Air velocity and fuel concentration data have been collected throughout the flow fields of two gas turbine mixers in an effort to better understand the mixing of fuel and air in gas turbine mixers. The two gas turbine mixers consisted of an annular flow profile and incorporated swirl vanes to produce a swirling flow to promote fuel/air mixing. The fuel was injected into the bulk flow from the pressure side of the swirl vanes. The first mixer had a swirl angle of 45°, while the second had a swirl angle of 55°. In order to examine the effect of the swirl angle on the mixing of fuel and air as the flow progressed through gas turbine mixers, axial and tangential air velocity data was taken using a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV). Also, fuel concentration data was taken separately using a hydrocarbon concentration probe with methane diluted with air as the fuel. The data were taken at varying axial and varying angular locations in an effort to capture the spatial development of the fuel and velocity profiles. The spectra of the data were analyzed as well in an effort to understand the turbulence of the flow. It was found that the 55° swirler exhibited smaller variations in both velocity and fuel concentration values and that the fuel reached a uniform concentration at axial locations further upstream in the 55° degree mixer than in the 45° mixer. The RMS values of the velocity, which were influenced by the swirl vanes, were higher in the 55° mixer and likely contributed to the better mixing performance of the 55° mixer. The fuel concentration spectrum data showed that the spectra of the two mixers were similar, and that the fluctuations in fuel concentration due to flow emanating from the swirl vanes were seen throughout the length of the two mixers.

Les industries automobile et aéronautique sont confrontées dans le futur proche à une raréfaction des carburants fossiles, ainsi qu’au problème de pollution de l’environnement émis par les systèmes propulsifs. Pour s’affranchir de ces problèmes, l’utilisation de carburants alternatifs censés apporter rendement et préservation de l’environnement, s’est considérablement développée ces derniers temps. Cependant, leurs impacts sur la pollution, consommation et rendement de combustion ne sont toujours pas clairement établis. En particulier, il est nécessaire de quantifier leurs effets sur les phénomènes physiques clés à la base des processus que sont l’évaporation du carburant liquide et le mélange carburant vapeur/air. L’analyse expérimentale de ces processus physiques nécessite alors l’emploi de diagnostics lasers non-intrusifs et quantitatifs, permettant de mesurer des grandeurs physiques comme les distributions spatiales instantanées de température et de concentration du carburant en phase vapeur. Parmi les techniques optiques les plus attrayantes, l’imagerie de fluorescence induite par laser (PLIF) offre de nombreux avantages. L’objectif de la thèse a été, dans un premier temps, de caractériser les propriétés spectroscopiques de quatre carburants multi-composants, le kérosène (Jet A1), le Biomass-to-Liquid (BtL), le Diesel et l’Ester Méthylique Huile Végétale (EMHV) qui, mis à part le premier, possèdent des propriétés spectroscopiques encore peu connues. L’exploitation de leurs propriétés de fluorescence a ensuite permis d’évaluer leurs capacités à fournir des signaux autorisant la mesure de la température et de la concentration du carburant en phase vapeur. Dans un second temps, un étude exhaustive des propriétés de fluorescence de plusieurs cétones (3-pentanone, benzophénone) et aromatiques (fluoranthène, acénaphtène, naphtalène, 1,2,4-triméthylbenzène…) en fonction de la température et du quenching de l’oxygène moléculaire, a été réalisée à pression atmosphérique pour identifier les traceurs fluorescents potentiellement adaptés au dosage optique des quatre carburants. Les données photophysiques collectées ont ensuite été utilisées pour parfaire l’établissement des couples carburants/traceurs fluorescents ainsi que les stratégies de mesures de température et de concentration de carburant associées. L’exploitation des données acquises lors de différentes campagnes de mesures a ainsi mis en évidence la possibilité de détecter simultanément la fluorescence de plusieurs molécules aromatiques (mono-, di- et/ou tri-aromatique) naturellement présentes ou ajoutées artificiellement dans les carburants. Le cas du Diesel a nécessité le développement d’un carburant modèle pour permettre une étude de son évaporation. L’application de cette nouvelle approche PLIF a été validée sur un injecteur hélicoptère LPP de nouvelle génération fonctionnant avec trois carburants spécifiques que sont le Jet A1, le BtL et un mélange Jet A1/BtL / The automotive and aviation industries are presently confronted with the twin crises of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. Research for alternative fuels, which promise a harmonious correlation with sustainable development, energy conservation, efficiency and environmental preservation, has become highly pronounced in the present context. However, their influence on pollution, consumption and combustion yield are not clearly defined yet. In particular, their effects on key physical processes that initiate these phenomena like fuel evaporation and mixing processes between fuel vapour and air have to be quantified. Experimental analysis of these processes requires the use of non-intrusive and quantitative laser diagnostics, allowing the measurement of key physical parameters like instantaneous spatial distribution of temperature and fuel vapour concentration. Among the optical techniques available thus far, planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) offers many advantages for the study such processes in combustors. The objective of this thesis is then to propose and to develop innovative PLIF strategies to measure fuel distribution and mixture formation when fossil fuels and biofuels are used in aeronautical and automotive combustion chambers. In particular, the fluorescence of various fossil fuels like kerosene (Jet A1) and Diesel, the biodiesel fuel containing Esters (FAME) and the Biomass-To-Liquid fuel (BtL) are investigated. The exploitation of their fluorescence was then used to analyse their capacity to generate signals providing from fluorescent tracers (either present naturally in the fuel or chemically added) that could be used as probe molecules for the measurement of temperature and fuel vapour concentration. To select theses tracers, an exhaustive study of the fluorescence properties of various ketones (3-pentanone, benzophenone) and aromatic molecules (fluoranthene, acenapthene, naphthalene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene) with temperature and quenching with molecular oxygen was performed at atmospheric pressure. The photophysical data collected during these experiments have been then used to associate the various fuels with specific fluorescent tracers and to elaborate the strategies of measurement of temperature and fuel concentration associated. Exploitation of the data collected during this thesis thus highlighted the possibility to detect simultaneously the fluorescence of various aromatic molecules (mono-, di-, tri-aromatics) naturally present or artificially seeded in fuels. The specific case of Diesel required the development of a surrogate fuel which allows the study of its evaporation process. An application of these innovative strategies of PLIF measurements has been finally performed on a new generation LPP helicopter injection system running at atmospheric pressure with the following fuels: Jet A1, BtL and a mixture of Jet A1 and BtL. Results obtained allowed the validation of the PLIF strategies defined in this thesis.