid and in the gas phases are numerically solved. The solid and the gas phases are not assumed to be in thermal or in chemical equilibrium. The chemical reactions modeled consist of foam oxidation and pyrolysis reactions, as well as char oxidation. The model has been modified to account for new polyurethane kinetics parameters and radial heat losses to the surrounding environment. The kinetics parameters are extracted from thermogravimetric analyses published in the literature and using Genetic Algorithms as the optimization technique. The model results are compared with previous tests of forward smoldering combustion in microgravity conducted aboard the NASA Space Shuttle. The model calculates well the propagation velocities and the overall smoldering characteristics. Direct comparison of the solution with the experimental temperature profiles shows that the model predicts well these profiles at high temperature, but not as well at lower temperatures. The effect of inlet gas velocity is examined, and the minimum airflow for ignition is identified. It is remarkable that this one-dimensional model with simplified kinetics is capable of predicting cases of smolder ignition but with no self-propagation away from the igniter region. The model is used for better understanding of the controlling mechanisms of smolder combustion for the purpose of fire safety, both in microgravity and normal gravity, and to extend the unique microgravity data to wider conditions avoiding the high cost of space-based experiments.     

Limiting conditions for flame spread in fire resistant fabrics

Fire resistant (FR) fabrics are used for astronauts, firefighter and racecar driver suits. However, their fire resistant characteristics depend on the environmental conditions and require study. Particularly important is the response of these fabrics to varied environments and radiant heat from a source such as an adjacent fire. In this work, experiments were conducted to study the effect of oxygen concentration, external radiant flux and oxidizer flow velocity on the concurrent flame spread over two FR fabrics: Nomex HT90-40 and a Nomex/Nylon/Cotton fabric blend. Results show that for a given fabric the minimum oxygen concentration for concurrent flame spread depends strongly on the magnitude of the external radiant flux. At increased oxygen concentrations the external radiant flux required for flame spread decreases. Oxidizer flow velocity influences the external radiant flux only when the convective heat flux from the flame has similar values to the external radiant flux. The results of this work provide further understanding of the flammability characteristics of fire resistant fabrics in environments similar to those of future spacecrafts.     

聚氨酯泡沫反向阴燃的数值模拟

本文根据两步反应机理,建立了2维非稳态燃料阴燃的数学模型.该模型考虑了气体在多孔介质内扩散系数的变化.应用该模型模拟了来流速度对阴燃速度及平均最高温度的影响,结果表明;首先阴燃传播速度随着来流速度的增大而增大,当风速为0.2 cm/s时,阴燃速度达到最大值0.0093 cm/s,而后随着风速的增大阴燃速度逐渐降低直至熄灭;来流速度对阴燃最高温度影响不大.同时还模拟了氧气浓度的影响、燃料阴燃中气体组分和固体成分的变化以及温度分布情况.     

An Earth-based equivalent low stretch apparatus for material flammability assessment in microgravity and extraterrestrial environments

The standard oxygen consumption (cone) calorimeter (described in ASTM E 1354 and NASA STD 6001 Test 2) is modified to provide a bench-scale test environment that simulates the low velocity buoyant or ventilation flow generated by or around a burning surface in a spacecraft or extraterrestrial gravity level. The equivalent low stretch apparatus (ELSA) uses an inverted cone geometry with the sample burning in a ceiling fire (stagnation flow) configuration. For a fixed radiant flux, ignition delay times for characterization material PMMA are shown to decrease by a factor of 3 at low stretch, demonstrating that ignition delay times determined from normal cone tests significantly underestimate the risk in microgravity. The critical heat flux for ignition is found to be lowered at low stretch as the convective cooling is reduced. At the limit of no stretch, any heat flux that exceeds the surface radiative loss at the surface ignition temperature is sufficient for ignition. Regression rates for PMMA increase with heat flux and stretch rate, but regression rates are much more sensitive to heat flux at the low stretch rates, where a modest increase in heat flux of 25 kW/m² increases the burning rates by an order of magnitude. The global equivalence ratio of these flames is very fuel rich, and the quantity of CO produced in this configuration is significantly higher than standard cone tests. These results demonstrate that the ELSA apparatus allows us to conduct normal gravity experiments that accurately and quantifiably evaluate a material’s flammability characteristics in the real-use environment of spacecraft or extraterrestrial gravitational acceleration. These results also demonstrate that current NASA STD 6001 Test 2 (standard cone) is not conservative since it evaluates a material’s flammability with a much higher inherent buoyant convective flow.     

