TACTICAL VEHICLES

THE PRESENCE OF SOLID PARTICULATES ENTAINED IN THE AIR ENTERING THE ENGINE OF MILITARY VEHICLES CAN BE DETECTED BY MEASURING THEIR SCATTERED LIGHT AND THE OVERALL LIGHT EXTINCTION. VERY SENSITIVE EXTINCTION MEASUREMENTS CAN BE PERFORMED WITH TRANSMISSOMETRY. AMONG THE MOST PROMISING AND SIMPLE TRANSMISSOMETERS ARE THE MAXIMUM TURBIDITY METHOD, DISPERSION QUOTIENT METHOD, AND THE TWO-COLOR TRANSMISSOMETER. FOR REASONABLY CLEAR AIR WITH SLIGHT DUST CONTAMINATION, MORE SENSITIVITY CAN BE OBTAINED BY LOOKING AT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCATTERED LIGHT. A MORE ELABORATE TECHNIQUE BASED ON A PULSE HEIGHT ANALYZER COMBINED WITH LASER DOPPLER VELOCIMETRY WILL PROVIDE THE SIZE AND VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION OF THE PARTICULATES ENTRAINED IN THE AIR. IT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK TO EVALUATE THE ABOVE METHODS TO ESTABLISH THEIR SENSITIVITY TO SIZE AND CONCENTRATION, THEIR INSENSITIVITY TO VARIATIONS IN INDEX OF REFRACTION, THEIR INSENSITIVITY TO THE SHAPE OF THE PARTICULATES, AND THEIR POTENTIAL WITH SIMPLE WHITE LIGHT SOURCES. A METHOD FOR PROTOTYPE IMPLEMENTATION WILL BE ESTABLISHED.