Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, Volume 29, 2002/pp.

2545–2552

EFFECT OF LOW EXTERNAL FLOW ON FLAME SPREAD OVER

POLYETHYLENE-INSULATED WIRE IN MICROGRAVITY

OSAMU FUJITA, KATSUHIRO NISHIZAWA and KENICHI ITO

Division of Mechanical Science
Hokkaido University
Sapporo 060-8628, Japan

An experimental study of flame spread phenomena over polyethylene-insulated wires has been per-
formed in opposed flow under microgravity. The experiments were performed at the Japan Microgravity
Center (JAMIC) 10 s drop shaft. Two samples with different insulation thicknesses, 0.075 and 0.15 mm,
and with the same inner core diameter, 0.5 mm, were used. Experiments were performed with O2 con-
centrations of 21%–50% and external flow velocities 0 (quiescent) to 30 cm/s. The results show that the
rate of flame spread is affected by the flow velocity and that the effect is much stronger at high oxygen
concentrations. According to the results, flame spread phenomena of wire insulation can be classified into
four different regimes based on the flow velocity: (1) an oxygen transport control regime, (2) a geometrical
effect regime, (3) a thermal regime, and (4) a chemical kinetic control regime. A special feature of the
flame spread over wire insulation is the existence of the geometrical effect regime and a maximum spread
rate between the oxygen transport control and geometrical effect regimes. The mechanism that gives rise
to the unique features is discussed based on changes in preheat length, standoff distance, and flame
temperature. The importance of the three effects and their relation to sample geometry, enhancement of
diffusive oxygen supply, reduction of standoff distance, and logarithmic effect for the heat transfer are
discussed.

Introduction to determine the flame spread rate at low flow ve-

A likely cause of fires in space is ignition and flame
spread over wire insulation used in the many electric
devices in spacecraft. Indeed, at least five small in-
cidents caused by electrical short circuits or com-
ponent overheating have been reported on Space
Shuttle missions [1]. Fire safety concerns in wire in-
sulation combustion make it important to know the
effect of low external flow velocities on the combus-
tion because of the low-velocity flow in spacecraft
ventilation.
Although there is much research on flame spread
over solid materials at low external flows under mi-
crogravity [2–8], research dealing with wire insula-
tion is very limited. There is closely related research
on flame spread over cylindrical rods without inner
cores. Salva and Juste [9] and Tarifa et al. [10] in-
vestigated flame spreading over cylindrical poly-
methylmethacrylate (PMMA) rods in microgravity
experiments and discussed geometrical effects of
flame spreading. Tizon et al. [11] performed theo-
retical work on flame spreading over rods in opposed
external flows with oblique angles and suggested that
the effect of surface radiation on flame spread rates
is significant. Delichatsios et al. [12] performed an-
alytical work on flame spread rates over thick PMMA
rods, suggesting the importance of sample curvature
locities. However, data on flame spread character-
istics over wire insulation with inner cores at the low
flow velocities attainable only in microgravity are
very limited. An example of wire insulation combus-
tion in low external flows in microgravity is the Space
Shuttle experiments carried out by Greenberg et al.
[13]. That paper provided results of opposed and
concurrent flame spreading over polyethylene-insu-
lated nichrome wire. However, the number of ex-
periments was very limited, only two tests under
both conditions at fixed air flow velocity. Therefore,
the effect of low flow velocity is still not clear. The
authors reported results on flame spreading over
ethylenetetrafluoroethylene-insulated wire in a qui-
escent atmosphere in microgravity and investigated
the effect of oxygen concentration, dilution gas, wire
preheating, and wire thickness [14]. Further, the im-
portance of flame temperature increases with the
curvature effect on flame spread rates over wire in-
sulation in microgravity were pointed out in a pre-
vious paper [15].
The present paper systematically investigated the
effect of opposed external flow velocities on flame
spread over wire insulation in microgravity. The ex-
periments were conducted with polyethylene-insu-
lated nichrome wires. Further, the effects of oxygen
concentration and insulation thickness with different
flow velocities were examined, and the mechanisms

2545
2546 MICROGRAVITY COMBUSTION
Fig. 1. Outline of the combustion chamber.
effective to determine the flame spread rate at low
flow velocities are discussed.
