100-kHz Interferometric Rayleigh Scattering for multi-parameter flow measurements.

Simultaneous multi-point multi-parameter flow measurement using Interferometric Rayleigh scattering (IRS) at 100-kHz repetition rate is demonstrated. Using a burst-mode laser and an un-intensified high-speed camera, interferograms are obtained that contain spatial, temporal and scattered light frequency information. The method of analysis of these interferograms to obtain simultaneous multi-point flow velocity and temperature measurements is described. These methods are demonstrated in a 100-kHz-rate study of a choked, under-expanded jet flow discharged by a convergent nozzle. Measurement results and uncertainties are discussed. The 100-kHz IRS technique with un-intensified imaging is applicable in large-scale wind tunnels for the study of unsteady and turbulent flows.

Development of a Premixed Combustion Capability for Dual-Mode Scramjet Experiments.

Hypersonic air-breathing engines rely on scramjet combustion processes, which involve high-speed, compressible, and highly turbulent reacting flows. The combustion environment and the turbulent flames at the heart of these engines are difficult to simulate and study in the laboratory under well controlled conditions. Typically, wind-tunnel testing is performed that more closely approximates engine development rather than a careful investigation of the underlying physics that drives the combustion process. The experiments described in this paper, along with companion data sets, aim to isolate the chemical kinetic effects and turbulence-chemistry interaction from the fuel-air mixing process in a dual-mode scramjet combustion environment. A unique fuel injection approach is adopted that produces a uniform fuel-air mixture at the entrance to the combustor and results in premixed combustion. This approach relies on the mixing enhancement of a precombustion shock train upstream of the dual-mode scramjet's combustor. For the first time a stable flame, anchored on a cavity flameholder, is reported for a scramjet combustor operating in premixed fuel-air mode. The new experimental capability has enabled numerous companion studies involving advanced diagnostics such as coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), particle image velocimetry (PIV), and planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF).

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy measurement of ethylene in combustion.

Width-increased dual-pump enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (WIDECARS) has been developed for spatially and temporally resolved simultaneous measurement of temperature and mole fraction of most major species in ethylene-air flames. This paper describes a method to infer coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy complex susceptibility distributions of the ν3 band of ethylene from WIDECARS spectra measured in heated mixtures of ethylene and air, and to use such distributions to fit experimental WIDECARS spectra in an ethylene-air flame. The method is used to measure mole fraction ethylene in a dual-mode supersonic combustor burning premixed ethylene and air with single-laser-shot precision (one standard deviation) of ±0.0025 (absolute).

Development of a dual-pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy system for measurements in supersonic combustion.

This work describes the development of a dual-pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy system for simultaneous measurements of the temperature and the absolute mole fraction of N2, O2, and H2 in supersonic combusting flows. Changes to the experimental setup and the data analysis to improve the quality of the measurements in this turbulent, high-temperature reacting flow are described. The accuracy and precision of the instrument have been determined using data collected in a Hencken burner flame. For temperatures above 800 K, errors in the absolute mole fraction are within 1.5%, 0.5%, and 1% of the total composition for N2, O2, and H2, respectively. Standard deviations based on 500 single shots are between 10 and 65 K for the temperature, between 0.5% and 1.7% of the total composition for O2, and between 1.5% and 3.4% for N2. The standard deviation of H2 is ~10% of the average measured mole fraction.

Beam shaping for CARS measurements in turbulent environments.

This paper describes a new technique to mitigate the effect of beam steering on CARS measurements in turbulent, variable density environments. The new approach combines planar BOXCARS phase-matching with elliptical shaping of one of the beams to generate a signal robust to beam steering, while keeping the same spatial resolution. Numerical and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. One experiment investigates the effect of beam shaping in the presence of a controlled and well quantified displacement of the beams at the focal plane. Another experiment, more qualitative, proves the effectiveness of the technique in the presence of severe beam steering due to turbulence.

Width-increased dual-pump enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy.

Width-increased dual-pump enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (WIDECARS) is a technique that is capable of simultaneously measuring temperature and species mole fractions of N(2), O(2), H(2), C(2)H(4), CO, and CO(2). WIDECARS is designed for measurements of all the major species (except water) in supersonic combustion flows fueled with hydrogen and hydrogen/ethylene mixtures. The two lowest rotational energy levels of hydrogen detectable by WIDECARS are H(2) S(3) and H(2) S(4). The detection of these lines gives the system the capability to measure temperature and species concentrations in regions of flow containing pure hydrogen fuel at room temperature.