• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.21-29
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• 2012

Due to a significant leap in the science and technology, the manned space exploration that has started with suborbital flights is now being expanded into the deep space. The space superpowers such as the U.S. and Russia have been making an effort to further develop the manned space technology. Among such technologies, the fire safety technology in microgravity has recolonized as one of the most critical factors that must be considered for the manned space mission design since the realistic fire broke out onboard the Mir station in 1997. In the present study, the flame characteristics such as flame ignition, shape, spread, and extinction that are critical to understand the fire behavior under microgravity conditions are described and discussed. The absence of buoyancy in microgravity dominates the mass transport driven by diffusiophoretic and thermophorectic fluxes (that are negligible in normal gravity) and influences the overall flame characteristics-flame ignition, shape, spread, and extinction. In addition, the cabin environments of the pressurized module (PM) including the oxygen concentration, ambient pressure, and ventilation flow(which are always coupled with microgravity condition during the ISS operation) are found to be the most important aspects in characterizing the fire behavior in microgravity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.65-72
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• 2007

Fire is one of important checkpoints in crewed exploration systems, where men inhabit in space. In space, astronaut can't escape from fire out of a spacecraft and not expect any help of fire fighters, either. Accordingly, the best way to stand against fire is to prevent it. But, when fire occurs in space, flame behaviors are quite different from those observed on earth because of micro- or zero-gravity in space. The present paper introduces major research results on flame behaviors under microgravity and fire prevention, detection, and suppression in crewed exploration spacecrafts and international space station based on NASA's FPDS research program.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.20-25
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• 2003

Measurements with filaments and thermocouples and computations with Oppdif and FDS were carried out to investigate the impact of flame strain, agent addition, and buoyancy on the structure and extinction of nonpremixed counterflow flames. Measurements through 2.2 s drop tests in microgravity conditions and experiments in normal gravity conditions were compared with the results of computations. For the global strain rates 7 s$^{-1}$ through 100 s$^{-1}$ , the turning point behavior in the critical nitrogen concentration at O-g was confirmed. The effects of buoyancy, that is, changes in the flame curvature and thickness were also confirmed by the computations with FDS. There was agreement in the peak flame temperature and its position between the computations and the measurements in the near extinction methane/air diffusion flames in microgravity.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.51-56
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• 2012

The onset of fire on the International Space Station (ISS) is a critical problem that can threaten the life of crew members onboard and thus instantaneous fire detection and extinguishment technology has been considered as one of the most important aspects in the ISS operation. In the present study, a numerical analysis was performed to better understanding of the characteristics of smoke behaviors and detection in a pressurized module of the ISS using the NIST Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS). Numerical results indicate that the smoke flow patterns under zero-gravity condition are clearly different from those under normal gravity condition. In addition, the results obtained from numerical simulations coupled with the PM internal flows are expected to provide basic and useful information in designing the microgravity fire detection devices and establishing in fire response protocol for astronauts or the crew members.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.124-130
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• 2004

The structure of the nonpremixed methane-air counterflow flames in microgravity was investigated by axisymmetric simulation with Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) to evaluate the numerical method and to see the effects of strain rate and fuel concentration on the diffusion flame structure in microgravity. Results of FDS for the methane mole fractions, $X_m$=20, 50, and 80% in the fuel stream, and the global strain rates $a_g$=20, 50, and $90s^{-1}$ for each methane mole fraction were compared with those of OPPDIF, an one-dimensional flamelet code. There was good agreement in the temperature and axial velocity profiles between the axisymmetric and one-dimensional computations. It was shown that FDS is applicable to the counterflow flames in a wide range of strain rate and fuel concentration by predicting accurately the flame thickness, flame positions and stagnation points.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.19 no.3 s.67
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• pp.124-129
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• 2004