Experimental
The experimental setup was designed for micro-
gravity experiments at the Japan Microgravity Cen-
ter (JAMIC) in Hokkaido, Japan, which provides
10 s of high-quality (around 10ⳮ5 g) microgravity
time. The setup is 425 mm wide, 870 mm long, and
443 mm high and consists of a combustion chamber,
two digital video cameras, and control devices. Fig.
1 shows the combustion chamber with flow duct.
The combustion chamber is a rectangular airtight
vessel, 265 mm wide, 390 mm long, and 190 mm
high. The inner volume is about 17.4 ⳯ 10ⳮ3 m3. A
flow duct with dimensions 100 mm wide, 150 mm
long, and 165 mm high is installed in the chamber.
The chamber has an air suction fan at the left end
of the duct. The flow velocity in the duct is con-
trolled by electric voltage supplied to the fan in the
range 0 to 30 cm/s. A uniform flow field is attained
by insertion of aluminum honeycomb with 100 cells/
cm2. The relation of the flow velocity and voltage
supplied to the fan is certified by laser Doppler ve-
locimetry.
A sample wire, which is fixed to the sample holder
with igniter and thermocouples, is installed in the
center of the flow duct parallel to the external flow.
Ignition is performed with a Kanthal wire coil at the
left end of the wire as seen in Fig. 1, and the flame
spreads opposite to the flow direction. Ignition was
generally achieved 1 s after the start of the drop, and
current supply to the igniter was stopped 3 s after
the drop. In this work, temperature measurements
of the insulation surface and the gas phase 1 mm
above the surface are performed by K and R ther-
mocouples, respectively. The thermocouple diame-
ter is 100 lm. Polyethylene-insulated nichrome wire
with a length of approximately 100 mm was used as
the test sample. Two different types of wires were
used for the test, wires with insulation thicknesses
of 0.075 (sample 1) and 0.15 mm (sample 2) with
the same inner core diameter, 0.5 mm.
Results and Discussion
Observation of Flame Spread Phenomena
The effect of external flow velocity on flame shape
in microgravity was first observed. Fig. 2 shows di-
rect pictures of flame spreading over sample 1 at
different flow velocities at an O2 concentration of
35%. It shows that the flame shape in microgravity
becomes symmetric to the wire axis and changes in
shape from spherical to spindle-shaped with de-
creasing width when flow velocity increases. The
brightness of the flame appears to increase with in-
creases in flow velocity, while the change become
smaller with higher velocities. The increase in flame
brightness is related to increases in flame tempera-
ture, which suggests that temperatures increase with
increases in flow velocity to approach a stable value.
In Fig. 2, there is a blue flame region along the wire
insulation ahead of the luminous flame zone, which
is however not clear from the pictures shown here.
The standoff distance, the distance from sample sur-
face to tip of flame front (defined later), decreases
with increases in flow velocity. Standoff distance will
be discussed in detail in a later section.
The flame spread rate is measured by the flame
front motion recorded by the digital video camera.
The measured value is plotted in Fig. 3 as a function
of flow velocity for different oxygen concentrations
for sample 2. The flame spread rate increases with
increases in ambient oxygen, irrespective of flow ve-
locity. Another interesting feature is the trend show-
ing a maximum flame spread rate at a certain flow
velocity, around 10 cm/s or less. Especially with an
O2 concentration of 35 or 50%, there is a clear peak
around 10 cm/s and the spread rate becomes almost
constant in the higher velocity region. The appear-
ance of a peak value in the low flow velocity range
followed by constant spread rates at higher flow ve-
locities has not been reported in previous research
and is a new finding of this study. Typical flame
spread rate changes for thermally thin materials at
high O2 concentrations is a monotonic increase in
flame spread rate at low flow velocities (oxygen
transport control regime) followed by a constant
spread rate with increased flow velocity (thermal re-
gime) as reported by Olson [3]. To discuss the mech-
anism for this trend as a function of flow velocity,
three different combustion regimes are defined for
an O2 concentration of 50%, as an example. The first
regime is at less than Ve ⳱ 10 cm/s, where flame
spread rates increase with increases in flow velocity.
