Seminar on Microgravity Environment and Jet Flames

On May 13, 2015, CCRC organized a seminar by Dr. Suk Ho Chung on the topic "Microgravity Environment and Jet Flames" on May 13, 2015, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. at building 5, level 5, room no: 5209. 

Abstract

Microgravity condition could provide ideal environment for various research areas including combustion science, fluid physics, material science, fundamental physics and biotechnology. Especially, in combustion area, the absence of buoyancy provides idealized condition. In this seminar, various microgravity facilities are introduced, including drop shaft, parabolic flight, sounding rocket, space shuttle, and international space station (ISS).

Three experiments on jet flames will be discussed. The propagation speed of tribrachial edge flame of propane fuel was measured under microgravity condition, since propane is heavier than air, buoyancy effect under normal gravity condition results in errors in the measurement. The mechanism of oscillating lifted nonpremixed flames was investigated under microgravity condition utilizing 490 m drop shaft with 10 s microgravity condition. The oscillation mechaniem under normal gravity was found due to buoyancy-driven instability. Such oscillation behavior was further studied under partial gravity conditions utilizing parabolic flights. Future needs in microgravity tests will be introduced.

Bio

Dr. Suk Ho Chung is Named Professor of Mechanical Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and served as the Founding Director of the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC) during 2009-2014. Previously, he was a professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University in Korea (1984-2009). He earned his doctoral (1983) and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University, Illinois, in the United States. He holds a bachelor's degree (1976) in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in Korea. His research interests include flame structure, flame stabilization, soot formation, electric field assisted combustion and flame synthesis.