N84 20530

MIqASUREMENT OF SPRAY COMBUSTION PROCESSES*

C. E. Peters, E. F. Arman, J. O. llo-nkohl and W. M. Farmer

Appl ,,d Physics Research Group
The Univers_cy of Tennessee Space Institute

i
The obiectives of tilts planned three-year investigation of spray combustion
processes include tile following,:

(I) Makin_ measurements of noncombusting spray fields to aid in

: developing adequate computational models of the dynamic interaction
between the droplets and the turbulent gas phase.

(2) Making measurements of hydrocarbon-air spray flames to provide

benchmark results that can be tlsed in the verification and refinement
of numerical models of the entire spray combustion process.

(J) Developing teclmiques for making laser measurements in typical

spray combustion environments, along with techniques for acquiring,
processing, displayin>;, and interpreting the data.

The free jet configuration selected for the experimental study is shown in
figure 1. The central droplet-air jet is the exhaust from a plain-jet atomizer
of the type investigated by la_rei::'.etto and Lefebvre (ref. l). At a nominal air
velocity of 100 m/s, the atomizer provides a Sauter mean droplet diameter of
60.-80 tim. The diameter of tilt centerbody is 5.4 cm, the diameter of the atomizer
nozzle exit is 1.27 cm, and tile diameter of the outer nozzle exit is 45.7 cm.
For the combt.st[on _:xperiments, the recirculation zone formed downstream of the
centerbody acts as .l flameholder.

(]Ollvent[otl_tl prt'.<;,qure, tempt'r,iture a,ld flowrate instrumentation is used to

monitor ;ttld control the expt, rtment.ll apl)aratus. The gas velocity field in the
turbulent spriy zone is measared with a laser w, locimeter (LV) system, which yields
two components ,)t the instdntaneous velocity vector of a small seed particle in
r_he optical probe w) lume. A schem, ttic diagram ot the UTSl-developed LV system
(rel. 2) is shown in figure 2. The rel:ttiveiy large droplets from the atomizer
cannot bt, /tSSUllled to be in dynamic equilibrium with the gas phase; consequently,
aimplitude discrimination is u'_ed to t'llminate those light-scattering events that
result from large particles in the probe volume. (The diameter of the seed
particles is only abo'.t 2 lira.) gs[tW this LV technique to measure many light-
scatterin_ events lot a given position of the probe volume, one can determine
two components o, the mean gas velocity vector :is well as the variances and the
covar lance.

The large-droplet size and number density, along with one component of the
velocity, are measured witll the Particle Si-in_ lnterferometer (PSI) technique
initially proposed by W. M. Farmer (ref. J). A schematic diagram of the PSI system
developed ,it U f.ql is shown in figure _.

_,NASA t;r.mt NA(;_-tlO PRFCI,;I)ING I'A(]E BLANK NOT FII.M17.D"

41 -

ItlrEtIrl01tatt*
i
 In the hydrocarbon spray combustion experiments, space and time-resolved
measurements of temperature and species number density will be made with either
laser-Raman or laser-fluorescence techniques. The equipment required for these
measurements is already available at UTSi. These measurements will be made with
the col laborat ion of Prof. J. W. L. Lewis.

The first year of this research program was devoted to preparing the experi-
mental equipment. A pictorial view of the new spray combustion facility is shown 4
in figure 4. This facility was designed, the required components were procured
and/or fabricated, and the facility was installed in one of the UTSI laboratories.
The outer air flow is drawn from tile atmospher_ by a fan located in the downleg
, of the facility; a variable-speed DC fan-drive motor provides well controlled
bellr_outh exit speeds up to approximately Ii m/s. As shown in figure 4, turning
vanes and screens are used to provide a nearly uniform flow a_ the bellmouth
entrance. The atomizer air is supplied by the UTSI low-pressure compressor sy3tem,
which provides up to 0.2 kg/s of air flow at pressures up to i0 atm. After passing
through a pressure regulator, the atomizer air passes through a choked venturi,
which is used to provide an accurate measurement of the flow rate. The atomizer
liquid (either water or hydrocarbon fuel) is supplied from a nitrogen-pressurized
tank located in a heated enclosure ouLside the irboratory. The pressure drop
across a parallel array of capillary tubes is used to determine the liquid flow rate.

Not shown in figure 4 is the optlcal table on which the various laser mea._ure-
ment systems are mounted. This table, which is located beneath the freejet test
section, provides translation [n three directions; a total axial travel of
approximately 75 cm is avai|_ble.

At present (February 1984), all subsystems of the spray combustion facility

are operational. All the conventional instrumentation systems have been calibrated
and the microcomputer soltware for processing the signals has been develope¢l. The
LV system has been inst_411ed and aligned, and all other preparations have been made
for commencing the water-droplrt experiments. We plan to complete the LV and PSI
measurements on the water-droplet system in mid-1984. At that time, the hydrocarbon
combustion experiments wit1 be initiated.

REFERENCES

[. Lorenzetto, (;. E, and l,efebvre, A. t[.: Measurements of Drop Size on a Plain-Jet

Alrblast Atomizer. AIAT_ ,lour,lal, Vol. 15, No. 7, July 1977, pp. 1006-1010. ,"

2. Farmer, W. M. and Hornkohl, J. O.: Two-Component, Self-Aligning Laser Vector

Velocimeter. Applit,d Optics, Vol, 12, No. I|, Nov. 1973, pp. 2636-2640.

J. F.irmer, W. M.: Measurrment of Parr.icle .Size, Number Density and Velocity Using _'
a Laser Inferrer,meter. AppliL'd Optics, Vol. If, 1972, p. 2603.

48
 OF POOR QU;iLf,"/ .s_HIHA'IIII Ol' (,OAXIAI, I'H|,,I. IIi |IOWI IllD

Still /'tr

Turbulence-

Igniter Shear Layer

/_- Control Screens Outer Turbulent --_

I
uenternooy

II Recirculation
-----" _ turbulentDruplet-Al"r" "_,
_c___-_--_.-."
[ . Zone _., Ell
. .ud
. _(F 1 ,.T'
V+_..
;'on(') . .,,w4._../o_-_. _-.
. . _.b_ Jw¢ - a._-
I
I
I
II /

I lgul ,, I.

',llll_AIh hlA',RAM tH" BRA(,C-I.I"II,

IHINhl-I*i't IA:,IR VII(I( IHI II.H OI'IIFAI ',YSIFM

A, + LASER F-_)
PMT

_//_. _ SCANNER _ BRAGG CELL

ZOOM LENS

\_x "x / LI I

E L E C t R 0 N I C ,_---.----- /,_,, l _ _ / AFOCAL FORWARD - NNER OPtiCS

I I "_ SCATTERING SYSTEM

• Figure +
 |I
" ORIGINAL PAGE 19
OF POOR QUALIW

',1111_1%11_ PlAI,LIA_i 01' I",L _H'lh _1 _,'l',ltH

c t _

O_SL RVAIION h'IODE - --

<.....0: ._2" ......, !i,,_, ;_°<

PM|
' I
%/| _O_.'lt ¥ _, 1,1,
I I _,'tI

PARII(L| SI][ - At" _'i_C

I h_lilL, I.

I'h biOtA| _,'lt_; OI L'tll ",t'K%'_ _OHbl".lhl% 1.'%_11 llY

,. =

,\
\

' , _ p,

, q '\ ,.' }i
I , I

II ' "

,v
--%.