The second regime is between Ve ⳱ 10 and 15 cm/s,
where the flame spread rate decreases with increases
in flow velocity. In the third regime, the flow velocity
 WIRE INSULATION COMBUSTION IN MICROGRAVITY
Fig. 2. Photographs of spreading flames over polyethylene-insulated wire under different external flow (35% O2, sample
1). (a) 0, (b) 5.2, (c) 9.1, and (d) 15.8 cm/s.
is higher than 15 cm/s, and flame spread rates are
almost independent of flow velocity. The flame
spread rate has a maximum value at the transition
point from the first to the second regime. At 35%
O2, the flame spread rate change also has three re-
gimes as descried above. With 21% O2, it does not
have the regime where the flame spread rate is in-
dependent of flow velocity. At lower oxygen concen-
trations, the control mechanism of flame spread
changes from oxygen transport to chemical kinetic
as reported for flat thin paper with low oxygen flow
[3]. Actually, even at high oxygen concentrations, the
flame spread mechanism changes to chemical kinetic
with extreme increases in flow velocity. This regime
exists at quite high flow velocities and gravity has
little effect in this regime. Therefore, this regime is
not included in the discussion here.
Figure 4 shows the flame spread rate as a function
of flow velocity with different insulation thicknesses
at an O2 concentration of 35%. The flame spread
rates of sample 1 are faster than those of sample 2
at all flow velocities. The effect of flow on flame
spread rates with sample 1 is similar to sample 2:
there are three regimes with flow velocity changes,
and there is a maximum value between the first and
second regimes.
Discussion on the Flame Spread Mechanism
This section discusses mechanism causing the fea-
tures of the flame spread rate described above based
2547
on the thermal theory proposed by de Ris [16]. In
the theory, the flame spread rate is controlled by
three characteristic values, preheat length, standoff
distance, and flame temperature.
Figure 5 shows the gas-phase temperature distri-
butions ahead of the flame front determined by ther-
mocouple at different flow velocities at 35% O2 for
sample 2. The measurement point is 1 mm above
the sample surface. The temperature is normalized
by the temperature at the flame front to be able to
discuss the changes in preheat length ahead of the
flame. The horizontal line in Fig. 5 means the 1/e of
the temperature at the flame front. In the quiescent
case, a preheat zone is much wider than in the other
cases. The preheat zone becomes narrower with in-
creases in flow velocity. In this paper, the preheat
length is defined as the length where the tempera-
ture decreases to 1/e of the temperature at the flame
front for the discussion below. Fig. 6 shows the pre-
heat length determined from the temperature mea-
surements indicated in Fig. 5 and a theoretical anal-
ysis of Lg ⳱ ␣/Va*. Here, ␣ is given for 700 K, which
is the average temperature of flame and atmosphere
in the high-velocity case. Further, the theoretical
value includes the effect of a boundary layer 1 mm
away from the sample surface. The boundary layer
velocity distribution was given by numerical calcu-
lation of two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation of
laminar flow with curvature surface. Fig. 6 shows
2548 MICROGRAVITY COMBUSTION
Fig. 3. Flame spread rates in microgravity as a function
of external flow velocity with different ambient oxygen con-
centrations (sample 2).
Fig. 4. Flame spread rates as a function of external flow
velocity with different insulation thicknesses (35% O2).
that the experimental data agrees with the theoreti-
cal value except in the quiescent case. In the qui-
escent case, the theoretical value is much higher
than that of the experiment. One reason is that the
flame temperature decreases with flow velocity,
while ␣ at 700 K was used for all cases. Another
reason could be that the theoretical value does not
take into account the effect of heat transfer to the
solid, while there is heat transfer to the solid in the
experiments.
Fig. 5. Normalized gas-phase temperature distribution
in the preheat zone obtained from experiments (35% O2,
sample 2).
Fig. 6. Preheat length as function of external flow (35%
O2, sample 2).
Figure 7 gives the definition of the standoff dis-
tance as the standoff distance is measured experi-
mentally in this study. The diameter of the tip of the
front end of the luminous flame is denoted as 2d Ⳮ
2rs, where d is a standoff distance. As can be under-
stood from Fig. 7, it is not difficult to determine the
visible front end diameter because a clear bright tip
exist at the front of the luminous area.
Figure 8 shows the flame standoff distance mea-
sured directly from the pictures as a function of flow
velocity at 35% O2 for sample 2, and it includes cal-
culations and theoretical values. In the calculations,
the amount of oxygen supplied from the front of the
open mouth of the flame is assumed to be constant
at any flow velocity. Results for two cases, wire in-
sulation (with curvature) and flat sample (without
curvature), are included in Fig. 8. The resulting
standoff distances by calculation are to satisfy
rsⳭd
ṁO2,c ⳱ vO2 qair 冮
rs
Va(r)2prdr (wire) (1)
and
 WIRE INSULATION COMBUSTION IN MICROGRAVITY
Fig. 7. Photograph of spreading flames with standoff
distance shown.
