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Particle Image Velocimetry (PlY) is a technique for measuring instantaneous twodimensional fluid velocity fields from a chosen plane of interest within a flow field. This thesis presents new developments and applications of the technique which have been used to study both the non-reacting and reacting flow fields within cylindrical combustion chambers. Non-reacting, swirling laminar flow fields near the transitional flow regime have been investigated by both Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling and PIV experiments. Direct comparisons between CFD, PlY and other published results are made and close agreements are found. Additionally, the PlY technique has been optimised by careful use of a thin laser illumination sheet and correct choice of laser pulse separation. This has enabled successful PlY measurements in the boundary layers of the flow field where high velocity gradients exist. The PlY technique has been applied to measure the flame development and propagation process within the chamber under both quiescent and swirling flow conditions. Representative sequences of PIV results at different flame propagation stages are obtained and the accuracy in the extraction of the flame location is discussed. They clearly reveal the instantaneous flame front position and the unburned gas velocity field simultaneously. These features provide further insight into the combustion process itself and also the interaction between the combustion and flow field. A new application of PIV, combined with a flame speed detection technique, has been proposed and developed to obtain direct measurements of the laminar burning velocity of combustible mixtures. The laminar burning velocity is determined as the difference between the flame speed and the unburned gas velocity immediately ahead of the flame front. PIV is used to measure the unburned gas velocity field and either a pair of ionisation probes or a laser beam refraction technique is used to measure the local flame speed simultaneously. The relative merits of each technique are compared. The laminar burning velocities of propane-air mixtures initially at atmospheric conditions for equivalence ratios ranging from 0.7 - 1.4 were measured. The measured values show close agreement with previously published results based on other techniques. The advantages and limitations of the PIV techniques used in this work are examined and the prospects of their improvement and further application are discussed.

The research undertaken for this Ph.D. thesis concerns the dispersion of solutes in sinuous open channel flows. The aim of the work is to address the void in knowledge and understanding of mixing and transport processes in natural watercourses. The influences of plan form curvature and non-uniform cross sectional shape on transverse and longitudinal mixing are specifically addressed. Experimental work was undertaken on the Flood Channel Facility at HR Wallingford Ltd. This involved creating a pseudo natural sand channel within the concrete meander plan form of the facility, and then stabilising the form. Tracer studies using instantaneous injection to investigate longitudinal mixing and continuous point source release to study transverse mixing were performed. Fluorescent tracer was used. Measurement was by six Turner Design Field Fluorometers in pump through mode and these were digitally logged. Detailed hydrodynamic measurements were made using a two-dimensional Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA) fitted with a 14mm fibre-flow probe. The resulting data has undergone robust analysis and detailed interpretation. The conclusions are that the dominant processes in mixing, in the natural channel form studied, are shear effects. Simple equations for the prediction of flow fields have been investigated and validated against LDA measurements. It has been possible to make accurate predictions of the transverse and longitudinal mixing coefficients from the predicted flow fields. These predictions have been shown valid for the variations in mixing coefficients over the meander cycle and with discharge.

In this dissertation the power draw, the mass transfer and the liquid mixing behaviour of boiling and hot sparged stirred tank reactors (STRs) were investigated. The power draw characteristics of six different impellers were studied under varying operating conditions and expressed in terms of the relative power draw, RPD. Generally the impellers showed considerably higher power draw in hot gassed than in comparable cold conditions. The main phenomenon in hot systems, the evaporation of liquid into a gas bubble suddenly exposed to it, was investigated experimentally. The growth of nitrogen and air bubbles in hot water was found to be very fast and be completed typically within milliseconds after their exposure to the liquid. This was confirmed by studies applying acoustic bubble sizing techniques which were carried out together with Richard Manasseh from CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. Experimental studies of the gas-liquid mass transfer in hot sparged STRs were carried out using a tank of 450 mm in diameter agitated by a 180 mm Rushton turbine. Experiments involving the temperature kinetics in an air-water system and absorption and desorption of ammonia were used to determine gas and also some liquid side mass transfer coefficients. The gas side coefficients kga were found to be typically in the order of 0.01 s-1. An enhancement of the liquid side mass transfer was also observed. Both Fick and Stefan-Maxwell models were employed to express gas side mass transfer coefficients. The models predict there will be a decrease of the coefficients at high concentrations. In the hot sparged tank the temperature is essentially uniform throughout the STR. Liquid mixing times have been measured for various boil-off and sparging rates. No significant deviations from the single phase or the cold gassed mixing times in this equipment were recorded.

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Two extensions to the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) technique are considered for steady transonic aerodynamic applications. The first is to couple the POD approach with a cubic spline interpolation procedure in order to develop fast, low-order models that accurately capture the variation in parameters, such as the angle of attack or inflow Mach number. The second extension is a POD technique for the reconstruction of incomplete or inaccurate aerodynamic data. First, missing flow field data is constructed with an existing POD basis constructed from complete aerodynamic data. