Simultaneous schlieren photography and soot foil in the study of detonation phenomena

Abstract

The use of schlieren photography has been essential in unravelling the complex nature of high-speed combustion phenomena, but its line-of-sight integration makes it difficult to decisively determine the nature of multi-dimensional combustion wave propagation. Conventional schlieren alone makes it impossible to determine in what plane across the channel an observed structure may exist. To overcome this, a technique of simultaneous high-speed schlieren photography and soot foils was demonstrated that can be applied to the study of detonation phenomena. Using a kerosene lamp, soot was deposited on a glass substrate resulting in a semi-transparent sheet through which schlieren source light could pass. In order to demonstrate the technique, experiments were carried out in mixtures of stoichiometric hydrogen–oxygen at initial pressures between 10 and 15 kPa. Compared to schlieren imaging obtained without a sooted foil, high-speed video results show schlieren images with a small reduction of contrast with density gradients remaining clear. Areas of high temperature cause soot lofted from the foil to incandescence strongly, resulting in the ability to track hot spots and flame location. Post-processing adjustments were demonstrated to make up for camera sensitivity limitations to enable viewing of schlieren density gradients. High-resolution glass soot foils were produced that enable direct coupling of schlieren video to triple-point trajectories seen on the soot foils, allowing for the study of three-dimensional propagation mechanisms of detonation waves.