HEAT TRANSFER FROM THIN WIRES TO SUPERFLUID HELIUM UNDER REDUCED GRAVITY.

Abstract

The heat transfer from thin wires to He II has been investigated at low hydrostatic pressures on ground and at milligravity on board of the NASA KC-135 aircraft. The peak heat flux density at low gravity is found to be less than 10% lower than the lowest laboratory values, the recovery heat flux density, however, about 50%. For the recovery heat flux density a large scatter was observed, indicating a significant drop of this quantity in the milligravity region.