Assessment and application of wavelet-based optical flow velocimetry (wOFV) to wall-bounded turbulent flows.

The performance of a wavelet-based optical flow velocimetry (wOFV) algorithm in extracting high accuracy and high-resolution velocity fields from tracer particle images in wall-bounded turbulent flows is assessed. wOFV is first evaluated using synthetic particle images generated from a channel flow DNS of a turbulent boundary layer. The sensitivity of wOFV to the regularization parameter ( λ ) is quantified and results are compared to cross-correlation-based PIV. Results on synthetic particle images indicated different sensitivity to under-regularization or over-regularization depending on which region of the boundary layer is being analyzed. Nonetheless, tests on synthetic data revealed that wOFV can modestly outperform PIV in vector accuracy across a broad λ range. wOFV showed clear advantages over PIV in resolving the viscous sublayer and obtaining highly accurate estimates of the wall shear stress and thus normalizing boundary layer variables. wOFV was also applied to experimental data of a developing turbulent boundary layer. Overall, wOFV revealed good agreement with both PIV and a combined PIV + PTV method. However, wOFV was able to successfully resolve the wall shear stress and correctly normalize the boundary layer streamwise velocity to wall units where PIV and PIV + PTV showed larger deviations. Analysis of the turbulent velocity fluctuations revealed spurious results for PIV in close proximity to the wall, leading to significantly exaggerated and non-physical turbulence intensity in the viscous sublayer region. PIV + PTV showed only a minor improvement in this aspect. wOFV did not exhibit this same effect, revealing that it is more accurate in capturing small-scale turbulent motion in the vicinity of boundaries. The enhanced vector resolution of wOFV enabled improved estimation of instantaneous derivative quantities and intricate flow structure both closer to the wall and more accurately than the other velocimetry methods. These aspects show that, within a reasonable λ range that can be verified using physical principles, wOFV can provide improvements in diagnostics capability in resolving turbulent motion occurring in the vicinity of physical boundaries.

Comparison of two measurement strategies to obtain the residence time distribution in combustion chambers using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy.

The residence time distribution (RTD) of fluid elements in combustion chambers is a key feature of the flow field, and its knowledge is therefore important for the design and improvement of combustion systems. The hostile yet sensitive environment of burners, in particular with high particle loads of solid-fuel firing, impede direct access to this quantity. Two strategies to obtain the RTD based on hydrogen chloride injection with subsequent detection by tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy are directly compared and applied to gas and solid-fuel combustion under two different combustion modes. Through the direct comparison of this work, the experimentally more challenging and thus rarely utilized pulse injection was found to be superior to the commonly used step injection.

Data analysis and uncertainty estimation in supercontinuum laser absorption spectroscopy.

A set of algorithms is presented that facilitates the evaluation of super continuum laser absorption spectroscopy (SCLAS) measurements with respect to temperature, pressure and species concentration without the need for simultaneous background intensity measurements. For this purpose a non-linear model fitting approach is employed. A detailed discussion of the influences on the instrument function of the spectrometer and a method for the in-situ determination of the instrument function without additional hardware are given. The evaluation procedure is supplemented by a detailed measurement precision assessment by applying an error propagation through the non-linear model fitting approach. While the algorithms are tailored to SCLAS, they can be transferred to other spectroscopic methods, that similarly require an instrument function. The presented methods are validated using gas cell measurements of methane in the near infrared region at pressures up to 8.7 bar.

Multiscale and luminescent, hollow microspheres for gas phase thermometry.

Recently developed laser-based measurement techniques are used to image the temperatures and velocities in gas flows. They require new phosphor materials with an unprecedented combination of properties. A novel synthesis procedure is described here; it results in hierarchically structured, hollow microspheres of Eu3+-doped Y2O3, with unusual particle sizes and very good characteristics compared to full particles. Solution-based precipitation on polymer microballoons produces very stable and luminescent, ceramic materials of extremely low density. As a result of the - compared to established template-directed syntheses - reduced mass of polymer that is lost upon calcination, micron-sized particles are obtained with mesoporous walls, low defect concentrations, and nanoscale wall thicknesses. They can be produced with larger diameters (~25 µm) compared to known hollow spheres and exhibit an optimized flow behavior. Their temperature sensing properties and excellent fluidic follow-up behavior are shown by determining emission intensity ratios in a specially designed heating chamber. Emission spectroscopy and imaging, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction results are presented for aerosolizable Y2O3 with an optimized dopant concentration (8%). Challenges in the field of thermofluids can be addressed by combined application of thermometry and particle image velocimetry with such hollow microparticles.