Fig. 8. Flame standoff distance as function of external
flow (35% O2, sample 2).
rsⳭd
ṁO2,c ⳱ 2prs vO2qair 冮
rs
Va(r)dr (flat sample) (2)
Since a required amount of oxygen for a given sur-
face area is necessary in the calculations, the value
is given to satisfy the experimental data at Ve ⳱
9.1 cm/s. The theoretical value is given in the same
way as the preheat length. In Fig. 8, the standoff
distance decreases with increases in flow velocity and
the rate of decrease is everywhere higher at low ve-
locities, similar to the changes in the preheat length.
Among the three estimation methods, the calcula-
tion with the curvature is closest to the experimental
results, especially at low flow velocities. However,
the calculation with curvature in quiescent air is still
2549
Fig. 9. Change in flame temperature as function of flow
velocity (35% O2, sample 2).
much higher than the experimental value. This dis-
crepancy is caused by the elimination of diffusion
effects toward the flame from the outside. Especially
with thin cylindrical samples, the oxygen supply by
diffusion is significantly affected by the curvature ef-
fect as reported in Ref. [15].
A third factor to be considered is the temperature.
The flame temperature is given to satisfy the equa-
tion
˙ fs Ⳮ Q
u̇ ⳱ Q ˙ floss Ⳮ Dh (3)
A detailed description of this equation except for the
oxygen supply can be found in Ref. [15]. The oxygen
supply by convection is equation 1 and by diffusion
it is
ṁO2,d ⳱ 2p(rs Ⳮ d)Lg qairD(
vO2/
r)
Figure 9 shows the estimated flame temperatures
calculated with equation 3 as a function of flow ve-
locity for 35% O2 and sample 2, assuming ⑀s, ⑀f, and
Ts as 0.5, 0.1, and 690 K, which is pyrolysis tem-
perature of polyethylene, respectively. The tempera-
ture at the characteristic time (tc ⳱ Lg/Va) is shown
in Fig. 9. The standoff distance used in this cal-
culation is the experimental data except at Ve ⳱
20.5 cm/s, where the data are from the calculations
considering curvature. Flame temperatures increase
with increases in flow velocity, and the dependence
on flow velocity is stronger in the lower velocity re-
gion.
Finally, the total heat transfer from the gas phase
to the solid phase in the preheat zone by gas-phase
heat conduction is discussed. The heat conduction
from the flame to the solid surface with curvature is
2550 MICROGRAVITY COMBUSTION
Fig. 10. Heat transfer to the insulation in the preheat
zone as function of flow velocity (35% O2, sample 2).
given as the following equation, which includes a so-
called logarithmic effect to enhance the heat con-
duction from flame to the solid surface [9,12].
2pLg k g
Q̇fs,c ⳱ (Tf ⳮ Ts) (4)
rs Ⳮ d
ln 冢 rs 冣 smaller than that in preheat length, because the
The radiation heat loss from the solid surface is
Q̇sloss ⳱ 2prsLg⑀sr(T4s ⳮ T04) (5)
Figure 10 shows the net heat transfer calculated
from equations 4 and 5 and the results in Figs. 6, 8,
and 9, as a function of flow velocity at 35% O2 for
sample 2. It can be seen that the dependence of the
heat supply to the preheat zone on flow velocity di-
vides into three regimes. In the first regime, the heat
transfer increases with increases in flow velocity. In
the second regime, the heat transfer decreases with
increases in flow velocity, opposite to the trend in
the first regime. In the third regime, the heat trans-
fer is nearly independent of flow velocity. These
three regimes qualitatively agree with the regimes
for the flame spread data in Figs. 3 and 4.
In the first regime, the flame temperature in-
creases rapidly as shown in Fig. 9. The preheat
length and standoff distance decrease with increases
in flow velocity, as shown in Figs. 6 and 8. However,
the change in flame temperature is prominent and
the resulting heat supply is mainly controlled by the
flame temperature, comprising the oxygen supply
and radiation heat loss from the flame. This regime
corresponds to the oxygen transport control regime
investigated in the flat thin paper experiment [3].
