Publications

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Currently there is a substantial lack of data for interactions of shock waves with particle fields having volume fractions residing between the dilute and granular regimes, which creates one of the largest sources of uncertainty in the simulation of energetic material detonation. To close this gap, a novel Multiphase Shock Tube has been constructed to drive a planar shock wave into a dense gas-solid field of particles. A nearly spatially isotropic field of particles is generated in the test section by a gravity-fed method that results in a spanwise curtain of spherical 100-micron particles having a volume fraction of about 19%. Interactions with incident shock Mach numbers of 1.66, 1.92, and 2.02 were achieved. High-speed schlieren imaging simultaneous with high-frequency wall pressure measurements are used to reveal the complex wave structure associated with the interaction. Following incident shock impingement, transmitted and reflected shocks are observed, which lead to differences in particle drag across the streamwise dimension of the curtain. Shortly thereafter, the particle field begins to propagate downstream and spread. For all three Mach numbers tested, the energy and momentum fluxes in the induced flow far downstream are reduced about 30-40% by the presence of the particle field. X-Ray diagnostics have been developed to penetrate the opacity of the flow, revealing the concentrations throughout the particle field as it expands and spreads downstream with time. Furthermore, an X-Ray particle tracking velocimetry diagnostic has been demonstrated to be feasible for this flow, which can be used to follow the trajectory of tracer particles seeded into the curtain. Additional experiments on single spherical particles accelerated behind an incident shock wave have shown that elevated particle drag coefficients can be attributed to increased compressibility rather than flow unsteadiness, clarifying confusing results from the historical database of shock tube experiments. The development of the Multiphase Shock Tube and associated diagnostic capabilities offers experimental capability to a previously inaccessible regime, which can provide unprecedented data concerning particle dynamics of dense gas-solid flows.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Laser-induced incandescence measurements have recently been obtained from 10% and 30% toluene in methanol blended fuel pool fires of 2-m diameter. Calibration of the instrument was performed using an ethylene/air laminar diffusion flame produced by a Santoro-type burner which allowed the extraction of absolute soot-volume-fractions from these images. Performance of the optical probe was characterized using the laminar diffusion flame and corrections were implemented for signal dependence upon detector gain, flat field, and location within the probe laser sheet when processing the images. Probability density functions of the soot-volume fraction were constructed for the blended fuels used in this study and the mean values were determined to be 0.0077 and 0.028 ppm for the 10% and 30% blended fuels, respectively. Signal trapping was estimated for the two types of blended fuel and it was determined to be negligible for the ∼10% toluene/methanol blend and require ∼10% correction for the 30% toluene/methanol blend.

A novel multiphase shock tube has been constructed to test the interaction of a planar shock wave with a dense gas-solid field of particles. The particle field is generated by a gravity-fed method that results in a spanwise curtain of 100-micron particles producing a volume fraction of about 15%. Interactions with incident shock Mach numbers of 1.67 and 1.95 are reported. High-speed schlieren imaging is used to reveal the complex wave structure associated with the interaction. After the impingement of the incident shock, transmitted and reflected shocks are observed, which lead to differences in flow properties across the streamwise dimension of the curtain. Tens of microseconds after the onset of the interaction, the particle field begins to propagate downstream, and disperse. The spread of the particle field, as a function of its position, is seen to be nearly identical for both Mach numbers. Immediately downstream of the curtain, the peak pressures associated with the Mach 1.67 and 1.95 interactions are about 35% and 45% greater than tests without particles, respectively. For both Mach numbers tested, the energy and momentum fluxes in the induced flow far downstream are reduced by about 30-40% by the presence of the particle field.

A novel multiphase shock tube has recently been developed to study particle dynamics in gas-solid flows having particle volume fractions that reside between the dilute and granular regimes. The method for introducing particles into the tube involves the use of a gravity-fed contoured particle seeder, which is capable of producing dense fields of spatially isotropic particles. The facility is capable of producing planar shocks having a maximum shock Mach number of about 2.1 that propagate into air at initially ambient conditions. The primary purpose of this new facility is to provide high fidelity data of shock-particle interactions in flows having particle volume fractions of about 1 to 50%. To achieve this goal, the facility drives a planar shock into a spatially isotropic field, or curtain, of particles. Experiments are conducted for two configurations where the particle curtain is either parallel to the spanwise, or the streamwise direction. Arrays of high-frequency-response pressure transducers are placed near the particle curtain to measure the attenuation and shape change of the shock owing to its interaction with the dense gas particle field. In addition, simultaneous high-speed imaging is used to visualize the impact of the shock on the particle curtain and to measure the particle motion induced downstream of the shock.

As the capabilities of numerical simulations increase, decision makers are increasingly relying upon simulations rather than experiments to assess risks across a wide variety of accident scenarios including fires. There are still, however, many aspects of fires that are either not well understood or are difficult to treat from first principles due to the computational expense. For a simulation to be truly predictive and to provide decision makers with information which can be reliably used for risk assessment the remaining physical processes must be studied and suitable models developed for the effects of the physics. A set of experiments are outlined in this report which will provide soot volume fraction/temperature data and heat flux (intensity) data for the validation of models for the radiative transfer equation. In addition, a complete set of boundary condition measurements will be taken to allow full fire predictions for validation of the entire fire model. The experiments will be performed with a lightly-sooting liquid hydrocarbon fuel fire in the fully turbulent scale range (2 m diameter).

