Flow processes in a micro-gravity environment 1

Abstract

Selected examples of the behavior of single phase systems are used to illustrate the sorts of phenomena that persist in a micro-gravity environment. Although the strength of buoyancy driven flows is diminished, velocities of the order of several millimeters per second may persist. With buoyancy diminished, surface tension driven flows may be pre-eminent. In suspensions, particle swarms can also move at appreciable rates even though the sedimentation rate for an isolated particle is vanishingly small. Furthermore particle migration across streamlines due to inertia or particle deformation can have large cumulative effects.