Chapters authored
Capillary Driven Flows under Microgravity Conditions: From Parabolic Flights to Space Experiment
The chapter investigates imbibition into a porous medium under microgravity condition under the action of capillary forces. The study of capillary effects in terrestrial conditions is often difficult due to the influence of gravity, which makes it necessary to conduct experiments in microgravity. The chapter describes the features of experiments and the processing of experimental data in two types of microgravity experiments: during parabolic flights and at space stations in terrestrial orbit. During parabolic flights, a highly permeable artificial porous medium consisting of glass balls of the same size was considered (such a medium makes it easy to visualize experimental results and simulate media with different permeability using balls of different diameters). In experiments in orbit, the flow of fluids with various physical properties in natural sands was considered. The chapter also describes the mathematical modeling of such processes and presents the results of numerical simulations and their comparison with experimental data. The possibility of determining rheological relationships for capillary forces being functions of governing parameters in porous medium on the basis of data obtained from experiments in microgravity is demonstrated.
Part of the book: Preparation of Space Experiments