DIAGNOSTICS OF SWIRL COMBUSTION PROCESSES

THIS PROPOSAL DETAILS THE RESEARCH THAT WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO INITIATE A SYSTEMATIC WORK IN THE DIAGNOSTICS OF SWIRLINGLIQUID SPRAY FLAMES. TO DATE, THE MEASUREMENT OF SWIRLING FLOWS HAS BEEN PERFORMED MOSTLY IN GASEOUS FUELS. MEASUREMENT OF LIQUID SPRAYS HAS BEEN RESTRICTED TO SIMPLE ATOMIZERS SPRAYING LIQUIDS INTO QUIESCENT ENVIRONMENTS. DETAILED DATA OF DROP SIZE, DROP VELOCITY DISTRIBUTIONS, SIZE-VELOCITY CORRELATIONS, AND PARTICLE NUMBER DENSITY HAVE NEVER BEEN MEASURED IN SWIRLING ISOTHERMAL SPRAYS AND EVEN LESS IN COMBUSTING SWIRLING LIQUID SPRAYS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PHASE I EFFORT ARE: (1) TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF SWIRL ON THE TURBULENT MIXINGOF LIQUID SPRAY PARTICLES AND THEIR RESPONSE TO THE SWIRLINGFLOW; AND (2) TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF SWIRL ON THE FORMATION OF THE TOROIDAL VORTEX CORE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE SPRAY, A KEY FACTOR IN FLAME STABILIZATION AND EMISSION OF POLLUTANTS. THE ANTICIPATED OVERALL RESULTS OF THE RESEARCHPROJECT ARE:(1) TO DEVELOP ADVANCED LASER-BASED DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES SPECIFICALLY AIMED AT INVESTIGATING THE PROPERTIES OF LIQUID SPRAYS IN COMBUSTING SWIRLING FLOWS; AND (2) TO DETERMINE THE DYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF LIQUID SPRAYSIN COMPLEX SWIRLING FLOWS WHICH ARE PARAMOUNT TO OPTIMIZING THE OVERALL COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY AND TO CONTROLLING THE EMISSION OF POLLUTANTS.