To evaluate the numerical method in simulation of diffusion flames and to see the effects of strain rate and fuel concentration on the flame radius and thickness, the nonpremixed methane-air counterflow flames in microgravity were simulated axisymmetrically by using the MST Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The $1000^{\circ}C$ based flame radius and thickness were investigated for the mole fraction of methane in the fuel stream, $X_m=20,\;50,\;and\;80\%$ and the global strain rates $a_g=20,\;60,\;and\;90s^{-1}$ for each mole fraction. The flame radius increased with the global strain rate while the flame thickness decreased linearly as the global strain rate increased. The flame radius decreased as the mole fraction increased, but it was not so sensitive to the mole fraction compared with the global strain rate. Since there was good agreement in the nondimensional flame thickness obtained with OPPDIF and FDS respectively, it was confirmed that FDS is capable of predicting well the counterflow flames in a wide range of strain rate and fuel concentration.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.29 no.9 s.240
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• pp.988-996
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• 2005

Flame structure and extinction mechanism of counterflow methane/air non-premixed flame diluted with nitrogen are studied by NASA 2.2 s drop tower experiments and two-dimensional numerical simulations with finite rate chemistry and transport properties. Extinction mechanism at low strain rate is examined through the comparison among results of microgravity experiment, 1D and 2D simulations with a finite burner diameter. A two-dimensional simulation in counterflow flame especially with a finite burner diameter is shown to be very important in explaining the importance of multidimensional effects and lateral heat loss in flame extinction, effects that cannot be understood using a one-dimensional flamelet model. Extinction mechanism at low strain rate is quite different from that at high strain rate. Low strain rate flame is extinguished initially at the outer flame edge, the flame shrinks inward, and finally is extinguished at the center. It is clarified from the overall fractional contribution by each term in energy equation to heat release rate that the contribution of radiation fraction with 1D and 2D simulations does not change so much and the overall fractional contribution is decisively attributed to radial conduction ('lateral heat loss'). The experiments by Maruta et at. can be only completely understood if multi-dimensional heat loss effects are considered. It is, as a result, verified that the turning point, which is caused only by pure radiation heat loss, has to be shifted towards much lower global strain rate in microgravity flame.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2002

A mixture fraction formulation is used to numerically simulate the structure of diluted axisymmetric methane-air nonpremixed counterflow flames. The effects of global strain rate and gravity wert! investigated and results were compared. Fuel of a mixture of 20% methane and 80% nitrogen by volume and oxidizer of pure air at low and moderate global strain rates $a_g= 20, 40, 80 s^{-1}$ in normal and zero gravity were computed. It is shown that the numerical method is capable of predicting the structure of counterflow flames in normal and microgravity environments at low and moderate global strain rates.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.7 no.3 s.20
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• pp.44-50
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• 2003

The axisymmetric methane-air counterflow flame was simulated to investigate changes in the flame structure due to the fuel concentration and to evaluate the numerical method. The global strain rates $a_g=20,\;60,\;90\;s^{-1}$ and the mole fractions of methane $x_m=20,\;50,\;80\%$ in the fuel stream were taken to be numerical parameters. The axisymmetric simulation was conducted by using the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) which employed a mixture fraction combustion model, and the results were compared with those of OPPDIF, which is an one-dimensional flamelet code and includes detail chemical reactions. In all the cases tested, there was good agreement in the temperature and axial velocity profiles between the axisymmetric and one-dimensional simulations. It was shown that the flame thickness and peak flame temperature increase and the flame radius decreases as the fuel concentration increases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.8-14
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• 2014

Experiments were conducted to clarify role of the outermost edge flame on low-strain-rate flame extinction in buoyancy-suppressed non-premixed methane flames diluted with He and $N_2$. The use of He curtain flow produced a microgravity level of $10^{-2}-10^{-3}g$ in $N_2$- and He-diluted non-premixed counterflow flame experiments. The critical He and $N_2$ mole fractions at extinction with a global strain rate were examined at various burner diameters (10, 20, and 25 mm). The results showed that the extinction curves differed appreciably with burner diameter. Before the turning point along the extinction curve, low-strain-rate flames were extinguished via shrinkage of the outermost edge flame with and without self-excitation. High-strain-rate flames were extinguished via a flame hole while the outermost edge flame was stationary. These characteristics could be identified by the behavior of the outermost edge flame. The results also showed that the outermost edge flame was not influenced by radiative heat loss but by convective heat addition and conductive heat losses to the ambient He curtain flow. The numerical results were discussed in detail. The self-excitation before the extinction of a low-strain-rate flame was well described by a dependency of the Strouhal number on global strain rate and normalized nozzle exit velocity.