Rayleigh scattering for density measurements in premixed flames

Rayleigh scattering measurements for molecular number density in turbulent, premixed CH₄-air flames are discussed, and data for both flamelet passage time distributions and power spectral density functions are reported and compared to the recent predictions of Bray, Libby and Moss (1984). Measurement problems associated with variations in mixture-averaged Rayleigh scattering cross section, index of refraction fluctuations, finite spatial and temporal resolution and with scattering from particles are discussed. It is concluded that these effects are relatively minor in the reported experiments. Correction procedures are suggested for the effects of cross section variation and of finite resolution. Passage time and spectral data support the Bray, Libby and Moss hypothesis for the passage time distribution function. Furthermore, model predictions for the variation across the flame brush of mean passage times for both reactant and product eddies are in reasonable agreement with experiment. Finally, the data suggest that these mean times scale in part with ū and λ in the reactant flow.     

Detailed measurements of equivalence ratio modulations in premixed flames using laser Rayleigh scattering and absorption spectroscopy

Equivalence ratio non-uniformities may give rise to some of the instabilities observed in modern lean premixed combustion systems. The present work intends to investigate the influence of equivalence ratio perturbations on the dynamics of premixed flames. A burner equipped with a secondary injection system is used to generate equivalence ratio perturbations which are convected by the flow and impinge on a conical flame. Two laser-diagnostics, based on Rayleigh scattering and hydrocarbon infrared absorption, respectively, are employed to give insight into the spatial and temporal evolution of the mixture composition field. Rayleigh scattering images also reveal the flame front dynamics providing an indication on the response of a weakly turbulent flame subject to mixture composition inhomogeneities. Laser light absorption provides a time resolved signal which is used to estimate the equivalence ratio perturbation level. A theoretical model based on the G-equation is used to interpret the experimental data and compare the relative effects of velocity and equivalence ratio perturbations.     

Probe and optical diagnostics for scalar measurements in premixed flames

 Procedures which allow the measurement of scalars in premixed recirculating flames using digitally-compensated thermocouples or, alternatively, laser-Rayleigh scattering, are described together with the error sources associated with the use of these techniques. The procedure for the numeric compensation of the thermocouple signals included experimental data on the characteristics of the effect of velocity and temperature on the time constant of the thermocouple and was optimised to guarantee the temporal resolution of the system. The Rayleigh system included its calibration in a propane/air flame and was optimised to avoid contamination of Mie scattering from small particles. The effect of the photomultiplier shot noise on the Rayleigh signal is quantified and used to compensate the results. The two techniques are shown to give rise to results in close agreement and to be suitable to characterise the turbulence nature of strongly recirculating premixed flames. Received: 15 November 1996/Accepted: 2 September 1997     

Simultaneous velocity and scalar measurements in premixed recirculating flames

 The use of a laser-Doppler velocimeter has been extended to the analysis of turbulent heat transfer in a strongly sheared disc-stabilised propane-air flame through its combination with either laser Rayleigh scattering or digitally-compensated fine-wire thermocouples. The laser velocimeter was based on a conventional forward scattering system from the green light of a 5W Argon-Ion laser, while the Rayleigh signals used the blue line of the same laser. The procedure for the numeric compensation of the thermocouple signals included analysis of the effect of velocity and temperature on the time constant of the thermocouple and was optimised to allow combined velocity–temperature samples acquired by a purpose-built digital interference with a frequency up to 2000 Hz, without deterioration of the thermocouple by particle accretion. The maximum effective data rate for the combined Rayleigh/LDV system is shown to be around 130 Hz, which corresponds to a data rate of valid Doppler signals around 400 Hz and statistics based on more than 15 000 measurements is made possible. The results obtained with the two systems agree qualitatively, although the use of thermocouples attenuates the measured velocity-temperature correlations. The results are used to assess the extent to which turbulent mixing in flames is altered by the accompanying heat release and quantify the processes of non-gradient diffusion in a strongly recirculating premixed flame. Received: 15 November 1996/Accepted: 2 September 1997     

