Two‐Phase Flow Characterization by Automated Digital Image Analysis. Part 2: Application of PDIA for Sizing Sprays

A series of experiments were conducted in order to assess the robustness and accuracy of a recently developed digital image analysis technique (PDIA). This paper investigates the application of the PDIA technique to the sizing of relatively small fuel droplets of diameters in the range 5 to 30 μm produced by a pressure‐swirl atomizer. The measurement performance of the PDIA system has been assessed in terms of individual object diameters and also number and volume probability density functions of diameter in comparison to phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) data obtained under identical conditions. PDIA measurements revealed good agreement with spray data obtained by PDA at a measurement location 36 diameters downstream from the nozzle orifice with differences in the arithmetic mean diameter, D₁₀ and volume mean diameter, D₃₀ of approximately 5 and 3% respectively. The PDIA technique was shown to detect the presence of very large, predominantly non‐spherical droplets whose diameters were in excess of 100 μm. These droplets, although few in number constitute a significant proportion of the total spray volume and would have otherwise been either erroneously measured or have passed through the probe volume undetected using PDA due to non‐sphericity. Smaller objects may also be measured correctly by both methods although sensitivity to signal‐to‐noise ratio, for both methods can generate spurious and contradictory errors.     

Effects of fine fuel droplets on a laminar flame stabilized in a partially prevaporized spray stream

A partially prevaporized spray burner was developed to investigate the interaction between fuel droplets and a flame. Monodispersed partially prevaporized ethanol sprays with narrow diameter distribution were generated by the condensation method using rapid pressure reduction of a saturated ethanol vapor–air mixture. A tilted flat flame was stabilized at the nozzle exit using a hot wire. Particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) was applied to measurements of the droplet velocity; the laminar burning velocity was obtained from gas velocity derived from the droplet velocity. Observations were made of flames in partially prevaporized spray streams with mean droplet diameters of 7 μm and the liquid equivalence ratios of 0.2; the total equivalence ratio was varied. In all cases, a sharp vaporization plane was observed in front of the blue flame. Flame oscillation was observed on the fuel-rich side. At strain rates under 50 s⁻¹, the change in the burning velocity with the strain rate is small in fuel-lean spray streams. In spray streams of 0.7 and 0.8 in the total equivalence ratio, burning velocity increases with strain rates of greater than 50 s⁻¹. However, in spray streams with 0.9 and 1.0 in the total equivalence ratio, burning velocity decreases as the strain rate increases. At strain rates greater than 80 s⁻¹, burning velocity decreases with an increased gas equivalence ratio. The effect of mean droplet diameter, and the entry length of droplets into a flame on the laminar burning velocity, were also investigated to interpret the effect of the strain rate on the laminar burning velocity of partially prevaporized sprays.     

A Multi‐Thresholding Algorithm for Sizing out of Focus Particles

A methodology is presented that enables efficient acquisition of sufficient droplet information (e.g. diameter and aspect ratio) from images of in and out of focus droplets. The newly developed multi‐threshold algorithm is successfully implemented in the automatic particle/droplet image analysis (PDIA) system. Under the same optical hardware set‐up, and compared to the dual threshold methods [1], the multi‐threshold method increases the measurable/acceptable depth of field (DoF) of particles, especially for the small particles of diameters less than 50 μm (1098 pixels in this optical set‐up). When testing the 70 μm~110 μm and 100 μm~200 μm moving glass spheres, the dual threshold method can only detect 11%~29 % of the particles found by the multi‐threshold method. The multi‐threshold method is also capable of generating the aspect ratios of particles more accurately than dual threshold methods.     

Microgravity experiments on droplet motion during flame spreading along three-fuel-droplet array

