Ya-Ting T. Liao

Bio: Ya-Ting T. Liao is an academic researcher from Case Western Reserve University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Flame spread & Combustion. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 18 publications receiving 141 citations.

Flame spread: Effects of microgravity and scale

Abstract: For the first time, a large-scale flame spread experiment was conducted inside an orbiting spacecraft to study the effects of microgravity and scale and to address the uncertainty regarding how flames spread when there is no gravity and if the sample size and the experimental duration are, respectively, large enough and long enough to allow for unrestricted growth. Differences between flame spread in purely buoyant and purely forced flows are presented. Prior to these experiments, only samples of small size in small confined volumes had been tested in space. Therefore the first and third flights in the experimental series, called “Saffire,” studied large-scale flame spread over a 94 cm long by 40.6 cm wide cotton-fiberglass fabric. The second flight examined an array of nine smaller samples of various materials each measuring 29 cm long by 5 cm wide. Among them were two of the same cotton-fiberglass fabric used in the large-scale tests and a thick, flat PMMA sample (1-cm thick). The forced airflow was 20–25 cm/s, which is typical of air circulation speeds in a spacecraft. The experiments took place aboard the Cygnus vehicle, a large unmanned resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). The experiments were carried out in orbit before the Cygnus vehicle, reloaded with ISS trash, re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and perished. The downloaded test data show that a concurrent (downstream) spreading flame over thin fabrics in microgravity reaches a steady spread rate and a limiting length. The flame over the thick PMMA sample approaches a non-growing, steady state in the 15 min burning duration and has a limiting pyrolysis length. In contrast, upward (concurrent) flame spread at normal gravity on Earth is usually found to be accelerating so that the flame size grows with time. The existence of a flame size limit has important considerations for spacecraft fire safety as it can be used to establish the heat release rate in the vehicle. The findings and the scientific explanations of this series of innovative, novel and unique experiments are presented, analyzed and discussed.

Concurrent flame growth, spread, and quenching over composite fabric samples in low speed purely forced flow in microgravity

Abstract: Flame growth, spread, and quenching extinction over a thin composite cotton-fiberglass fabric blend (referred to as the SIBAL fabric) were studied in low-speed concurrent purely forced flows aboard the International Space Station. The tests were conducted in a small flow duct within the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The fuel samples measured 1.2 and 2.2 cm wide and 10 cm long. Ambient oxygen was varied from 21% down to 16% molar concentration and flow speed from 55 cm/s down to 1 cm/s. A slow purely forced flow resulted in a small flame, enabling us to observe the entire history of flame development including ignition, flame growth, steady spread (in some cases), and decay at the end of the sample. In addition, by decreasing flow velocity during some of the tests, low-speed flame quenching extinction limits were determined as a function of oxygen percentage. The quenching speeds were found to be between 1 and 5 cm/s with higher extinction speeds in lower oxygen atmospheres. The shape of the quenching boundary supports the prediction by earlier theoretical models. These long duration microgravity experiments provide a rare opportunity for solid fuel combustion since microgravity time in ground-based facilities is generally not sufficient. This is the first time that a low-speed quenching boundary in concurrent spread is mapped in a clean and unambiguous manner. A previously developed three-dimensional transient model is modified to compare with the experiment. The modification includes the use of two-step SIBAL fabric pyrolysis kinetics where the rate constants are determined using Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis data. The model yields good quantitative comparison on the quenching boundary, the flame transient development, and the steady flame spread rates.

Concurrent flame spread over discrete thin fuels

Abstract: An unsteady two-dimensional numerical model was used to simulate concurrent flame spread over paper-like thin solid fuels of discrete configurations in microgravity (0 g with 20 cm/s) and in normal gravity (1 g). An array of ten 1 cm-long fuel segments was uniformly distributed in the flow direction (0 g) or in the vertical direction (1 g). A hot spot ignition source was applied at the upstream leading edge of the first fuel segment. The separation distance between the fuel segments was a parameter in this study, ranging from 0 (corresponding to a continuous fuel) to 3 cm. Using this setup, the burning characteristics, spread rate of the flame base, and the solid burning rate were examined. The flame base spread rates in both 1 g and 0 g cases increase with the separation distance. This is due to the flame jumping across the gaps. For the solid burning rate, the dependency on the separation distance is different in 1 g and 0 g cases. At a flow velocity of 20 cm/s in 0 g, the flame reaches a limiting length and the flame length is approximately the same for all fuel configurations. As the separation distance increases, the heating length (the fuel area exposed to the flame) decreases, resulting in a decreasing total heat input and a decreasing solid burning rate. In 1 g, the flame is long and extends to the last fuel segment before the first fuel segment burns out. This suggests that the heating length is approximately the same in all simulated cases (∼total fuel length). However, the flame standoff distance decreases when the separation distance increases. This results in an increasing total heat input and an increasing solid burning rate. Terrestrial experiments were conducted to validate the 1 g model. The experimental results agreed reasonably with the model predictions of burning characteristics, burn durations, and flame spread rates.