Effect of boundary heat flux on solidification in a forced liquid metal flow: a phase-field simulation

A phase-field model coupling with velocity field is employed to study the effect of boundary heat flux on the microstructure formation of a Ni-40.8%Cu alloy with liquid flow during the solidification, and an anti-trapping current is introduced to suppress the solute trapping due to the larger interface width used in simulations than a real solidifying material. The effect of the flow field coupling with boundary heat extractions on the microstructure formation as well as distributions of concentration and temperature fields are analyzed and discussed. The forced liquid flow can significantly affect the heat and solute diffusions, thus influencing morphology formation, concentration and temperature distributions during the solidification. The solute segregation and concentration diffusion are changed by boundary heat extractions, and the morphology, concentration and temperature distributions are significantly influenced by increasing the heat extraction, which relatively makes the effect of liquid flow constrained. By increasing the initial velocity of liquid flow, the lopsided rate of the primary dendrite arm is enlarged and the growth manner of dendrite arms gets changed, and the transition of the microstructure from dendrite to cellular moves to the large heat extraction direction. Therefore, there exists the competition between the heat flux, temperature gradient and forced liquid flow that finally determines the microstructure formation during directional solidification.     

Modeling extinction in forced opposed-flow smolder

We address a discrepancy between smolder extinction theory and experimental work regarding whether extinction can occur under oxygen-depleted conditions. Single heterogeneous (solid/gas) reaction models that model the complex reaction process of smoldering with a single reaction predict extinction for large head winds only when oxygen remains (fuel-limited smolder). Experimental evidence, however, shows that oxygen concentrations are essentially zero for smolder waves close to the extinction limit. We consider a two-step sequential reaction scheme in which the solid fuel is converted to char, which also reacts with oxygen to produce ash. This generic scheme leads to extinction with oxygen depletion. The model suggests that oxygen depletion is caused by the second reaction while extinction is driven by the first. Solid fuel must be completely converted to char for extinction to occur while oxygen consumption in the secondary reaction induces oxygen depletion. Spatial separation of the localized reactions is predicted to increase with head wind as a precursor to extinction.     

Onset of superfluidity far from equilibrium: dynamical effects on the correlation length

Nonlinear heat conduction has recently been measured near the superfluid transition in pure ⁴He at very low heat flux Q. Since both dynamic effects and gravity limit the divergence of the superfluid correlation length near the transition at low-Q, these measurements must be repeated in the microgravity environment in order to observe the dynamic effects in isolation. Comparison of the microgravity data to similar data obtained on Earth will provide experimental insight into the effect of gravity on this nonlinear conduction region at low heat flux where theoretical predictions are lacking. While some measurement advantages exist in the microgravity laboratory, it is the study of the direct effect of gravity on the nonlinear conduction measurements that motivate the microgravity need.     

微槽内二元混合液体的流动沸腾

1引言微型结构由于其巨大的应用潜力，作为热控制和冷却的有效手段已被引入电子集成电路、生物医学、航天、高效紧凑式与微型换热器、材料加工等现代高新技术领域。由于相交换热能传递更多的热量，微结构中的流动沸腾受到了日益重视。但微通道中流体流动和换热的特性当然与所用工质有关。微通道内液体混合物的流动沸腾至今极少见到公开报道［‘］。彭和王等人l‘－‘］报道了对微通道和微槽结构内单组元液体流动沸腾的研究，发现起始沸腾点所需壁面过热度比常规尺度槽道内的低得多，没有明显的部分核沸腾现象，同时发现微槽尺寸对流动沸腾的…     

A new method for the estimation of high temperature radiant heat emittance by means of aero-acoustic levitation

A new method for the experimental estimation of radiant heat emittance at high temperatures has been developed which involves aero-acoustic levitation of samples, laser heating and contactless temperature measurement. Radiant heat emittance values are determined from the time dependent development of the sample temperature which requires analysis of both the radiant and convective heat transfer towards the surroundings by means of fluid dynamics calculations. First results for the emittance of a corundum sample obtained with this method are presented in this article and found in good agreement with literature values.     

