Development of Quantitative Flow Diagnostics at Acquisition Rates Exceeding 50 kHz

ABSTRACT: This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) proposal, developed jointly by Q-Peak, Inc. and The Ohio State Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, offers an innovative merging of two solid state laser technologies that, when taken together, have the potential to provide unique new capability directly relevant to Air Force advanced propulsion development needs. Specifically, Q-Peak"s expertise in titanium-sapphire laser technology will be coupled with high repetition rate (up to 1 MHz) pulse burst laser technology which has been developed by our OSU collaborators over the last several years. The result will be a robust, flexible diagnostic system capable of performing a wide variety of quantitative laser diagnostics, both single point and planar imaging, at acquisition rates (50 1000 kHz) sufficient to resolve turbulent time scales over a full range of Reynolds numbers applicable to practical engineering propulsion systems. BENEFIT: The U.S. Air Force has indicated a need for new measurement technology capable of obtaining quantitative flow parameters, such as species number density, static temperature, and velocity, at data rates in excess of 50 kHz and with spatial resolution of a few millimeters. Such instrumentation would provide significant new capability in support of the development of next generation propulsion systems, such as gas-turbines, augmenters, pulse detonation engines, and scramjets. This technology may also find application in the development of more fuel efficient commercial aircraft engines.