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ISS Droplet Combustion Experiments - Uncertainties in Droplet Sizes and Burning Rates

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A Publisher's Erratum to this article was published on 01 August 2014

Abstract

Methodologies are developed for evaluating uncertainties in droplet size measurements and burning rates for droplet combustion experiments that have been performed on the International Space Station. Different uncertainty sources are considered and propagated into the combined standard uncertainties via the Taylor series method. The local polynomial method is used to provide estimates of instantaneous burning rates. Results from analyses of non-sooting (methanol) or lightly sooting (heptane) droplets as well as moderately sooting (decane/propylbenzene) droplets are presented. Ninety-five percent expanded uncertainties in droplet diameters and burning rates are typically about 0.1 mm and 0.005 mm 2/s, respectively, for methanol and heptane droplets and 0.1 mm and 0.02 mm 2/s for decane/propylbenzene droplets, though uncertainties can be larger during ignition and extinction events.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is gratefully acknowledged. The Technical Monitor was Dr. Daniel L. Dietrich. We appreciate discussions with V. Berg, D. L. Dietrich, F. L. Dryer, P. Ferkul, M. Hicks, V. Nayagam, and F. A. Williams. We also express our sincere gratitude to the management, engineering, and operations teams at NASA and Zin Technology, Inc. and the ISS astronauts who participated in the experiments. Gratitude is also expressed to A. Austin, H. Daqqa, and R. Wong for their efforts with statistical analysis of the data via the STA 401 class at UC Davis.

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  1. University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Benjamin D. Shaw

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  1. Benjamin D. Shaw
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Shaw, B.D. ISS Droplet Combustion Experiments - Uncertainties in Droplet Sizes and Burning Rates. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 26, 89–99 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-014-9377-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-014-9377-x

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