• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.403-412
• /
• 2006

The effect of a wall temperature on the soot deposition process from a diffusion flame to a solid wall was investigated in a microgravity environment to attain in-situ observations of the process. The fuel for the flames was an ethylene ($C_2H_4$). The surrounding oxygen concentration was 35% with surrounding air temperatures of $T_a=600K$. In the study, three different wall temperatures. $T_w$=300, 600, 800K, were selected as major test conditions. Laser extinction was adopted to determine the soot volume fraction distribution between the flame and burner wall. The experimental results showed that the maximum soot volume fractions at $T_w$=300, 800 K were $8.8{\times}10^{-6},\;9.2{\times}10^{-6}$, respectively. However, amount of soot deposition on wall surface was decreased because of lower temperature gradient near the wall with increasing wall temperature. A numerical simulation was also performed to understand the motion of soot particles in the flame and the characteristics of the soot deposition to the wall. The results from the numerical simulation successfully predicted the differences in the motion of soot particles by different wall temperature near the burner surface and are in good agreement with observed soot behavior that is, the 'soot line', in microgravity.