Correlation coefficients of the fluctuating density in turbulent premixed flames

 Two-point density measurements by laser induced Rayleigh scattering are used in this study to fully characterise the scalar field in a Bunsen type turbulent premixed flame. The two points are separated within the flame brush in the axial or radial directions. Correlation coefficients are obtained by comparing the evolution of one-point density fluctuations in time or the two-point density fluctuations in both space and time. Time and length scales of the scalar field, and the mean convection velocity of the turbulent scalar structures are deduced from these correlation coefficients. Time scales are calculated from the auto-correlation coefficients, length scales are determined from the space correlation coefficients and the mean convection velocity of the scalar structures in the axial direction is deduced from the space–time correlation coefficients. The relevance of these results for analysing and modelling the structure of turbulent premixed flames is discussed. Received: 30 April 1996 / Accepted: 2 September 1997     

Rayleigh scattering temperature measurements in a plane turbulent air jet at moderate Reynolds numbers

Rayleigh scattering temperature measurements were made in a slightly heated plane jet at various Reynolds numbers and the effect of this parameter on the temperature field was determined. The axial and lateral distributions of the mean and rms temperature as well as the temperature spectra along the jet axis were determined. Results indicated that increasing Reynolds numbers led to lower levels of rms temperature and jet dilution in the moderate Reynolds number regime (between 700 and 2500). It was also found that slower spread rates of the thermal jet occured with larger Reynolds numbers in this regime.List of symbols b _T temperature half-width of the jet - C calibration constant for Rayleigh scattering optics - C _T, C _T,0 constants defining the temperature decay rate - D nozzle width - E _T power spectrum of temperature fluctuations - f frequency - I _L laser light intensity - I _R Rayleigh signal intensity - K _T, K _T,0 constants defining the jet spread rate - k wavenumber (2f/ U) - N total molecular number density - Re Reynolds number (U ₀D/) - T mean excess temperature - T _m mean excess temperature on the jet axis - T ₀ mean excess temperature at jet exit - T fluctuating temperature - U local mean velocity - U ₀ mean velocity at the jet exit - x axial distance from the nozzle exit - y lateral distance from the jet axis - z spanwise distance from the jet axis - Rayleigh scattering cross section - density - kinematic viscosity A version of this paper was presented as paper no 86-WA/ HT-98 at the 1986 ASME Winter Annual Meeting.     

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and fuel mole fraction using acetone planar induced fluorescence and Rayleigh scattering in stratified flames

The use of acetone as a tracer for planar laser induced of fluorescence (PLIF) measurements is very popular both for mixing investigations and for premixed or partially premixed combustion systems when evaluating the local mixture fraction (or equivalence ratio) in the fresh gases. The local structure of a flame front can be investigated by using Rayleigh scattering, and this technique has been quite frequently used in combustion. We present here an application of simultaneous imaging of temperature and fuel mole fraction with both acetone PLIF and Rayleigh scattering techniques. The strong influence of temperature on fluorescence signals can be corrected if the local temperature is known. Simultaneously, the contribution of the acetone Rayleigh cross-section can be evaluated through the local value of acetone mole fraction. An iterative process enables the fuel mole fraction (in the limit of the preheat zone) and temperature fields to be obtained in a reactive configuration. The technique is limited by the maximum temperature that can be corrected and by the tracer specificities. Tests in laminar homogeneous stabilized flames and in stratified stabilized flames demonstrate the ability to record the instantaneous flame structure and fuel mole fraction field. Finally, the paper presents correlations of the local flame thickness with the local methane mole fraction, which underline the strong influence of large scales of the equivalence ratio on the local flame structure.     