Experimental study of upward flame spread over discrete thin fuels

Abstract: Experiments are performed to study upward flame propagation over discrete combustibles separated by air gaps. An array of ten 1 cm-long 5 cm-wide filter papers is uniformly distributed on a vertical sample holder subjected to double-sided burn. The distance between the samples was varied from 0 to 4 cm. After being ignited from the bottom end, the flame spread process is recorded by front and side video cameras. A precision balance with 0.01g resolution is used to monitor the mass loss and deduce the solid burning rate. The results show that both flame spread rate and solid burning rate have a non-monotonic relationship with the gap size. The presence of gaps decreases the fuel load (fuel mass per unit length), which results in an increasing apparent flame spread rate as the gap size increases. The gaps also allow the lateral entrained air to push the flame closer to the sample surface, enhancing the conductive heat input to the samples. This results in an increased solid burning rate and flame spread rate. However, when the gap size is large, the effective heating length of the sample and hence the total burning rate decrease as the gap size increases. Eventually, the flame fails to spread.

Flame Spread Over Ultra-thin Solids: Effect of Area Density and Concurrent-Opposed Spread Reversal Phenomenon

Abstract: There are no existing experimental studies of flame spread rate trends for ultra-thin solid samples. Previous theory has predicted that for concurrent flame in kinetic regime, the flame spread rate decreases as the sample thickness decreases and there is a critical thickness below which burning is not possible. To test this hypothesis, a series of microgravity experiments of concurrent-flow flame spread over samples of ultra-low area densities are conducted using NASA Glenn Research Center’s Zero Gravity Research Facility (the 5.18 s drop tower). The tested samples are cellulose-based materials of various area densities, ranging from 0.2 mg/cm2 to 13 mg/cm2, as low as one order of magnitude less than those ever tested before. Each sample is 30 cm long by 5 cm wide and is burned in a low-speed concurrent air flow (5 to 30 cm/s). The results show that the concurrent flame spread rate is proportional to the flow velocity relative to the flame and is inversely proportional to the sample area density. A theoretical formulation, provided in this work, suggests that the flame length has a linear relationship with the relative flow speed and has no direct dependency on the sample area density. The experimental data supports this conclusion. From the images recorded in the experiments, a unique flame base tubular structure directed upstream away from the burnout zone is observed for thin samples. This structure is suspected to be due to flame stretching and localized blowoff caused by the oxidative pyrolysis Stefan flows at the sample burnout. This can be an indication that the chemical time becomes comparable to the flow time of the Stefan flow and the tested samples are approaching the kinetically-limited thickness. For the thinnest tested sample (0.2 mg/cm2), flames with concurrent and opposed dual natures are observed when the air flow rate is low (< 20 cm/s). At the lowest tested flow rate (5 cm/s), the flame spread rate exceeds the air flow rate and the flame transits to an opposed flame in the concurrent flow. The dual nature and flame transition are presented and discussed. This study provides detailed examination through high-resolution images of the transition between the concurrent to opposed flame spread modes.

Flame spread: Effects of microgravity and scale

Abstract: For the first time, a large-scale flame spread experiment was conducted inside an orbiting spacecraft to study the effects of microgravity and scale and to address the uncertainty regarding how flames spread when there is no gravity and if the sample size and the experimental duration are, respectively, large enough and long enough to allow for unrestricted growth. Differences between flame spread in purely buoyant and purely forced flows are presented. Prior to these experiments, only samples of small size in small confined volumes had been tested in space. Therefore the first and third flights in the experimental series, called “Saffire,” studied large-scale flame spread over a 94 cm long by 40.6 cm wide cotton-fiberglass fabric. The second flight examined an array of nine smaller samples of various materials each measuring 29 cm long by 5 cm wide. Among them were two of the same cotton-fiberglass fabric used in the large-scale tests and a thick, flat PMMA sample (1-cm thick). The forced airflow was 20–25 cm/s, which is typical of air circulation speeds in a spacecraft. The experiments took place aboard the Cygnus vehicle, a large unmanned resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). The experiments were carried out in orbit before the Cygnus vehicle, reloaded with ISS trash, re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and perished. The downloaded test data show that a concurrent (downstream) spreading flame over thin fabrics in microgravity reaches a steady spread rate and a limiting length. The flame over the thick PMMA sample approaches a non-growing, steady state in the 15 min burning duration and has a limiting pyrolysis length. In contrast, upward (concurrent) flame spread at normal gravity on Earth is usually found to be accelerating so that the flame size grows with time. The existence of a flame size limit has important considerations for spacecraft fire safety as it can be used to establish the heat release rate in the vehicle. The findings and the scientific explanations of this series of innovative, novel and unique experiments are presented, analyzed and discussed.

A review of near-limit opposed fire spread

Abstract: Creeping fire spread under opposed airflow is a classic fundamental fire research problem involving heat transfer, fluid dynamics, chemical kinetics, and is strongly dependent on environmental factors. Persistent research over the last 50 years has established a solid framework for different fire-spread processes, but new fire phenomena and recent developments continue to challenge our current understanding and inspire future research areas. In this review, we revisit the problem of opposed fire spread under limited and excessive oxygen supply. Various near-limit fire phenomena, as recently observed in flaming, smoldering, and glowing spread under various environment and fuel configurations, are reviewed in detail. Particularly, aspects of apparent importance, such as transition phenomena and heterogenous chemistry, in near-limit fire spread are highlighted, and valuable problems for future research are suggested.