PolySpec: polynomial spectrum models for fast and light-weight spectroscopic evaluation.

For the analysis of spectroscopic data, model fitting approaches are commonly applied. The spectrum model applied in these fitting processes significantly influences the performance of the spectroscopic evaluation, which can be critical in real-time process diagnostics and control. In this work a spectrum model is introduced that uses a polynomial description of absorbances, transmittances, or similar in dependence on parameters such as temperature, pressure, and mole fraction. Using this approach, either experimental spectra or spectrum databases can be compressed into a matrix of polynomial coefficients. The evaluation of this model consists of a single matrix multiplication and, with a slight modification, derivatives with regard to specific parameters can be calculated in the same way. Both these points are important to model fitting methods for spectroscopic data, as the simple evaluation method allows for a fast analysis and the direct calculation of derivatives simplifies the application of gradient-based fitting methods. Additionally, the easy parallelizability of the matrix multiplication promotes the application of this method in real-time evaluations on programmable logic devices.

Ammonia concentration distribution measurements in the exhaust of a heavy duty diesel engine based on limited data absorption tomography.

A multichannel tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer is used to measure absolute ammonia concentrations and their distributions in exhaust gas applications with intense CO2 and H2O background. Designed for in situ diagnostics in SCR after treatment systems with temperatures up to 800 K, the system employs a fiber coupled near-infrared distributed feedback diode laser. With the laser split into eight coplanar beams crossing the exhaust pipe, the sensor provides eight concentration measurements simultaneously. Three ammonia ro-vibrational transitions coinciding near 2200.5 nm with rather weak temperature dependency and negligible CO2/H2O interference were probed during the measurements. The line-of-sight averaged channel concentrations are transformed into 2-D ammonia distributions using limited data IR species tomography based on Tikhonov regularization. This spectrometer was successfully applied in the exhaust system of a 340 kW heavy duty diesel engine operated without oxidation catalyst or particulate filter. In this harsh environment the multi-channel sensor achieved single path ammonia detection limits of 25 to 80 ppmV with a temporal resolution of 1 Hz whereas, while operated as a single-channel sensor, these characteristics improved to 10 ppmV and 100 Hz. Spatial averaging of the reconstructed 2-D ammonia distributions shows good agreement to cross-sectional extractive measurements. In contrast to extractive methods more information about spatial inhomogeneities and transient operating conditions can be derived from the new spectrometer.

Experimental characterization of onset of acoustic instability in a nonpremixed half-dump combustor.

This paper reports work on a nonpremixed half-dump combustor, in which methane is injected at the backward-facing step, and mixes and burns with the air flowing past the step in the unsteady recirculation zone. The flow and geometric parameters are widely varied, to gradually change from conditions of low-amplitude noise to excitation of high-amplitude discrete tones. The purpose of the work is to focus on the transition from the former condition to the latter, and to mark the onset of instability. Dimensionless groups such as the Helmholtz and Strouhal numbers are formed based on the observed dominant frequencies, whose variation with the air flow Reynolds number is used to identify the oscillations as those due to the natural acoustic modes or the vortex shedding process. High-speed chemiluminescence imaging reveals shedding of vortical structures in the flame zone. With variation in the conditions, flow-acoustic lock-on and transition from one vortex shedding mode to another is marked by nonlinearity in the corresponding amplitude variations. Such conditions are identified as the onset of instability in terms of the ratio of the flow time scale to the acoustic time scale and mapped against the operating fuel-air equivalence ratio of the combustor.

Simultaneous PIV/OH-PLIF, Rayleigh thermometry/OH-PLIF and stereo PIV measurements in a low-swirl flame.

The diagnostic techniques for simultaneous velocity and relative OH distribution, simultaneous temperature and relative OH distribution, and three component velocity mapping are described. The data extracted from the measurements include statistical moments for inflow fluid dynamics, temperature, conditional velocities, and scalar flux. The work is a first step in the development of a detailed large eddy simulation (LES) validation database for a turbulent, premixed flame. The low-swirl burner used in this investigation has many of the necessary attributes for LES model validation, including a simplified interior geometry; it operates well into the thin reaction zone for turbulent premixed flames, and flame stabilization is based entirely on the flow field and not on hardware or pilot flames.