Flame spread over solids in buoyant and forced concurrent flows: Model computations and comparison with experiments

A detailed three-dimensional concurrent flame spread model is tested and compared with three sets of experiments. The parameters varied include: gravity, flow velocity, pressure, oxygen mole fraction, and sample width. In buoyant flows (normal and partial gravities), the computed steady spread rate and flame profiles agree favorably with experiment. The predicted extinction limits are lower but can be improved. Comparison in forced concurrent flow in microgravity shows correct trends. The predicted steady spread rates are lower than the experimental ones if the flames are short but higher than the experimental ones if the flames are long. It is believed that the experimental flames may not have fully reached steady state at the end of the 5-s microgravity drops. Longer duration microgravity experiments in future will be needed to substantiate this belief.     

Entropy Generation Analysis of the Flow Boiling in Microgravity Field

Entropy generation analysis of the flow boiling in microgravity field is conducted in this paper. A new entropy generation model based on the flow pattern and the phase change process is developed in this study. The velocity ranges from 1 m/s to 4 m/s, and the heat flux ranges from 10,000 W/m² to 50,000 W/m², so as to investigate their influence on irreversibility during flow boiling in the tunnel. A phase–change model verified by the Stefan problem is employed in this paper to simulate the phase–change process in boiling. The numerical simulations are carried out on ANSYS-FLUENT. The entropy generation produced by the heat transfer, viscous dissipation, turbulent dissipation, and phase change are observed at different working conditions. Moreover, the Be number and a new evaluation number, E_P, are introduced in this paper to investigate the performance of the boiling phenomenon. The following conclusions are obtained: (1) a high local entropy generation will be obtained when only heat conduction in vapor occurs near the hot wall, whereas a low local entropy generation will be obtained when heat conduction in water or evaporation occurs near the hot wall; (2) the entropy generation and the Be number are positively correlated with the heat flux, which indicates that the heat transfer entropy generation becomes the major contributor of the total entropy generation with the increase of the heat flux; (3) the transition of the boiling status shows different trends at different velocities, which affects the irreversibility in the tunnel; (4) the critical heat flux (CHF) is the optimal choice under the comprehensive consideration of the first law and the second law of the thermodynamics.     

Smolder waves, smolder spots, and the genesis of tribrachial structures in smolder combustion

We examine the evolution of reverse smolder waves with edges, motivated by the existing literature on edge-flames. An advancing smolder edge proves to be of little interest, and a well-defined invariant structure does not emerge following initial transients. A retreating smolder edge also lacks invariant structure, but retreats at a reasonably well-defined speed and can lead to novel structures and novel evolutions. Thus, a transient propagating smolder spot can be generated; and a tribrachial structure evolves from this spot with a tail that has the form of a forward smolder wave, and two leading branches, fuel-lean and fuel-rich reverse smolder waves. High temperatures and high reaction rates accompany these evolutions, and it is noted that this could lead to flaming (gas-phase) combustion.     

泡沫金属对含油制冷剂管内流动沸腾换热特性的影响

实验研究了制冷剂-润滑油混合流体在内嵌泡沫金属圆管内流动沸腾的换热特性。泡沫金属为10ppi、90%孔隙率;制冷剂为R410A,润滑油为VG68,油浓度为0～5%。实验结果表明:纯制冷剂工况下,泡沫金属强化流动沸腾换热系数,换热系数提高30%～120%;含油工况下,泡沫金属只强化流动沸腾换热系数20%以下,在低质流密度或者高质流密度的高干度情况下出现恶化换热的情况。润滑油总是恶化制冷剂在内嵌泡沫金属圆管内流动沸腾的换热系数,换热系数最多恶化71%,且在低质流密度下对换热的恶化比在高质流密度工况下严重。     

氩等离子体射流在空气环境中冲击平板层流流动与传热的数值模拟

本文采用组合扩散系数方法处理不同气体组分之间的扩散，对氩等离子体的流射入空气环境并撞击平板时的层流流动和传热进行了数值模拟．这种新的处理混合气体中质量扩散的方法有助于更准确地描述等离子体条件下的组分扩散与能量输运。文中给出了射流中速度、温度及氩质量分数的分布情况，以及基板处热流密度分布的若干典型的数值模拟结果．     