Dynamic measurement of temperature, velocity, and density in hot jets using Rayleigh scattering

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique is utilized to measure gas temperature, velocity, and density in unseeded gas flows at sampling rates up to 10 kHz, providing fluctuation information up to 5 kHz based on the Nyquist theorem. A high-power continuous-wave laser beam is focused at a point in an air flow field and Rayleigh scattered light is collected and fiber-optically transmitted to a Fabry–Perot interferometer for spectral analysis. Photomultiplier tubes operated in the photon counting mode allow high-frequency sampling of the total signal level and the circular interference pattern to provide dynamic density, temperature, and velocity measurements. Mean and root mean square velocity, temperature, and density, as well as power spectral density calculations, are presented for measurements in a hydrogen-combustor heated jet facility with a 50.8-mm diameter nozzle at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. The Rayleigh measurements are compared with particle image velocimetry data and computational fluid dynamics predictions. This technique is aimed at aeronautics research related to identifying noise sources in free jets, as well as applications in supersonic and hypersonic flows where measurement of flow properties, including mass flux, is required in the presence of shocks and ionization occurrence.     

Time-resolved measurements of hydroxyl in stable and extinguishing partially premixed turbulent opposed-jet flames

Quantitative hydroxyl time-series measurements from a set of stable and extinguishing turbulent opposed-flow partially premixed CH₄/air flames are used to investigate the effect of Reynolds number and fuel-side equivalence ratio on the structure of turbulent partially premixed flames. The hydroxyl (OH) integral time scale, computed from the autocorrelation function, is used to characterize OH fluctuations and is found to reach a minimum at the axial location of peak OH. Analyses of the duration of and period between bursts in the OH time series are used to examine the dynamics of flame-front motion. In general, with increasing Reynolds number (Re), the distribution in OH burst times shifts towards smaller time scales. A hydroxyl intermittency parameter is also defined from the bursts to quantify the presence or absence of OH. For flames with the same fuel-side equivalence ratio, the hydroxyl intermittency at peak OH remains almost constant when going from stable to extinguishing flames. However, histograms portray an increase in burst separation times for flames displaying occasional extinction events. Hydroxyl time series for a partially premixed flame at a fuel-side equivalence ratio of 2.0 and Re = 6650 are synthesized by using mixture-fraction simulations based on calculated state relationships for OH versus mixture fraction (f). The laminar-flamelet model is employed to explore relations between OH and f so as to predict trends in mixture-fraction time scales.“Time-Series Measurements in Turbulent Opposed-Jet Flames" is submitted for consideration as a full length article to Flow Turbulence and Combustion.     

PIV, 2D-LIF and 1D-Raman measurements of flow field,composition and temperature in premixed gas turbine flames

Several laser diagnostic measurement techniques have been applied to study the lean premixed natural gas/air flames of an industrial swirl burner. This was made possible by equipping the burner with an optical combustion chamber that was installed in the high-pressure test rig facility at the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology in Stuttgart. The burner was operated with preheated air at various operating conditions with pressures up to p = 6 bar and a maximum thermal power of P = 1 MW.The instantaneous planar flow field inside the combustor was studied with particle image velocimetry (PIV). Planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH radicals on a single-shot basis was used to determine the shape and the location of the flame front as well as the spatial distribution of reaction products. 1D laser Raman spectroscopy was successfully applied for the measurement of the temperature and the concentration of major species under realistic gas turbine conditions.Results of the flow field analysis show the shape and the size of the main flow regimes: the inflow region, the inner and the outer recirculation zone. The highly turbulent flow field of the inner shear layer is found to be dominated by small and medium sized vortices. High RMS fluctuations of the flow velocity in the exhaust gas indicate the existence of a rotating exhaust gas swirl. From the PLIF images it is seen that the primary reactions happened in the shear layers between inflow and the recirculation zones and that the appearance of the reaction zones changed with flame parameters. The results of the multiscalar Raman measurements show a strong variation of the local mixture fraction allowing conclusions to be drawn about the premix quality. Furthermore, mixing effects of unburnt fuel and air with fully reacted combustion products are studied giving insights into the processes of the turbulence–chemistry interaction.     

Simultaneous velocity and temperature measurements in a premixed flame

Procedures which allow the correlation of velocity signals from a laser anemometer and temperature signals from a compensated, small-diameter thermocouple are described together with the error sources associated with the use of the technique in premixed flames. The digital compensation procedure includes the effect of velocity and temperature on the time constant of the thermocouple and the influence of its exposure to the solid particles required by the laser anemometer are quantified and shown to be able to cause large differences in the measured probability-density-distribution of the reaction progress variable. The technique has been used to measure the probability-density-distribution of temperatures, conditioned by the arrival of velocity signals and velocity conditioned by the temperature signal and sample results are presented to help quantify the accuracy of the measurements.     