Buoyancy Effects on Concurrent Flame Spread Over Thick PMMA

Abstract: The flammability of combustible materials in a spacecraft is important for fire safety applications because the conditions in spacecraft environments differ from those on earth. Experimental testing in space is difficult and expensive. However, reducing buoyancy by decreasing ambient pressure is a possible approach to simulate on-earth the burning behavior inside spacecraft environments. The objective of this work is to determine that possibility by studying the effect of pressure on concurrent flame spread, and by comparison with microgravity data, observe up to what point low-pressure can be used to replicate flame spread characteristics observed in microgravity. Specifically, this work studies the effect of pressure and microgravity on upward/concurrent flame spread over 10 mm thick polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) slabs. Experiments in normal gravity were conducted over pressures ranging between 100 and 40 kPa and a forced flow velocity of 200 mm/s. Microgravity experiments were conducted during NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Experiment (Saffire II), on board the Cygnus spacecraft at 100 kPa with an air flow velocity of 200 mm/s. Results show that reductions of pressure slow down the flame spread over the PMMA surface approaching that in microgravity. The data is correlated in terms of a non-dimensional mixed convection analysis that describes the convective heat transferred from the flame to the solid, and the primary mechanism controlling the spread of the flame. The extrapolation of the correlation to low pressures predicts well the flame spread rate obtained in microgravity in the Saffire II experiments. Similar results were obtained by the authors with similar experiments with a thin composite cotton/fiberglass fabric (published elsewhere). Both results suggest that reduced pressure can be used to approximately replicate flame behavior of untested gravity conditions for the burning of thick and thin solids. This work could provide guidance for potential ground-based testing for fire safety design in spacecraft and space habitats.

Can a spreading flame over electric wire insulation in concurrent flow achieve steady propagation in microgravity

Abstract: Concurrent flame spread over electric wire insulation was studied experimentally in microgravity conditions during parabolic flights. Polyethylene insulated Nickel-Chrome wires and Copper wires were examined for external flow velocities ranging from 50 mm/s to 200 mm/s. The experimental results showed that steady state flame spread over wire insulation in microgravity could be achieved, even for concurrent flow. A theoretical analysis on the balance of heat supply from the flame to the unburned region, radiation heat loss from the surface to the ambient and required energy to sustain the flame propagation was carried out to explain the presence of steady spread over insulated wire under concurrent flow. Based on the theory, the change in heat input (defined by the balance between heat supply from flame and radiation heat loss) was drawn as a function of the flame spread rate. The curve intersected the linear line of the required energy to sustain the flame. This balance point evidences the existence of steady propagation in concurrent flow. Moreover, the estimated steady spread rate (1.2 mm/s) was consistent with the experimental result by considering the ratio of the actual flame length to the theoretical to be 0.5. Further experimental results showed that the concurrent flame spread rate increased with the external flow velocity. In addition, the steady spread rate was found to be faster for Copper wires than for Nickel-Chrome wires. The experimental results for upward spreading (concurrent spreading) in normal gravity were compared with the microgravity results. In normal gravity, the flame did not reach a steady state within the investigated parameter range. This is due to the fact that the fairly large flame spread rate prevented the aforementioned heat balance to be reached, which meant that such a spread rate could not be attained within the length of the tested sample.

Broadband modulated absorption/emission technique to probe sooting flames: Implementation, validation, and limitations

Abstract: A new optical setup and its associated post-processing have been designed in an effort to map soot related quantities in an axisymmetric flame spreading over solid samples in microgravity environment where setup compactness constraints are stringent. Extending the well-established spectral modulated absorption/emission (S-MAE) technique that uses lasers as light sources together with a sophisticated optical arrangement, LEDs have been associated with broadband optics to enable the broadband modulated absorption/emission (B-MAE) technique. The design and the cautious assessment of the original B-MAE setup are reported in the present paper. Algorithms that need to be reformulated for broadband integration are first validated retrieving both two-dimensional soot temperature and volume fraction fields produced by numerical simulations. Then, these fields are measured with both B-MAE and S-MAE techniques in a largely documented steady laminar non-premixed coflow ethylene/air flame established at normal gravity. Thus, outputs delivered by the B-MAE technique can be compared with those obtained with the S-MAE setup. Both soot temperature and volume fraction are shown to be decently measured by the B-MAE technique. As the spread of the non-buoyant flames to be investigated in the near future is especially driven by radiative heat transfer, the discrepancies between both techniques outputs are commented in the light of the fields of local radiative loss computed from the fields measured by both techniques. As a result, the fields delivered by the B-MAE technique are expected to provide ground-breaking insights into the control of flame spread in the absence of buoyancy, therefore manned spacecraft fire safety.