Non-invasive seedingless measurements of the flame transfer function using high-speed camera-based laser vibrometry

Abstract

The characterization of modern jet engines or stationary gas turbines running with lean combustion by means of swirl-stabilized flames necessitates seedingless optical field measurements of the flame transfer function, i.e. the ratio of the fluctuating heat release rate inside the flame volume, the instationary flow velocity at the combustor outlet and the time average of both quantities. For this reason, a high-speed camera-based laser interferometric vibrometer is proposed for spatio-temporally resolved measurements of the flame transfer function inside a swirl-stabilized technically premixed flame. Each pixel provides line-of-sight measurements of the heat release rate due to the linear coupling to fluctuations of the refractive index along the laser beam, which are based on density fluctuations inside the flame volume. Additionally, field measurements of the instationary flow velocity are possible due to correlation of simultaneously measured pixel signals and the known distance between the measurement positions. Thus, the new system enables the spatially resolved detection of the flame transfer function and instationary flow behavior with a single measurement for the first time. The presented setup offers single pixel resolution with measurement rates up to 40 kHz at an maximum image resolution of 256 px x 128 px. Based on a comparison with reference measurements using a standard pointwise laser interferometric vibrometer, the new system is validated and a discussion of the measurement uncertainty is presented. Finally, the measurement of refractive index fluctuations inside a flame volume is demonstrated.