Flame spreading along a fuel droplet array at microgravity has been studied as a simple model of spray combustion. A three droplet array with a pendulum suspender was employed to investigate interactions between flame spreading and droplet motion in the array direction. Initial droplet diameter was 0.8 mm and fuel was n-heptane. A silicon carbide pendulum suspender of 15 μm in diameter and 30 mm in length was used for the third droplet. The first fixed droplet was ignited by electric spark. Behavior of the flame and the third droplet was observed using a high-speed video camera. Dimensionless span, which is the averaged droplet span divided by the averaged initial diameter of the three droplets, was varied from 2.7 to 10. Large displacement of the movable droplet was observed after group flame grew around the movable droplet. As the initial dimensionless span increased, the averaged droplet speed after the occurrence of flame spreading to the movable droplet increased steeply, taking the maximum value around 5 in initial dimensionless span, and then decreased gradually. The movable droplet advanced toward the second droplet in small spans and moved away from the second droplet in large spans. The direction of the motion changed around 4.6 in initial dimensionless span. Flame spread induction time from the second to the third droplet increased exponentially as the initial dimensionless span was increased. The induction time of flame spreading to a movable droplet was longer than that of flame spreading to a fixed droplet. From calculations of flame spreading along a 20-droplet array, it was predicted that the droplet speed nearly converged after flame spread to the sixteenth droplet. The maximum speed of the nineteenth droplet appeared around 7.5 in the initial dimensionless span.     

Planar dropsizing by elastic and fluorescence scattering in sprays too dense for phase Doppler measurement

An attempt was made to measure, non-intrusively, average droplet sizes in a dense cooling spray of water. The small droplet size and high number density presented severe problems to conventional nonintrusive measurement methodology with phase Doppler anemometry (PDA). A recently developed optical technique, with more promise for measurements in dense sprays, laser sheet dropsizing (LSD), was tried with more success. Sources of error were considered and the uncertainty of the drop sizes measured by LSD was estimated at ±7%, neglecting multiple scattering, dropsize distribution effects and the contributions of droplets at the edge of the laser beam. The greatest of the known contributions to uncertainty is the calibration of the technique against PDA. The greatest of the unknown contributions is likely to be multiple scattering in such dense sprays. Received: 1 March 2000 / Revised version: 25 May 2000 / Published online: 20 September 2000     

Simultaneous Measurement of Droplet Size and Three-Components of Velocity in Spray

The combination of the optical diagnostics and image processing technique has produced various methods of practical measurement in engineering. The measurement of size and velocity of droplets in fuel spray is one typical example. In general, the spray is a complicated and three-dimensional two-phase flow; therefore multi-dimensional field measurement of the spray field is indispensable. In the present paper, a technique of simultaneous measurement of droplet size and three-components of velocity is proposed and applied to spray issuing from the swirl nozzle as a practical application. The focused image of glare points is captured by a stereoscopic arrangement, and droplet size and the three-components of velocity are evaluated from the doublet image. Fundamental optical arrangements to capture the image of the glare points with a stereo view are established, and the feasibility and the accuracy of the technique are confirmed. © 2004 The Optical Society of Japan     

Planar laser-induced fluorescence imaging of the spatial vapor distribution around a monodisperse acetone droplet stream exposed to asymmetric radiant heating

The development of liquid fuelled microcombustors faces many challenges, one of which being high asymmetric heat flux across the combustion chamber. Typically, thin walls provide little resistance to convective heat transfer and therefore, allowing high heat loss rates. Insulating the walls results in high wall temperatures, which increases the likelihood that radiation plays an important role. Both of these effects have the potential to induce asymmetries and strong temperature gradients in the gas flow, relative to the more uniform environment of a conventional combustor. This investigation uses planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) to reveal the spatial vapor distribution around a monodisperse acetone droplet stream that is exposed to asymmetric radiant heating. Droplets with diameters from 117 to 222 μm flow past a single-sided array of radiant heating elements to provide the asymmetric heating. A frequency-quadrupled Nd:YAG laser provides a 266 nm light sheet to excite the acetone vapor around the droplets, which are exposed to different experimental conditions by varying parameters such as the droplet diameter and temperature of the radiating elements for a fixed exposure time of the droplets in the heated region. A CCD camera captures the fluorescence of the excited acetone vapor molecules over a broadband wavelength range between 350 and 550 nm, to give the radial and axial vapor concentration around each droplet. After processing the PLIF images, we obtain contour plots of the spatial acetone vapor concentration around the droplets which depict asymmetric vapor distribution. The potential impacts on vaporization, combustion and pollutant formation are discussed.     