Imaging of premixed flames in microgravity

A laser schlieren system which uses video recording and digital images analysis has been developed and applied successfully to microgravity combustion experiments performed in a drop-tower. The optical system and the experiment are installed within a small package which is subjected to free-fall. The images are recorded on video tape and are digitized and analyzed by a computer-controlled image processor. The experimental results include laminar and turbulent premixed conical flames in microgravity, normal positive gravity (upward), and reverse gravity (downward). The procedures to extract frequency information from the digitized images are described. Many gross features of the effects of gravity on premixed conical flames are found. Flames that ignite easily in normal gravity fail to ignite in microgravity. Buoyancy driven instabilities associated with an interface formed between the hot products and the cold surrounding air is the mechanism through which gravity influences premixed laminar and turbulent flames. In normal gravity, this causes the flame to flicker. In reverse gravity, -g, and microgravity, g, the interface is stable and flame flickering ceases. The flickering frequencies of +g flames vary with changing upstream boundary conditions. The absence of flame flickering in g suggest that g flames would be less sensitive to these changes.This work is supported by NASA Microgravity Sciences and Applications Divisions under contract No. C-32000-R through the U.S. Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC03-76F00098. Technical support is provided by NASA Lewis Research Center. Project Scientist is Dr. Karen J. Weiland. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Liming Zhou for his contribution to early testing of the schlieren system, and to Mr. Gray Hubbard for writing the image analysis software     

On third order density contrast expansion of the evolution equation for wrinkled unsteady premixed flames

The dynamics of flat-on-average wrinkled flame front propagating through gaseous premixtures is considered. Leading the asymptotic expansions in powers of the burnt to unburned fractional density contrast (0<γ<1) to third order, an evolution equation (called S3) is obtained for the instantaneous front shapes. It reduces to Sivashinsky's original equation (called S1) as γ?0. It also modifies a previous attempt by Sivashinsky and Clavin (called S2) to improve it. Numerical integrations of the S3 equation reveals that the new quadratic and cubic non-linearities featured at 3rd order happen to mutually compensate partially one another for realistic γ's, and are negligible at γ?1. As a result, the flame shape and speed solutions to S3 nearly coincide with those of a S1/S2 type of equation, even for a 10-fold density variation (γ=0.9) and for unsteady situations, provided a singleO(1) coefficient a(γ) be adjusted therein, once for all for each γ. The O(γ²) (and small) correction to it mainly originates from a quartic non-linearity of geometrical origin. The agreement carries over to comparisons with some DNS of 2D steady wrinkled fronts. A phenomenological (yet asymptotically correct at γ?1 and exact in the linear limit) interpolating model equation is finally proposed to try and account for inertia effects associated with fast transients (e.g. acoustics related) while reproducing the above results on steady patterns.     

High-resolution imaging of turbulence structures in jet flames and non-reacting jets with laser Rayleigh scattering

A comparative study of the length scales and morphology of dissipation fields in turbulent jet flames and non-reacting jets provides a quantitative analysis of the effects of heat release on the fine-scale structure of turbulent mixing. Planar laser Rayleigh scattering is used for highly resolved measurements of the thermal and scalar dissipation in the near fields of CH₄/H₂/N₂ jet flames (Re _d  = 15,200 and 22,800) and non-reacting propane jets (Re _d  = 7,200–21,700), respectively. Heat release increases the dissipation cutoff length scales in the reaction zone of the flames such that they are significantly larger than the cutoff scales of non-reacting jets with comparable jet exit Reynolds numbers. Fine-scale anisotropy is enhanced in the reaction zone. At x/d = 10, the peaks of the dissipation angle PDFs in the Re _d  = 15,200 and 22,800 jet flames exceed those of non-reacting jets with corresponding jet exit Reynolds numbers by factors of 2.3 and 1.8, respectively. Heat release significantly reduces the dissipation layer curvature in the reaction zone and in the low-temperature periphery of the jet flames. These results suggest that the reaction zone shields the outer regions of the jet flame from the highly turbulent flow closer to the jet axis.     

