Turbulent combustion is a fundamental process of significant scientific and practical importance. Turbulent flames are inherently three-dimensional in space and dynamic in time. Until now, experimental techniques to measure turbulent flames have been limited to measurements at a point, along a line, or across a plane, and they do not fully resolve the three-dimensional structure of the flame. This project will conduct four-dimensional measurements that resolve the flame in all three spatial directions and time with precise resolution, which will improve our understanding of turbulent combustion. Turbulent combustion is the key process in many devices that dominate energy production. Improving our understanding of turbulent combustion will lead to the design of more efficient and cleaner energy devices. The project will also employ internet resources to develop learning platforms for a larger audience, to disseminate results to a wider community, and to increase public awareness of energy, environmental, and information technology issues.
This goal of this project is to obtain instantaneous and simultaneous 4D measurements of multiple properties key to the turbulent combustion processes. The project will apply 3D tomographic diagnostics recently developed by the PI to resolve flamelet/flow interactions in turbulent flames. The target properties include 3D flame surface density, flame volume, flame curvature, fractal dimension, 3D3C (three-dimensional, three-component) velocity fields, and also potentially local strain rate and turbulent flame speed. The success of this project will enable measurements of such properties in 4D for representative turbulent flames, and to establish multidimensional datasets that can be used for the development of computational tools for designing new energy devices. Furthermore, the project combines several distinct disciplines, including optical imaging, computed tomography, combustion, and the processing and analysis of large datasets. Results from the project will benefit practitioners in energy, photonics, and information technology.
