Large-scale time-resolved digital particle image velocimetry (TR-DPIV) for measurement of high subsonic hot coaxial jet exhaust of a gas turbine engine

Abstract

The development of a highly configurable triple digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) system is described, which is capable of acquiring both continuous, statistically independent measurements at up to 14 Hz and time-resolved PIV data at MHz rates. The system was used at QinetiQ's Noise Test Facility (NTF) as part of the EU-funded CoJeN programme to obtain measurements from high subsonic (Mach ⩽ 0.9), hot (∼500 °C), large (1/10th) scale coaxial jet flows at a standoff distance of ∼1 m. High-resolution time-averaged velocity and turbulence data were obtained for complete coaxial engine exhaust plumes down to 4 m (20 jet diameters) from the nozzle exit in less than 1 h. In addition, the system allowed volumetric data to be obtained, enabling fast assessment of spatial alignment of nozzle configurations. Furthermore, novel six-frame time-series data-capture is demonstrated up to 330 kHz, used to calculate time–space correlations within the exhaust, allowing for study of spatio-temporal developments in the jet, associated with jet-noise production. The highly automated system provides synchronization triggers for simultaneous acquisition from different measurement systems (e.g. LDA) and is shown to be versatile, rugged, reliable and portable, operating remotely in a hostile environment. Data are presented for three operating conditions and two nozzle geometries, providing a database to be used to validate CFD models of coaxial jet flow.