Measurement of gas transfer across wind-forced wavy air–water interfaces using laser-induced fluorescence

Optical distortions have previously prevented non-intrusive measurements of dissolved oxygen concentration profiles by Laser induced fluorescence (LIF) to within 200 μm of the air–water interface. It is shown that by careful experimental design, reliable measurements can be obtained within 28 μm of moving air–water interfaces. Consideration of previously unidentified optical distortions in LIF imagery due to non-linear effects is presented that is critical for robust LIF data processing and experimental design. Phase resolved gas flux measurements have now been accomplished along wind forced microscale waves and indicate that the highest mean gas fluxes are located in the wave troughs. The local mean oxygen fluxes as determined by LIF techniques can be reconciled to within 40% of those obtained by bulk measurement in the water. These data provide a new perspective on wind-wave enhancement of low solubility gas transfer across the air–water interface.     

Visualization of oxygen concentration fields and measurement of concentration gradients at bubble surfaces in surfactant-contaminated water

A laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique is employed for visualizing a thin two-dimensional (2D) dissolved oxygen concentration field and measuring local oxygen concentration gradients near the surface of an oxygen bubble in water containing surfactant (Triton X-100, SigmaAldrich, St Louis, MO, USA)). The fluorescence of pyrene butyric acid (PBA) is induced by a planar pulse of nitrogen laser light. Oxygen transferring from the bubble to the deoxygenated water quenches the fluorescence of the PBA. Images of the fluorescence fields are captured by a UV-intensified CCD camera. The intensity of fluorescence quenching at each image pixel is used to measure dissolved oxygen concentration in a 2D field. Images of bubbles are obtained at 200 ppm, 100 ppm, and 50 ppm Triton X-100-containing water and in ultra clean deionized water. Higher surfactant concentrations decrease local and average concentration gradients of oxygen at the bubble surface. The ensemble means of dissolved oxygen concentration boundary layer thicknesses of 0.160 mm, 0.130 mm, and 0.072 mm, for the images of bubbles obtained at 200 ppm, 100 ppm, and 50 ppm Triton X-100-containing water, respectively. Local concentration boundary layer thickness increases from the top to the bottom along the bubble surface. A series of images of the bubble flow fields are analyzed to measure the oxygen concentration gradients in water in the presence of surfactant. The images captured in clean water are not fully resolvable because of their poor resolution. The formation of the attached wake in the fluorescence field images at the bottom of the bubbles in clean water tends to be promoted by increasing oblateness owing to the presence of surfactant at the surface.     

LIF measurements of concentration profiles in the aqueous mass boundary layer

 A laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique is described to measure vertical concentration profiles of gases in the aqueous mass boundary layer at a free water surface. The technique uses an acid-base reaction of the fluorescence indicator fluorescein at the water surface to visualize the concentration profiles. The technique is capable of measuring two-dimensional vertical concentration profiles at a rate of 200 frames/s and a spatial resolution of 16 μm. The mass boundary layer at a free surface is characterized by significant fluctuations. Direct surface renewal is observed. The mean profiles also support rather surface renewal models than turbulent diffusion models. Received: 21 May 1997/Accepted: 18 December 1997     

LIF喷流混合流浓度场定量测量

本文介绍激光诱导荧光(LIF)的瞬时浓度场定量测量技术,采用了CCD图象采集处理系统和低浓度简化校正技术等,讨论了喷流混合流浓度场测量的初步结果。     

A single-camera coupled PTV–LIF technique

 A single-camera coupled particle tracking velocimetry–laser-induced fluorescence (PTV–LIF) technique and validation results from an experiment in a neutrally buoyant turbulent round jet are presented. The single-camera implementation allows the use of a 12-bit 60 frame-per-second 1024 × 1024 pixel digital CCD camera capable of streaming images in real time to hard disk resulting in very accurate PTV and LIF with excellent spatial and temporal resolution. The technique is capable of determining the turbulent scalar flux, as well as the Reynolds stress and mean and fluctuating velocity and concentration fields. Details of dye choice, corrections for attenuation due to dye, particles and water, photobleaching, vignetting, CCD calibration, and illumination power and geometry corrections are presented. Detailed results from the validation experiment confirm the accuracy and resolution of the technique, and in particular, the ability to measure . Bootstrap 95% uncertainty intervals are presented for the calculated statistics. Received: 28 July 2000/Accepted: 8 November 2000     

