Eur. Phys. J. E (2015) 38: 25
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2015-15025-4

Regular Article

Contribution to the benchmark for ternary mixtures: Transient analysis in microgravity conditions

Microgravity Laboratory, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Ryerson University, M5B 2K3, Toronto, Canada

^* e-mail: aahadi@ryerson.ca

Received: 16 July 2014
Revised: 22 August 2014
Accepted: 3 February 2015
Published online: 27 April 2015

Abstract

We present a transient experimental analysis of the DCMIX₁ project conducted onboard the International Space Station for a ternary tetrahydronaphtalene, isobutylbenzene, n-dodecane mixture. Raw images taken in microgravity environment using the SODI (Selectable Optical Diagnostic) apparatus which is equipped with two wavelength diagnostic were processed and the results were analyzed in this work. We measured the concentration profile of the mixture containing 80% THN, 10% IBB and 10% nC₁₂ during the entire experiment using an advanced image processing technique and accordingly we determined the Soret coefficients using an advanced curve-fitting and post-processing technique. It must be noted that the experiment has been repeated five times to ensure the repeatability of the experiment.