Abstract
This study provides a post-flight analysis of video-recorded centimetric-scale bubble migration experiments performed aboard the International Space Station as part of the second Capillary Flow Experiments circa 2010 - 2016, currently archived to the NASA database available for download at https://psi.nasa.gov/. During the microgravity tests, air is displaced by perfectly wetting liquids within containers of varying geometry that include at least one interior corner. The displacements are driven by capillary pressure gradients along the interior corners resulting from the tapering container geometries pursued herein: linear, stepped, and vane tapers. The 12-year old archived video data is newly mined and digitized to collect dynamic bubble position data within the containers. From an interior corner flow perspective, time-dependent advancing and receding bubble front locations are quantified and compared to theoretical lubrication model predictions. We show that despite increased container complexity, the models adequately predict flow transients for the geometric families of container types tested and for the flow regimes achieved. Such flows serve as critical unit operations for passive no-moving-parts solutions for gravity-free fluid phase/bubble separations aboard spacecraft.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the ISS astronaut crews–in this case NASA astronauts Scott Kelly, Cady Coleman, Michael Hopkins, Kevin Ford, Karen Nyberg and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata. We dedicate this work to Paul Steen (1952 - 2020).
Funding
This work was supported in large part through NASA Grant 80NSSC19K0406 and NSF Award 1637960. M.W. is supported in part though NASA Cooperative Agreement 80NSSC18K0436.
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JM wrote the manuscript and analyzed the experiments and compared the results to theory. JB and MW edited and assisted writing. PS guided the research.
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McCraney, J., Bostwick, J., Weislogel, M. et al. Bubble migration in containers with interior corners under microgravity conditions. Exp Fluids 64, 140 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-023-03677-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-023-03677-w