Droplet Combustion in a Simulated Reduced-Gravity Environment

Experimental results are presented on combustion of freely-falling droplets in an apparatus that promotes spherical symmetry. Design of the apparatus is based upon the principle that gravitation-ally-induced pressure gradients in gases may be significantly reduced by accelerating the gases with properly-contoured tubes. Droplets travelling with the gases experience substantially reduced forced-convective and buoyant (gravitational) flow effects,...