Probing the velocity fields of gas and liquid phase simultaneously in a two-phase flow

The feasibility of simultaneous measurements of the instantaneous velocity fields of gaseous and liquid phase is demonstrated in a laminar, unsteady two-phase flow. Thus, the instantaneous relative velocity field can be measured in such media. This is achieved by combining Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and a gas-phase velocimetry technique, which is based on laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) from a gaseous tracer. The wavelength shift of LIF is exploited to separate it from Mie scattering from the liquid phase. The new technique and the PIV measurement system work independently in this approach. Thus, the measurement accuracy and precision of the new technique can be validated by comparing it to the PIV results in regions of the flow field where the relative velocity vanishes. Received: 18 October 1998/Accepted: 16 October 1999     

Measurement of product concentration of two parallel reactive jets using digital image processing

The chemically sensitive LIF technique [9] is employed to study the mixing of two reactive axisymmetric jets, one of which carries fluorescein, in an ambient quiescent fluid. The degree of mixing depends on the jet spacing and the axial position downstream of the jets and power laws are found to hold for some concentration characteristics. Unlike the far velocity field of dual plane jets, self preservation laws are not found to hold in general for the concentration field.     

Combined PDA and LIF applied to size–temperature correlations measurements in a heated spray

This paper aims to demonstrate the possibility to achieve droplet temperature measurements per droplet size class by combining two-color laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and phase Doppler analyzer (PDA). For that purpose, PDA and LIF signal acquisitions are synchronized on the same time base. LIF signal is processed on each of the defined size classes in order to derive the droplet temperature. Since PDA is roughly sensitive to D ² and LIF roughly to D ³, the detection range of the combination of the two techniques in term of droplet size is carefully analyzed. Finally, the technique is demonstrated on a spray of n-decane injected in a turbulent over-heated air flow. The influence of the droplet size and Stokes number on the heating process of the droplets is clearly highlighted.     

A laser induced fluorescence technique for quantifying transient liquid fuel films utilising total internal reflection

This paper describes the development of a laser induced fluorescence (LIF) technique to quantify the thickness and spatial distribution of transient liquid fuel films formed as a result of spray–wall interaction. The LIF technique relies on the principle that upon excitation by laser radiation the intensity of the fluorescent signal from a tracer like 3-pentanone is proportional to the film thickness. A binary solution of 10% (v/v) of 3-pentanone in iso-octane is used as a test fuel with a Nd:YAG laser as the excitation light source (utilising the fourth harmonic at wavelength 266 nm) and an intensified CCD camera is used to record the results as fluorescent images. The propagation of the excitation laser beam through the optical piston is carefully controlled by total internal reflection so that only the fuel film is excited and not the airborne droplets above the film, which had been previously shown to induce significant error. Other known sources of error are also carefully minimised. Calibrated temporally resolved benchmark results of a transient spray from a gasoline direct injector impinging on a flat quartz crown under atmospheric conditions are presented, with observations and discussion of the transient development of the fuel film. The calibrated measurements are consistent with previous studies of this event and demonstrate the applicability of the technique particularly for appraisal of CFD predictions. The potential utilisation of the technique under typical elevated ambient conditions is commented upon.     

Characteristics of fluorescein dye and temperature fluctuations in a turbulent near-wake

 The Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) technique was used to determine a few characteristics of a high Schmidt number (Sc) passive scalar (fluorescein) in the near-wake of a circular cylinder. The mean and rms concentration indicate that increasing the Reynolds number (Re) improves the large-scale mixing and accelerates the homogenisation of the scalar. As Re increases, the intensity of segregation decreases because of turbulent diffusion but the scale of segregation increases due to dispersion. Comparison between concentration and temperature rms profiles indicates that molecular diffusion has a much smaller effect on the decay of the scalar variance than the Reynolds number. The ratio of mean-squared values of lateral and streamwise spatial derivatives of the scalar fluctuation deviates from isotropy, the departure increasing with Re. This reflects more the effect of dispersion by the turbulent velocity field rather than any molecular diffusion effect. At a given Re, the ratio decreases as the distance from the cylinder increases. This trend is more accentuated near the edge of the wake than at the centreline. Received: 16 March 1999/Accepted: 10 June 1999     