Experimental Analysis of the Response of a Laser/Phase Doppler Anemometer System to a Partially Atomized Spray

This work describes a systematic approach adopted to establish Laser and Phase Doppler Anemometry, LDA/PDA, experimental techniques that would allow velocity and dropsize measurements to be made over wide velocity and size ranges with confidence in partially atomized sprays. The analysis considers the sprays generated by different gasoline direct injection (GDI) systems injecting into air under atmospheric conditions. The upper limit to the dropsize range in the fuel sprays was confirmed using (a) an Oxford Lasers' VisiSizer and (b) droplets of a known size produced by a mono‐dispersed droplet generator. GDI fuel sprays are highly transient, optically dense and provide a high degree of penetration and atomization. The measurement problem is therefore one of the detection of small, high speed droplets inside a dense cloud of surrounding droplets. Furthermore, under the transients found at the start and end of injection and during high fuel loads, fuel elements in the form of sheets, ligaments and filaments are also injected. These liquid fuel elements subsequently break‐up, downstream from the nozzle, to form droplets of a much larger size class but with a much lower number density [1]. The co‐existence of these liquid fuel elements and the widely different size classes in the spray are considered to pose a problem for dropsize measurements by the PDA technique. In particular: the wide dynamic range of light intensities scattered by the fuel elements and droplets; the trajectory of large drops through the edges of the PDA measurement volume with its Gaussian intensity distribution [2] and the high probability of non spherical droplets. The work concludes that the LDA/PDA measurement technique, as applied here, is robust. It can discriminate between partially and fully atomized sprays, has a high probability of accurately measuring dropsizes larger than the measurement volume and give a realistic indication of ‘sizes’ for non spherical droplets. However, specification of the PDA system parameters must be strictly compatible with the measurement task to yield unambiguous results.     

Nano-designing of Mg doped phosphate tungsten bronzes and SiO2 composite obtained by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method

In this study, the structure and substructure of SiO₂–Mg phosphate tungsten bronzes, MgPTB, (MgHPW₁₂O₄₀ · 29H₂O) obtained by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method from a silica sol, and a MgPTB solution, obtained by the ion exchange method, as precursors were investigated.The mechanism of the formation of aerosol droplets is discussed. Phase composition, structure and substructure of SiO₂–MgPTB particles were investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Good agreement between the theoretically predicted values for the mean diameters of particles and subparticles (1.27 μm and 75.4 nm, respectively) and the experimentally obtained ones (1.17 μm and 65–90 nm) was found.This agreement confirms the applicability of the model to get a satisfactory prediction of the most important data related to the nano-structural design of SiO₂–MgPTB powders.     

Quantitative Measurement of Planar Droplet Sauter Mean Diameter in Sprays using Planar Droplet Sizing

The purpose of this investigation is to assess and improve the accuracy of Sauter Mean Diameter measurements in dense sprays using a Planar Droplet Sizing (PDS) technique, based on the intensity ratio of scattered and fluorescence light. A novel data processing method of the PDS technique is suggested, which was derived from a theoretical light scattering investigation, and reduced possible sizing errors larger than 30% to below 10%. The novel approach for droplet sizing was applied to measure in a spray generated by a pressure swirl atomiser in a liquid‐fuelled burner operated with water at isothermal conditions, in order to avoid the effect of liquid evaporation on the accuracy of PDS technique. The Sauter Mean diameter results from the PDS technique were compared to Phase Doppler Anemometer (PDA) sizing measurements. Good agreement was obtained between the two techniques in dense regions of the spray. Discrepancies remained in dilute spray regions due to systematic statistical uncertainties of the PDS technique and the dynamic range of the intensity of the CCD cameras, which did not allow detection of large single droplets in the dilute spray region.     

Observation of droplet motion during flame spread on three-fuel-droplet array with a pendulum suspender

Flame spread on a fuel droplet array has been studied as a simple model of spray combustion. A three-fuel-droplet array with a pendulum suspender was employed to investigate interactions between flame spread and droplet motion in the axial direction. Initial droplet diameter was 0.8 mm, and fuel was n-heptane. A silicon carbide pendulum suspender of 15 μm in diameter and 30 mm in length was used for the third droplet. The first fixed droplet was ignited by electric spark. Behavior of the flame and the third droplet was observed using a high-speed video camera with an image intensifier. Particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) measurements were performed to explain the behavior of the third movable droplet. The dimensionless droplet span, which is the average of droplet-to-droplet distances divided by the average initial diameter of the three droplets, was varied from 2.5 to 8 for observing flame spread, and fixed at 5.5 for PTV measurements. It was observed that the third droplet moved away from the second droplet before the flame spread to the third droplet. The displacement of the third droplet is remarkable when the dimensionless droplet span is close to the limit of flame spread. This implies that the movement of the droplet decreases the dimensionless span of the flame spread limit and the flame spread speed near the flame spread limit. Results of PTV measurements suggest that the heat expansion wave, caused by ignition of the premixture which was accumulated around the second droplet, and the burned gas flow from the second droplet pushed away the third droplet; then natural convection, induced by the flames of the first and second droplets, drew the third droplet to the second droplet. The heat expansion wave and the burned gas flow of the second droplet reached nearly 12 in dimensionless span.     

