Preliminary Results from a Soret Effect Experiment onboard REXUS 16: Chemical Wave In Soret Effect (CWIS)

Paper number

IAC-14,A2,3,3,x24398

Author

Mr. Antonio Pugliese, Stevens Institute of Technology, United States

Coauthor

Mr. Wassilis Tzevelecos, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Coauthor

Mr. Bruno Alfano, University of Naples "Federico II", Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Valerio Cestrone, University of Naples "Federico II", Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Luigi De Filippis, University of Naples "Federico II", Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Olivier Desenfans, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Coauthor

Mr. Fabrizio Mancino, University of Naples "Federico II", Italy

Coauthor

Mr. Santolo Manzone, University of Naples "Federico II", Italy

Coauthor

Mr. William Runge, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Coauthor

Mr. Quentin Galand, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Coauthor

Prof. Stefan Van Vaerenbergh, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Year

2014

Abstract

The CWIS experiment is scheduled for the REXUS 16 Mission in May 2014.
The REXUS/BEXUS programme is realised under a bilateral Agency Agreement between the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). 
The experiment has been performed thanks to the support and cooperation of the Microgravity Research Center of the Université libre de Bruxelles and the Industrial Engineering Department of the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II.

The purpose of the CWIS experiment is to visualize the chemical wave due to thermodiffusion in a binary mixture.
The chemical wave is a concentration front that rapidly propagates from the thermal boundaries of the liquid mixture, and which marks the beginning of the chemical sorting phenomenon called thermodiffusion, induced by an imposed thermal gradient.
The mixture is made up of Ethylene Glycol and Water and the concentration variation is measured using a Fizeau interferometer.
The design process of the liquid cell system, which is accommodating the binary mixture, has been shown in the paper IAC2013-A2.3-10x18383 and has led to the geometrical configuration, temperature difference and components concentration used for the experiment.

In this paper, the preliminary results coming from the experiment are going to be shown.
Starting from the refraction index of the mixture, the concentration of each species is going to be evaluated locally and consequently using these results the numerical analysis model is going to be validated.

Abstract document

IAC-14,A2,3,3,x24398.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-14,A2,3,3,x24398.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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