For thermally thin flat samples, the thermal re-
gime appears [3] when the flow velocity increases
somewhat. In this regime, the flame spread rate is
almost constant and is independent of flow velocity
as estimated by thermal theory [16]. Even with wire
samples, the regime similar to the third regime,
where heat transfer is almost independent of flow
velocity, appears at higher flow velocities. In this re-
gime, total heat transfer to the solid surface becomes
constant for the flat sample, since the effect of the
standoff distance decrease and the preheat length
decrease cancel each other out. For wire insulation,
with relatively short standoff distances, equation 4
could be replaced by Q̇fs,c ⳱ 2pLgrskg/d(Tf ⳮ Ts).
Where the effects of preheat length and standoff dis-
tance decrease are almost equal as shown in Fig. 6
and Fig. 8. In third regime, flame temperature
changes with flow velocity are also small. As a result,
there is an independent regime of flow velocity also
with wire samples.
The second regime can be called the geometrical
effect regime, and is a special feature of samples
with curvature. Flame temperatures increase with
the flow velocity as shown in Fig. 9. With a flat sam-
ple, heat flux is inversely proportional to the standoff
distance. In samples with curvature, decreases in
heat flux with increases in standoff distances are very
small because of the so-called logarithmic effect
[9,12]. Further, the preheat length is not affected by
sample geometry, while the rate of decrease in
standoff distance with increases in flow velocity is
standoff distance is affected by the sample geometry.
As a result, total heat transfer increases with de-
creases in flow velocity in spite of the temperature
decreases and standoff distance increases with de-
creases in flow velocity. As discussed above, the ef-
fect of sample geometry is important to determine
the rate of flame spread in the low flow velocity re-
gion. The main cause of the special features for wire,
the appearance of a maximum spread rate, is the
increased preheat zone thickness in combination
with small changes in the standoff distance and en-
hanced heat supply with the curvature effect.
Another important feature of wires is the presence
of the inner core. The difference in changes in flame
spread rates (Fig. 3) and net heat supply changes
(Fig. 10) may be caused by the elimination of the
inner core effect as well as by the radiation heat
transfer mechanism, which will be investigated in
the next stage of these investigations.
Summary
For fire safety in spacecraft, flame spread experi-
ments over polyethylene wire insulation were per-
formed in low external flows under microgravity.
The results of this research may be summarized as
follows:
 WIRE INSULATION COMBUSTION IN MICROGRAVITY
1. The effect of low external flows on flame spread
rates over wire insulation with different O2 con-
centrations and wire diameter was first deter-
mined by a 10 s microgravity drop facility. A fea-
ture in the flame spread phenomena is the
appearance of a maximum flame spread rate in
the low flow velocity condition, which is identical
to the air ventilation speed in spacecraft.
2. The presence of three different regimes, an ox-
ygen transport control regime, a geometrical ef-
fect regime, and a thermal regime, is proposed
for different flow velocities by considering the
flame spread mechanism. The geometrical effect
regime, which is a unique feature of samples with
curvature, appears between the oxygen transport
regime and the thermal regime.
3. Samples with small diameters such as wire cables
have three effects enhancing flame spread phe-
nomena based on sample geometry, which is the
effect of diffusive oxygen supply enhancement,
the effect of standoff distance reduction, and the
logarithmic effect of heat transfer to the solid sur-
face. These effects are more evident when wire
diameters are smaller.
Nomenclature
D diffusion coefficient: 7.5 mm2/s
e base of natural logarithm
Lg preheat length
ṁO2,c, convection oxygen supply, diffusion oxy-
ṁO2,d gen supply
Q̇fs heat transfer from flame to solid
Q̇fs,c heat transfer by gas-phase conduction
Q̇floss, radiation heat loss from flame and solid
Q̇sloss surface
rs solid radius or half-width of sample
Tf, Ts, T0 flame temperature, solid surface tem-
perature, surrounding temperature
tc characteristic time
Va characteristic relative velocity
[⳱(Ve Ⳮ Vf)]
Va* characteristic relative velocity 1 mm
from the sample surface after compen-
sation for the boundary layer effect
Ve external flow velocity
Vf flame spread rate
Dh sensible heat of combustion products
␣ thermal diffusivity: 22 mm2/s
vO2 oxygen mass fraction: 0.381
d flame stand-off distance
COMMENTS
Sandra Olson, NASA Glenn Research Center, USA. This
is a very interesting paper. Region 2 seems to be a unique
feature for wire flame spread. The comments are related
2551
⑀f, ⑀s emissivity of the flame and solid surface
kg thermal conductivity of gas phase: 26
mW/(m • K)
qair density of atmosphere: 1.17 kg/m3
u̇ rate of heat release
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the New Energy and In-
dustrial Technology Development Organization of Japan
(NEDO) through the Japan Space Utilization Promotion
Center (JSUP) as a part of R&D project of multi-fuel com-
bustion technology utilizing microgravity.
