Marcus Aldén

Simultaneous OH- and Formaldehyde-LIF Measurements in an HCCI Engine

Simultaneous OH- and formaldehyde LIF measurements have been performed in an HCCI engine using two laser sources working on 283 and 355 nm, respectively. Two ICCD camera systems, equipped with long-pass filters, were used to collect the LIF signals. The simultaneous images of OH and formaldehyde were compared with heat-release calculated from the pressure-trace matching the cycle for the LIF measurements. The measurements were performed on a 0.5-l, single-cylinder optical engine equipped with port-fuel injection system. A blend of iso-octane and n-heptane was used as fuel and the compression ratio was set to 12:1. The width of the laser sheet was 40 mm and hence covered approximately half of the cylinder bore. At some 20 CAD BTDC low temperature reactions are present and formaldehyde is formed. The formaldehyde signal is then rather constant until the main heat-release starts just before TDC, where the signal decreases rapidly to low values. From some 15 CAD to 5 CAD BTDC the formaldehyde is uniformly distributed in the imaged area. As formaldehyde decreases, OH increases and follows the main rate of heat release curve, though with a slight lag in phase. Thereafter OH is formed in the areas from which the formaldehyde has disappeared and the OH signal is present to some 20 CAD ATDC. (Less)

Optical diagnostics of a gliding arc

Dynamic processes in a gliding arc plasma generated between two diverging electrodes in ambient air driven by 31.25 kHz AC voltage were investigated using spatially and temporally resolved optical techniques. The life cycles of the gliding arc were tracked in fast movies using a high-speed camera with framing rates of tens to hundreds of kHz, showing details of ignition, motion, pulsation, short-cutting, and extinction of the plasma column. The ignition of a new discharge occurs before the extinction of the previous discharge. The developed, moving plasma column often short-cuts its current path triggered by Townsend breakdown between the two legs of the gliding arc. The emission from the plasma column is shown to pulsate at a frequency of 62.5 kHz, i.e., twice the frequency of the AC power supply. Optical emission spectra of the plasma radiation show the presence of excited N2, NO and OH radicals generated in the plasma and the dependence of their relative intensities on both the distance relative to the electrodes and the phase of the driving AC power. Planar laser-induced fluorescence of the ground-state OH radicals shows high intensity outside the plasma column rather than in the center suggesting that ground-state OH is not formed in the plasma column but in its vicinity.

Effect of Turbulence on HCCI Combustion

This paper presents large eddy simulation (LES) and experimental studies of the combustion process of ethanol/air mixture in an experimental optical HCCI engine. The fuel is injected to the intake port manifolds to generate uniform fuel/air mixture in the cylinder. Two different piston shapes, one with a flat disc and one with a square bowl, were employed to generate different in-cylinder turbulence and temperature field prior to autoignition. The aim of this study was to scrutinize the effect of in-cylinder turbulence on the temperature field and on the combustion process. The fuel tracer, acetone, is measured using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) to characterize the reaction fronts, and chemiluminescence images were recorded using a high-speed camera, with a 0.25 crank angle degree resolution, to further illustrate the combustion process. Pressure in the cylinder is recorded in the experiments. Spatial and temporal resolved LES was used to gain information on the turbulence mixing, heat transfer and combustion process. It was shown that gas temperature in the piston bowl is generally higher than that in the squish, leading to an earlier ignition in the bowl. Compared to the disc engine, the square bowl engine has a higher temperature inhomogeneity owing to the turbulence wall heat transfer. The experimentally observed higher combustion duration and slower pressure rise rate in the square bowl engine as compared to the disc engine can be explained by the higher temperature inhomogeneity in the square bowl engine.

Laser spectroscopic techniques for combustion diagnostics

Abstract During the last decade various laser spectroscopic techniques have shown great potential for combustion diagnostics. The largest advantages with these techniques are that they permit non-intrusive measurements with high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution. The most important parameters measurable are; species concentration, temperature and velocity. In the present review some developments and applications will be briefly described. This includes Laser-Induced Fluorescence, LIF, Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering, CARS, and Polarization spectroscopy, PS

Observation of gliding arc surface treatment

Abstract An alternating current (AC) gliding arc can be conveniently operated at atmospheric pressure and efficiently elongated into the ambient air by an air flow and thus is useful for surface modification. A high speed camera was used to capture dynamics of the AC gliding arc in the presence of polymer surfaces. A gap was observed between the polymer surface and the luminous region of the plasma column, indicating the existence of a gas boundary layer. The thickness of the gas boundary layer is smaller at higher gas flow-rates or with ultrasonic irradiation to the AC gliding arc and the polymer surface. Water contact angle measurements indicate that the treatment uniformity improves significantly when the AC gliding arc is tilted to the polymer surface. Thickness reduction of the gas boundary layer, explaining the improvement of surface treatment, by the ultrasonic irradiation was directly observed for the first time.

Single-shot photofragment imaging by structured illumination

A laser method to suppress background interferences in pump-probe measurements is presented and demonstrated. The method is based on structured illumination, where the intensity profile of the pump beam is spatially modulated to make its induced photofragment signal distinguishable from that created solely by the probe beam. A spatial lock-in algorithm is then applied on the acquired data, extracting only those image components that are characterized by the encoded structure. The concept is demonstrated for imaging of OH photofragments in a laminar methane/air flame, where the signal from the OH photofragments produced by the pump beam is spatially overlapping with that from the naturally present OH radicals. The purpose was to perform for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, single-shot imaging of HO(2) in a flame. These results show an increase in signal-to-interference ratio of about 20 for single-shot data.

Experimental and LES investigations of a SGT-800 burner in a combustion rig

The Siemens gas turbine SGT-800 has an annular combustor and 30 dry low emission burners. In order to further reduce the emission levels and to obtain improved understanding of the flow and associated flame dynamics, single burner rig tests have been performed. The laboratory measurements are complemented by Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to analyze the effect on the flame dynamics due to the transient fuel distribution and mixing process in the burner. The study includes both atmospheric and high pressure conditions. The computational model was developed jointly by Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT) and FOI. It is based on a finite rate chemistry LES model using a Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) turbulence chemistry interaction model and a two-step CH4 /air mechanism developed by FOI. The results are compared to measurements performed jointly by SIT and Lund Institute of Technology. The experimental data includes wall temperature, pressure fluctuations, light intensity variation and simultaneous Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence of OH and acetone. The study is further complemented by Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) calculations of the fuel concentration field evaluated to laser measurements in a water rig using the same burner configuration. Different burner fuel distributions are examined and the corresponding influence on the downstream mixing, fuel distribution and flame dynamics are studied. The results indicate that the fuel distribution upstream the flame, the detailed modeling of the fuel supply manifold, including the specification of numerical boundary conditions, and the flow in the fuel and air supply pipes, have significant influence on the flame dynamics. This is proven by the successful combustion LES of an unstable flame that experiences high flame dynamics and that a modification of the boundary conditions alters the dynamics resulting in a more stable flame. This is well in accordance with the experimental data and previous experience at SIT. The modal structures caused by the interaction between the flow, acoustics and flame dynamics are analyzed using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) technique. The dominating modes in general originate from the burner mixing tube air-fuel-mass flow-interaction and flame-combustion chamber interaction. (Less)

Development and application of laser techniques for combustion studies

The present talk will be directed towards exemplifying some opportunities, challenges and limitations when using laser diagnostic techniques, including LIF and polarization spectroscopy, for fundamental and applied studies of combustion processes.