A novel multiphase shock tube to study particle dynamics in gas-solid flows has been constructed and tested. Currently, there is a gap in data for flows having particle volume fractions between the dusty and granular regimes. The primary purpose of this new facility is to fill that gap by providing high quality data of shock-particle interactions in flows having dense gas particle volume fractions. Towards this end, the facility aims to drive a shock into a spatially isotropic field, or curtain, of particles. Through bench-top experimentation, a method emerged for achieving this challenging task that involves the use of a gravity-fed contoured particle seeder. The seeding method is capable of producing fields of spatially isotropic particles having volume fractions of about 1 to 35%. The use of the seeder in combination with the shock tube allows for the testing of the impingement of a planar shock on a dense field of particles. The first experiments in the multiphase shock tube have been conducted and the facility is now operational.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

An experimental study was performed to determine the fraction of the heat flux that is due to radiation (sometimes referred to as radiation partitioning of the total heat flux measurement) to a calorimeter engulfed in a large methanol pool fire to improve understanding and develop high-quality data for the validation of fire models. Diagnostics employed include Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS), Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), total and radiative thermometry, and thermocouples. Data are presented not only for the physics measurements but also for all initial and boundary conditions required as necessary inputs to computational models. The large physical scale, the experimental design (enhanced convection relative to radiation heat transfer), the use of independent measurement techniques, and the attention to data quality, provide a unique dataset that emphasizes the convective component to support numerical fire model validation for convective and radiative heat transfer in fires. © 2009 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

We report an application of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) to full-scale fire testing. A CARS instrument has been constructed at the newly commissioned FLAME (Fire Laboratory for Accreditation of Models and Experiments) facility at Sandia, where the CARS system has been used for thermometry in 2-m-diameter, turbulent pool fires. The details of a CARS instrument for probing the challenging pool-fire environment are presented, along with the construction of the unique new FLAME facility itself, which has been designed to accommodate optical and laser-based diagnostics to full-scale fire experimentation. Single-shot CARS spectra and best-fit temperatures from turbulent pool fires are presented, and an estimate of the pdf of the temperature fluctuations from the pool-fire environment is obtained.

Abstract not provided.

Heat transfer to and from a circular cylinder in a cross-flow of water at low Reynolds number was studied both experimentally and numerically. The experiments were carried out in a high aspect ratio water channel. The test section inflow temperature and velocity, channel lower surface temperature and cylinder surface temperature were controlled to yield either laminar or turbulent flow for a desired Richardson number. When the lower surface was unheated, the temperatures of the lower surface and water upstream of the cylinder were maintained approximately equal and the flow was laminar. When the lower surface was heated, turbulence intensities as high as 20% were measured several cylinder diameters upstream of the cylinder due to turbulent thermal plumes produced by heating the lower surface. Variable property, two-dimensional simulations were undertaken using a variant of the v2-f turbulence model with buoyancy production of turbulence accounted for by a simple gradient diffusion model. Predicted and measured heat flux distributions around the cylinder are compared for values of the Richardson number, Grd / Red2, from 0.3 to 9.3. For laminar flow, the predicted and measured heat flux results agreed to within the experimental uncertainty. When the lower surface was heated, and the flow was turbulent, there was qualitative agreement between predicted and measured heat flux distributions around the cylinder. However the predicted spatially averaged Nusselt number was from 37% to 53% larger than the measured spatially averaged Nusselt number. Additionally, spatially averaged Nusselt numbers are compared to correlations in the literature for mixed convection heat transfer to/from cylinders in cross-flow. The results presented here are larger than the correlation values. This is believed to be due to the effects of buoyancy-induced turbulence resulting from heating the lower surface and the proximity of the cylinder to that surface. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Abstract not provided.

Abstract not provided.

Fires pose the dominant risk to the safety and security of nuclear weapons, nuclear transport containers, and DOE and DoD facilities. The thermal hazard from these fires primarily results from radiant emission from high-temperature flame soot. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the local transport and chemical phenomena that determine the distributions of soot concentration, optical properties, and temperature in order to develop and validate constitutive models for large-scale, high-fidelity fire simulations. This report summarizes the findings of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project devoted to obtaining the critical experimental information needed to develop such constitutive models. A combination of laser diagnostics and extractive measurement techniques have been employed in both steady and pulsed laminar diffusion flames of methane, ethylene, and JP-8 surrogate burning in air. For methane and ethylene, both slot and coannular flame geometries were investigated, as well as normal and inverse diffusion flame geometries. For the JP-8 surrogate, coannular normal diffusion flames were investigated. Soot concentrations, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) signals, hydroxyl radical (OH) LIF, acetylene and water vapor concentrations, soot zone temperatures, and the velocity field were all successfully measured in both steady and unsteady versions of these various flames. In addition, measurements were made of the soot microstructure, soot dimensionless extinction coefficient (&), and the local radiant heat flux. Taken together, these measurements comprise a unique, extensive database for future development and validation of models of soot formation, transport, and radiation.