Time-average measurement of velocity, density, temperature, and turbulence velocity fluctuations using Rayleigh and Mie scattering

Measurement of time-averaged velocity, density, temperature, and turbulence velocity fluctuations in sparsely seeded gas flows using a non-intrusive, point-wise technique based on Rayleigh and Mie scattering is discussed. A Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) is used to spectrally resolve laser light scattered by molecules and particulates in gas flows. The spectral content of the scattered light provides information about velocity, density, and temperature of the gas. A CCD camera is used to record images of the fringes formed by scattered light passing through the interferometer. Models of the spectral components are used in a least squares fitting routine to estimate the parameters from fringe images. Flow measurements are presented for subsonic and supersonic jet flows. The application range for this technique is mostly for high velocity situations (>25 m/s). Velocity, density, temperature, and turbulence velocity fluctuations were determined with accuracies within 5 m/s, 4%, 2%, and 5 m/s, respectively.     

On the use of filtered Rayleigh scattering for measurements in compressible flows and thermal fields

This work describes applications of filtered Rayleigh scattering to measure thermodynamic properties in compressible unseeded flows and thermal fields. Methodologies for measuring single and multiple properties in four flows are demonstrated including methods to calibrate the system parameters. Temperature, pressure, and velocity were measured simultaneously in a free jet and a laser-induced energy deposition experiment. Additionally, single-property temperature measurements were acquired in the energy deposition and a natural convection experiment. Modifications to the technique are discussed to simplify calibration and avoid double-valued solutions when performing temperature measurements. The uncertainty of the technique is also discussed and evaluated.     

Measurement of the conditioned turbulence and temperature field of a premixed Bunsen burner by planar laser Rayleigh scattering and stereo particle image velocimetry

The turbulence and temperature field of Bunsen-type turbulent lean methane/air flames has been investigated using planar laser Rayleigh scattering (PLRS) and stereo particle image velocimetry (stereo PIV). Temporally averaged reaction progress variable plots have been computed from PLRS measurements in order to provide a basis with regards to the verification of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. Turbulence was characterised by stereo PIV in one plane for all three velocity components. Averaged velocity fields have been calculated, as well as Reynolds-decomposed fluctuation vector fields. Conditioned root mean square (RMS) values of the turbulent fluctuations in terms of unburnt and burnt gas could be determined by making use of the information gained from a threshold setting procedure in the PIV raw images. Furthermore, several length scales were measured indirectly from PIV vector plots. In this context, all integral length scales being accessible with stereo PIV were computed separately for the burnt and unburnt regions and were compared to each other. It could be observed that all integral length scales increased in the burnt zone. Additionally, the conditioned Taylor and Kolmogorov lengths have been extracted from the PIV field data, derived either from the zero-radius curvature of the correlation function or from common turbulence theory relations.     

Tulip flames: changes in shape of premixed flames propagating in closed tubes

 The experimental results that are the subject of this communication provide high-speed schlieren images of the closed-tube flame shape that has come to be known as the tulip flame. The schlieren images, along with in-chamber pressure records, help demonstrate the effects of chamber length, equivalence ratio, and igniter geometry on formation of the tulip flame. The pressure/time records show distinct features which correlate with flame shape changes during the transition to tulip. The measurements indicate that the basic tulip flame formation is a robust phenomenon that depends on little except the overall geometry of the combustion vessel. Received: 22 April 1997/Accepted: 7 July 1997     

Error estimation of temperature measurements in non-isothermal shear layers

A simple analytical model has been developed to estimate the error of an invasive temperature measurement technique in a non-isothermal environment. The error depends significantly on the sensor geometry and the temperature distribution of the surrounding fluid. The problem is described in such a way that the model can easily be adapted to other sensor geometries.