Combustion of partially premixed spray jets

Gas turbines, liquid rocket motors, and oil-fired furnaces utilize the spray combustion of continuously injected liquid fuels. In most cases, the liquid spray is mixed with an oxidizer prior to combustion, and further oxidizer is supplied from the outside of the spray to complete diffusion combustion. This rich premixed spray is called “partially premixed spray.” Partially premixed sprays have not been studied systematically although they are of practical importance. In the present study, the burning behavior of partially premixed sprays was experimentally studied with a newly developed spray burner. A fuel spray and an oxidizer, diluted with nitrogen, was injected into the air. The overall equivalence ratio of the spray jet was set larger than unity to establish partially premixed spray combustion. In the present burner, the mean droplet diameter of the atomized liquid fuel could be varied without varying the overall equivalence ratio of the spray jet. Two combustion modes with and without an internal flame were observed. As the mean droplet diameter was increased or the overall equivalence ratio of the spray jet was decreased, the transition from spray combustion only with an external group flame to that with the internal premixed flame occurred. The results suggest that the internal flame was supported by flammable mixture through the vaporization of fine droplets, and the passage of droplet clusters deformed the internal flame and caused internal flame oscillation. The existence of the internal premixed flame enhanced the vaporization of droplets in the post-premixed-flame zone within the external diffusion flame.     

Planar Droplet Sizing for the Characterization of Droplet Clusters in an Industrial Gun‐Type Burner

An important problem in spray combustion deals with the existence of dense regions of droplets, called clusters. To understand their formation mechanism, the droplet dynamics and fuel concentration profile are investigated by means of planar laser techniques in an industrial gun‐type burner. The simultaneous measurement of elastic Mie scattering and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) allows the instantaneous measurement of the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD), after proper calibration. Using two different CCDs to get the two signals requires a detailed calibration of the CCD response before getting absolute diameters. Pixels are binned 6 by 6 to obtain the final SMD map, this is a compromise between spatial accuracy and noise. Velocity field is measured on both sets of images using standard Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) algorithms. The comparison of cross‐correlation technique with PDA results shows that the velocity measured on the LIF images are close to the velocity based on D₃₀, whereas the Mie scattering results are similar to D₂₀. On Mie scattering images, regions of high interfacial area forming clusters can be detected. A special tracking scheme is used to characterize their dynamics in terms of velocity and diameters by ensuring that the same volume of fluid is tracked. It is shown that the clusters have a velocity similar to the velocity of droplets with the same diameter as the mean SMD of the cluster. It is also shown that an increase of pressure tends to trigger the appearance of such a group of droplets, due to a smaller diameter of the droplets caused by the increase of pressure discharge. Uncertainties for the different techniques used are discussed.     

Influence of microsupersonic gas jets on nanosecond laser percussion drilling

This paper reports on etching rates and hole quality for nanosecond laser percussion drilling of 200-μm thick 316L stainless steel performed with micro supersonic gas jets. The assist-gas jets were produced using nozzles of 200, 300 and 500 μm nominal throat diameters. Air and oxygen were used separately for the process gas in the drilling trials and the drilling performance was compared to drilling in ambient conditions. The highest etch rate of 1.2 μm per pulse was obtained in the ambient atmosphere condition, but this was reduced by about 50% with assist-air jets from the 200 μm nozzle. Increasing the jet diameter and/or using oxygen assist gas also decreased the etching rate and increased the hole diameter. The 200 μm nozzle using air-assist jets produced the least amount of recast and gave the best compromise for etching rate. A combination of plasma shielding and different gas dynamic conditions inside the holes and at the surface are correlated to the observations of different drilling rates and hole characteristics.     