不同燃烧状态飞火颗粒自由燃烧规律研究

飞火是开放空间中大尺度火灾非连续性蔓延的主要形式。本文通过不同热流下的木质飞火颗粒自由燃烧实验,揭示不同燃烧状态飞火颗粒的结构变形、质量损失及温度分布的变化规律。研究表明,颗粒结构变形受材料化学反应机制和热机械力作用共同影响;颗粒燃烧反应易造成热解气体的内部积聚,以致内压激增、诱发喷射或喷溅细小颗粒的现象;阴燃过程颗粒表面温度变化较小但持续时间很长,明火状态的颗粒持续高温并且温度与质量变化剧烈。     

燃池内的阴燃过程的实验分析研究

为了分析燃池内的燃烧过程,设计制造了水平和竖直的纤维质燃料阴燃实验台,进行了 阴燃过程气体成分的实验分析。实验结果给出了在不同的阴燃阶段ＣＨ４、Ｈ２、ＣＯ和ＣＯ２等 气体的生成规律,以及含水量、空气量和阴燃传播方向等对生成气体的影响,为深入研究阴燃的机 理,提高燃池的用能水平提供了必要的依据。     

层流高温部分电离气体射流热流密度分布动态测量与分析

采用表面中心位置装有铜探头的平板,对射入大气环境的层流纯氩高温部分电离气体射流冲击平板的热流密度进行了动态测量,分析了测量条件对热流密度及其分布特性测量结果的影响。同时,研制了嵌有铜探头的小尺寸杆状热流探针,在小扰动条件下测量了射流的热流密度分布。结果显示层流等离子体射流具有稳定的能流密度,探针的移动速度对射流中心区域的热流密度测量结果影响很大。     

一种内螺纹强化管的冷凝实验研究

实验研究了环保替代制冷工质R410A、R22在水平强化管内冷凝换热特性,探索了热流密度、水流速度对换热特性、压降的影响。实验测试管为内螺纹强化管,长度为5.2 m,外径为9.52 mm。实验结果表明:制冷剂R410A、R22的传热系数和压降随热流密度的增大而增大,同时内螺纹管的换热系数还随管外冷却水流量的增加而升高,压降随冷凝温度的升高而降低,而R410A比R22有更好的换热效率和较小的压降。     

Study on unsteady molten insulation volume change during flame spreading over wire insulation in microgravity

Tests with flames spreading over wire insulation in microgravity were performed at varying external opposed flow conditions to examine the influence of flow velocity in the time dependent volume change of molten insulation. In the experiments, low density polyethylene insulated Nickel–chrome wire specimens were used and the oxygen concentration was fixed at 30% (N₂ balanced). The results show that the time dependent changes in molten insulation volume are related to the opposed flow velocity. Further, as opposed flow velocity increases, the volume change rate decreases monotonically. By subtracting the volume change rate from the volume supply rate from the solid part to the molten part, which is calculated by multiplying the rate of spreading of molten insulation at the leading edge by the cross sectional area of the insulation, a pyrolysis volume rate for the polyethylene was established. The pyrolysis volume rate is defined as the amount of consumed molten insulation volume per unit time. After these calculations, it was found that the pyrolysis volume rate increases monotonically with increases in the opposed flow velocity. Further, numerical calculations of time dependent volume change in the molten insulation at different flow velocities were made. The numerical results show good agreement with the experimental results of the molten insulation volume change during the 0–4.5 s of microgravity measured here. By using the numerical calculations for this initial short period, the time dependent volume change in molten insulation during longer-term microgravity is predicted. The calculated results show that the volume finally reaches a steady state value in flow velocities of 10–250 mm/s investigated here. These results provide insight into the mechanism of flame spreading over wire insulation, especially the unsteadiness of the flame in flame spreading events.     

Influence of Vertical Foam Flow Liquid Drainage on Tube Bundle Heat Transfer Intensity

The results of an experimental investigation of staggered tube bundle heat transfer to upward and downward moving vertical foam flow are presented in this article. It was determined that a dependency exists between tube bundle heat transfer intensity on foam volumetric void fraction, foam flow velocity and direction, and liquid drainage from foam. In addition to this, the influence of tube position of the bundle on heat transfer was investigated. Experimental results were summarized by criterion equations, which can be applied in the design of foam type heat exchangers.