Spray combustion serves as the source of a substantial portion of the energy production in the United States and as the basic for virtually all the major propulsion systems. Phase Doppler interferometry is now regularly used as the diagnostic tool for studying non reacting sprays in the absence of swirl. This project deals with the research, development, manufacture, and application of this technique for the measurement of two phase transport and air-fuel interaction in liquid spray combustion systems. The objective of Phase II of this program, which are a requisite before this technique can be successfully applied to spray combustion systems, are: 1. To resolve the limitations associated with the application of the phase Doppler technique to liquid swirl spray combustion (LSSC) systems. 2. To expand the capabilities of the phase Doppler instrument to more effectively analyze the turbulent transport processes associated with LSSC processes. 3. To thoroughly evaluate the new instrument for measurement of drop and gas transport in LSSC environments. 4. Develop and demonstrate a fully functional prototype instrument. The technical approach to fulfill these objectives will be to resolve the current limitations, expand the capabilities, exhaustively test the advanced diagnostic technique by performing carefully designed experiments in non reacting and reacting conditions in a practical combustor, and develop a prototype of the new instrument. Significant results of Phase II will be the development, manufacture, testing, and application of an advanced instrument for the complete diagnostic of spray combustion systems. Potential application of an instrument which can be applied to the analysis of LSSC systems are numerous: gas turbine engines for aircraft, power plant generation, furnaces for space heating, rocket engine combustors and incinerators for hazardous waste incineration. These applications account for more than 50% of the total energy consumption in the U.S.