Acetone laser induced fluorescence for low pressure/low temperature flow visualization

Acetone fluorescence provides a useful way to visualize the fluid mixing process within supersonic wind tunnels, some of which operate in the low temperature (240–300 K) and low pressure range (0.1–1 atm). Measurements are presented to quantify the dependence of the acetone laser induced fluorescence (LIF) signal on temperature and pressure in this range. The temperature and pressure sensitivity of the acetone LIF signal resulted in less than an 8% variation over the experimental conditions for a laser excitation wavelength of 266 nm. Condensation of the acetone vapor was identified as a potential problem for this diagnostic technique. Methods to prevent and check for condensation are discussed. Received: 5 October 1998/Accepted: 10 April 1999     

Double-pulse planar-LIF investigations using fluorescence motion analysis for mixture formation investigation

A concept for dynamic mixture formation investigations of fuel/air mixtures is presented which can equally be applied to several other laser induced fluorescence (LIF) applications. Double-pulse LIF imaging was used to gain insight into dynamic mixture formation processes. The setup consists of a modified standard PIV setup. The "fuel/air ratio measurement by laser induced fluorescence (FARLIF)" approach is used for a quantification of the LIF images in order to obtain pairs of 2D fuel/air ratio maps. Two different evaluation concepts for LIF double pulse images are discussed. The first is based on the calculation of the temporal derivative field of the fuel/air ratio distribution. The result gives insight into the dynamic mixing process, showing where and how the mixture is changing locally. The second concept uses optical flow methods in order to estimate the motion of fluorescence (i.e., mixture) structures to gain insight into the dynamics, showing the distortion and the motion of the inhomogeneous mixture field. For this "fluorescence motion analysis" (FMA) two different evaluation approaches—the "variational gradient based approach" and the "variational cross correlation based approach"—are presented. For the validation of both, synthetic LIF image pairs with predefined motion fields were generated. Both methods were applied and the results compared with the known original motion field. This validation shows that FMA yields reliable results even for image pairs with low signal/noise ratio. Here, the "variational gradient based approach" turned out to be the better choice so far. Finally, the experimental combination of double-pulse FARLIF imaging with FMA and simultaneous PIV measurement is demonstrated. The comparison of the FMA motion field and the flow velocity field captured by PIV shows that both results basically reflect complementary information of the flow field. It is shown that the motion field of the fluorescence structures does not (necessarily) need to represent the actual flow velocity and that the flow velocity field alone can not illustrate the structure motion in any case. Therefore, the simultaneous measurement of both gives the deepest insight into the dynamic mixture formation process. The examined concepts and evaluation approaches of this paper can easily be adapted to various other planar LIF methods (with the LIF signal representing, e.g., species concentration, temperature, density etc.) broadening the insight for a wide range of different dynamic processes.

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An LIF line scan system for the measurement of scalar concentration in a continuously operated stirred tank

 An LIF line scan system is presented and used to obtain unobtrusive mean and angle resolved concentration measurements in a continuously operated stirred tank agitated with a single Rushton turbine. The measurements showed that the trailing vortex structures caused regions of elevated concentrations gradients and concentration fluctuations between blade passages. In addition, on the centre line of the tank, whilst macromixing was always complete, micromixing was less complete than in other regions of the tank. Compared to point measurement techniques, the line scan system made data collection more comprehensive and convenient and the determination of a line of data allows the possibility of the correction of beam attenuation and the extension of the technique to a larger scale. Received: 25 July 1997/Accepted: 15 October 1997     

Visualization of gas–liquid mass transfer and wake structure of rising bubbles using pH-sensitive PLIF

A planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique for visualizing gas–liquid mass transfer and wake structure of rising gas bubbles is described. The method uses an aqueous solution of the pH-sensitive dye Naphthofluorescein and CO₂ as a tracer gas. It features a high spatial resolution and frame rates of up to 500 Hz, providing the ability to capture cinematographic image sequences. By steering the laser beam with a set of two programmable scanning mirrors, sequences of three-dimensional LIF images can be recorded. The technique is applied to freely rising bubbles with diameters between 0.5 and 5 mm, which perform rectilinear, oscillatory or irregular motions. The resulting PLIF image sequences reveal the evolution of characteristic patterns in the near and far wake of the bubbles and prove the potential of the technique to provide new and detailed insights into the spatio-temporal dynamics of mass transfer of rising gas bubbles. The image sequences further allow the estimation of bubble size and rise velocity. The analysis of bubble rise velocities in the Naphthofluorescein solution indicates that surfactant-contaminated conditions are encountered.     

