Inverse estimation of the temperature field within a gas-filled duct section by use of acoustic data

Abstract

Knowledge of the temperature distribution of an in-duct gaseous medium is essential in the monitoring of combustion status. To obtain the temperature distribution, an inverse relationship based on the Radon transform is formulated by using the measured time retardation data from a set of acoustic sensors and actuators. The entire spatial distribution can be obtained by interpolating the estimated discrete temperature data using either a path-based or spaced-based method. An interpolation method then determines the precision of the final imaging result. The characteristics and performance of two interpolation methods are investigated in a simulation study by reconstructing the temperature distribution of a rectangular cross-section. To calculate the temperature field, the path-based interpolation method adopts a direct expression of temperature variation along the propagation path, whereas the space-based interpolation method uses data obtained at predetermined points deployed inside the field. The average reconstruction accuracy of the space-based interpolation for temperature fields with 1 and 4 local maxima is 22% and 183% better than that of path-based interpolation, respectively. Also, the space-based interpolation method is more robust with regard to measurement noise than the path-based interpolation method.