Temperature and fiber optic spectroscopy composition measurements of heated propanol–acetone droplets

Time-dependent temperatures and compositions within individual fiber-supported droplets initially from about 2–3 mm in diameter were investigated. In the experiments, droplets were composed of mixtures of 1-propanol and acetone. The droplets evaporated in room air, where the air was heated by placing an electrically heated coil underneath the droplets. The experiments employed thin optical fibers to carry light from a UV–vis light source into and out of a droplet. The time-dependent UV absorption spectrum of the liquid between the fiber ends was measured using a spectrometer coupled to one of the fibers. This spectrum yielded real-time information on the composition of the liquid. Droplet temperatures were simultaneously measured using a thermocouple that was immersed into the liquid. Results demonstrate that droplet evaporation follows a multi-stage process and that acetone is preferentially gasified from a droplet.     

Photoetching of spherical microlenses on glasses using a femtosecond laser

We fabricated spherical microlenses on optical glasses by femtosecond laser direct writing (FLDW) in ambient air. To achieve good appearances of the microlenses, a meridian-arcs scanning method was used after a selective multilayer removal process with spiral scanning paths. A positive spherical microlens with diameter of 48 μm and height of 13.2 μm was fabricated on the surface of the glass substrate. The optical performances of the microlens were also tested. Compared to the conventional laser direct writing (LDW) technique, this work could provide an effective method for precise shape-controlled fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) microstructures with curved surfaces on difficult-to-cut materials for practical applications.     

Digital Holography for Instantaneous Spray Diagnostics on a Plane

We present a measurement technique that is capable of simultaneously determining sizes and positions of multiple transparent droplets in a plane from scattered light features. The technique is largely independent of particle intensity and mutual obscuration. Reflected and refracted light from the droplets in a pulsed laser sheet is recorded holographically to yield the smallest possible probe volume and the largest possible number density. Larger droplets are best analyzed at the image plane; in this case, the droplets appear as two spots (glare points), whose separation is proportional to the droplet diameter. Smaller droplets are easier to analyze at an out‐of‐focus plane, where their images appear as fringe patterns whose spatial frequency is related to droplet size. Photographic techniques allow only one of these planes to be chosen and are therefore not suitable for multidisperse sprays. Optical holography allows to analyze arbitrary depths, but often suffers from low sensitivity and long analysis times. With digital holography, the spray images are captured digitally by a CCD camera and reconstructed numerically; as in optical holography, the particle reconstruction plane can be freely chosen a posteriori to optimize the measurement. We discuss the issues raised by the transition from holographic film to a CCD sensor as the recording medium, and demonstrate the capabilities of the digital technique.     

气液两相流速度及粒径分布激光干涉测量方法的研究

为了实现对气液两相流的粒子粒径、空间分布及其速度测量。对激光干涉气液两相流测量技术（ILIDS）进行了深入研究,该技术是一种应州于气液两相流测量的新技术,其主要优点是不干扰流场和颗粒粒径、位置测量精度高。基于该技术所开发的图像自动处理方法可以利用普通粒子成像测量技术系统拍摄气液两相流的激光散射干涉图像。并利用图像卷积定位、傅里叶变换频率分析及其图像互相关测速等图像处理手段从干涉图像中自动提取粒子的位置、直径和速度信息。为了验证该方法的测量精度,对喷嘴生成的气水两相流进行了测量实验,得到了喷嘴出口处不同区域的粒径、速度矢量的空间分布,并将测得的速度矢量与用粒子成像测量技术方法测得的结果进行对比,证明两种方法测量的平均速度差别仅为0．38％。     

Measurement of wire diameter by optical diffraction

A combined interference and diffraction pattern, in the form of equidistant interference fringes, resulting from illuminating a vertical metallic wire by a laser beam is analyzed to measure the diameter of four standard wires. The diameters range from 170 to 450 μm. It is found that the error in the diameter measurements increases for small metallic wires and for small distances between the wire and the screen due to scattering effects. The intensity of the incident laser beam was controlled by a pair of sheet polaroids to minimize the scattered radiation. The used technique is highly sensitive, but requires controlled environmental conditions and absence of vibration effects. The expanded uncertainty for k=2 is calculated and found to decrease from U(D)=±1.45 μm for the wire of nominal diameter 170 μm to ±0.57 μm for the diameter 450 μm.