Photobleaching of disodium fluorescein in water

Photobleaching of disodium fluorescein dissolved in water is experimentally investigated using laser induced fluorescence (LIF). It is demonstrated that significant photobleaching occurs on the millisecond time scale, resulting in a large decrease in the fluorescence signal emanating from a constant concentration sample. The importance of avoiding photobleaching when using LIF with disodium fluorescein for concentration measurements in water flow experiments is demonstrated. A half-life for photobleaching is introduced and measured for disodium fluorescein and is shown to be a more appropriate measure than the traditional ‘bleaching quantum efficiency’. It is demonstrated that the photobleaching of disodium fluorescein is at least partially reversible. Useful discussions and comments were provided by Professor K. R. Sreenivasan, Dr. Ray Glynn Holt and Dr. Michael A. Tanoff. This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.     

Application of rainbow schlieren deflectometry for concentration measurements in an axisymmetric helium jet

 The rainbow schlieren deflectometry technique was used to measure oxygen concentrations in a laminar, isothermal helium jet discharged vertically into ambient air. The concentration distributions were inferred from the color schlieren image by taking into consideration the sampling interval and noise in measurements, especially near the jet center. Excellent quantitative agreement was reached between measurements from schlieren and a continuous sampling probe. This work demonstrates the capability of the schlieren technique for providing accurate, spatially-resolved, nonintrusive, full-field of view measurements of species concentration in an isothermal binary system. Because the basic quantity measured is the refractive index, the present schlieren technique can be extended for quantitative measurements of other scalar flow properties related to the refractive index. Received: 21 April 1997 / Accepted: 14 November 1997     

Scalar concentration measurements in liquid-phase flows with pulsed lasers

The suitability of pulsed lasers for laser-induced-fluorescence (LIF) measurements of the local concentration of scalars in liquid-phase flows is investigated. Experiments were performed to measure the fluorescence intensity of aqueous solutions of rhodamine-6G chloride excited by a Q-switched, frequency-doubled, Nd:YAG laser. The fluorescence intensity is found to be linear with dye concentration, but not with illumination power density. The fluorescence intensity saturates at laser power densities easily exceeded by short-pulse-duration lasers. A procedure for calibrating and normalizing the raw image data is discussed which relies only on weak absorption and the linearity of fluorescence intensity with concentration. This procedure enables quantitative concentration measurement with pulsed-laser-induced fluorescence.     

Gas-phase velocity field measurements in sprays without particle seeding

A laser-based technique is presented that can be used to measure the instantaneous velocity field of the continuous phase in sprays and aerosols. In contrast to most well established laser-based velocity measurement techniques, this method is independent of particle seeding and Mie scattering. Instead of that it is based on gaseous flow tracers and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). Inhomogeneous tracer gas distributions, which are created by an incomplete, turbulent mixing process, are exploited for flow tracing. The velocity field can be measured close to the droplets, because frequency-shifted LIF is separated from Mie scattering by optical filters. Validation tests and results from a water spray in air are given. Accuracy and spatial resolution are discussed in detail. Received: 26 April 1999/Accepted: 16 October 1999     

Numerical simulation of effect of convection-diffusion on oxygen transport in microcirculation

The entire process of oxygen transport in microcirculation by developing a 3D porous media model is calculated numerically with coupled solid deformation-fluid seepage-convection and diffusion . The principal novelty of the model is that it takes into account volumetric deformation of both capillary and tissues resulting from capillary fluctuation. How solid deformation, fluid seepage, and convection-diffusion combine to affect oxygen transport is examined quantitatively: (1) Solid deformation is more significant in the middle of capillary, where the maximum value of volumetric deformation reaches about 0.5%. (2) Solid deformation has positive influence on the tissue fluid so that it flows more uniformly and causes oxygen to be transported more uniformly, and eventually impacts oxygen concentration by 0.1%-0.5%. (3) Convection-diffusion coupled deformation and seepage has a maximum (16%) and average (3%) increase in oxygen concentration, compared with pure molecular diffusion. Its more significant role is to allow oxygen to be transported more evenly.