Simulation-based life-cycle-engineering and the ASCI program have resulted in models of unprecedented size and fidelity. The validation of these models requires high-resolution, multi-parameter diagnostics. Within the thermal-fluids disciplines, the need for detailed, high-fidelity measurements exceeds the limits of current engineering sciences capabilities and severely tests the state of the art. The focus of this LDRD is the development and application of filtered Rayleigh scattering (FRS) for high-resolution, nonintrusive measurement of gas-phase velocity and temperature. With FRS, the flow is laser-illuminated and Rayleigh scattering from naturally occurring sources is detected through a molecular filter. The filtered transmission may be interpreted to yield point or planar measurements of three-component velocities and/or thermodynamic state. Different experimental configurations may be employed to obtain compromises between spatial resolution, time resolution, and the quantity of simultaneously measured flow variables. In this report, we present the results of a three-year LDRD-funded effort to develop FRS combustion thermometry and Aerosciences velocity measurement systems. The working principles and details of our FRS opto-electronic system are presented in detail. For combustion thermometry we present 2-D, spatially correlated FRS results from nonsooting premixed and diffusion flames and from a sooting premixed flame. The FRS-measured temperatures are accurate to within {+-}50 K (3%) in a premixed CH4-air flame and within {+-}100 K for a vortex-strained diluted CH4-air diffusion flame where the FRS technique is severely tested by large variation in scattering cross section. In the diffusion flame work, FRS has been combined with Raman imaging of the CH4 fuel molecule to correct for the local light scattering properties of the combustion gases. To our knowledge, this is the first extension of FRS to nonpremixed combustion and the first use of joint FRS-Raman imaging. FRS has been applied to a sooting C2H4-air flame and combined with LII to assess the upper sooting limit where FRS may be utilized. The results from this sooting flame show FRS temperatures has potential for quantitative temperature imaging for soot volume fractions of order 0.1 ppm. FRS velocity measurements have been performed in a Mach 3.7 overexpanded nitrogen jet. The FRS results are in good agreement with expected velocities as predicted by inviscid analysis of the jet flowfield. We have constructed a second FRS opto-electronic system for measurements at Sandia's hypersonic wind tunnel. The details of this second FRS system are provided here. This facility is currently being used for velocity characterization of these production hypersonic facilities.

In this paper, an acetone planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique for nonintrusive temperature imaging is demonstrated in gas-phase (Pr = 0.72) turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection at Rayleigh number Ra = 1.3×105 . The PLIF technique provides quantitative spatially correlated temperature data without the flow intrusion or time lag associated with physical probes, and without the significant path averaging that plagues most optical heat-transfer diagnostic tools, such as the MachZehnder interferometer, thus making PLIF an attractive choice for quantitative thermal imaging in easily perturbed, complex three-dimensional flow fields. The "instantaneous" (20-ns integration time) thermal images presented have a spatial resolution of 176×176×500 μm and a single-pulse temperature measurement precision of ± 2.5 K, or 2.5% of the total temperature difference. These images represent a two-dimensional slice through a complex three-dimensional flow, allowing for thermal structure of the turbulence to be quantified. Statistics such as the horizontally averaged temperature profile, root-mean square (rms) temperature fluctuation, two-point spatial correlations, and conditionally averaged plume structures are computed from an ensemble of 100 temperature images. The profiles of the mean temperature and rms temperature fluctuation are in good agreement with previously published data, and the results obtained from the two-point spatial correlations and conditionally averaged temperature fields show the importance of large-scale coherent structures in this turbulent flow. © Springer-Verlag 2002.

Abstract not provided.

This paper describes the application of a filtered-Rayleigh-scattering (FRS) instrument for nonintrusive temperature imaging in a vortex-driven diffusion flame. The FRS technique provides quantitative, spatially correlated temperature data without the flow intrusion or time lag associated with physical probes. Use of a molecular iodine filter relaxes the requirement for clean, particulate-free flowfields and offers the potential for imaging near walls, test section windows and in sooty flames, all of which are precluded in conventional Rayleigh imaging, where background interference from these sources typically overwhelms the weak molecular scattering signal. For combustion applications, FRS allows for full-field temperature imaging without chemical seeding of the flowfield, which makes FRS an attractive alternative to other laser-based imaging methods such as planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF). In this work, the details of our FRS imaging system are presented and temperature measurements from an acoustically forced diffusion flame are provided. The local Rayleigh cross-section is corrected using Raman imaging measurements of the methane fuel molecule, which are then correlated to other major species using a laminar flamelet approach. To our knowledge, this is the first report of joint Raman/FRS imaging for nonpremixed combustion. Measurements are presented from flames driven at 7.5 Hz, where a single vortex stretches the flame, and at 90 Hz, where two consecutive vortices interact to cause a repeatable strain-induced flame-quenching event.

Abstract not provided.