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bust. Inst. 23:1627–1633 (1990).
3. Olson, S. L., Combust. Sci. Technol. 76:233–249
(1991).
4. Di Blasi, C., Combust. Flame 100:332–340 (1995).
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Ito, K., Proc. Combust. Inst. 26:1345–1352 (1996).
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Olson, S. L., Combust. Flame 106:377–391 (1996).
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Combust. Inst. 28:2843–2849 (2000).
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Ito, K., Combust. Flame 125:852–864 (2001).
9. Salva, J. J., and Juste, G. L., Microgravity Sci. Technol.
4(3):191–198 (1991).
10. Tarifa, S. C., Corchero, G., and Juste, G. L., J. Appl.
Microgravity Technol. 1(4)165–169 (1988).
11. Tizon, J. M., Salva, J. J., and Linan, A., Combust. Flame
119:41–55 (1999).
12. Delichatsios, M. A., Altenkirch, R. A., Bundy, M. F.,
Bhattacharjee, S., Tang, L., and Sacksteder, K., Proc.
Combust. Inst. 28:2835–2842 (2000).
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in Proceedings of the Joint Launch Plus One Year Sci-
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gravity Measurement Group, Vol. 2 (N. Ramachon-
dran, D. O. Frazer, S. L. Lehoczky, and C. R. Baugler,
eds.), NASA CP 3272, 1994, pp. 631–655.
14. Kikuchi, M., Fujita, O., Ito, K., Sato, A., and Sakuraya,
T., Proc. Combust. Inst. 27:2507–2514 (1998).
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to the standoff distance measurement and analysis. You de-
fine the standoff distance as the distance to the soot regime
at the leading edge, and yet there is clearly a blue leading
2552 MICROGRAVITY COMBUSTION
edge to your flames. What kind of errors do you think this
creates in your results? Can you plot the blue standoff for
the higher velocity tests as well as the soot standoff? Lastly,
if you include the flame spread rate in a definition of rela-
tive velocity ⳱ Vf Ⳮ V in your analysis, you might get
better agreement at low velocity.
Author’s Reply. We appreciate your comments very
much. As you pointed out, we defined the standoff distance
as the soot regime at the leading edge. Another possible
determination method is to measure the distance to the
blue flame region at the leading edge. However, the blue
flame region is sometimes too faint to determine the stand-
off distance without uncertainty, while the determination
by soot regime is clear. In the discussion of the present
paper, the standoff distance is the effective distance to de-
termine the heat flux from the flame to the solid surface.
Therefore, we assumed it is reasonable to give the distance
by the soot regime at the leading edge, at least in the qual-
itative discussion, because the temperature distribution
shifts with the shift of luminous flame position at the lead-
ing edge. Regarding the relative velocity, we have included
the Vf to define the relative velocity in our analysis as noted
as Va (⳱ Vf Ⳮ Ve), while the experimental plots (Figs. 3
and 4) are made as a function of external flow velocity, Ve.
●
Merrill King, NASA Headquarters, USA. In your analy-
sis, do you include the effect of heat conduction along the
wire from regions where the insulation has burned off, or
does the insulation leave an insulating char layer?
Author’s Reply. Heat conduction along the wire core
could be one of the dominant heat transfer mechanisms to
the unburned region because the insulation of the wire,
polyethylene, does not leave an insulating char layer. How-
ever, it strongly depends on the combustion condition as
well as sample geometry which heat transfer mechanism is
dominant: heat conduction along the wire core or gas-
phase heat transfer to the unburned front region. Accord-
ing to our rough calculation made in advance, the heat
transfer through the gas phase is dominant relative to the
heat conduction along the wire core for the tested range
in the present paper. We presume that the heat conduction
along the wire becomes more dominant with the case of
higher external flow velocity and/or with the case of the
larger inner core diameter relative to the insulation thick-
ness. This is a subject requiring further research.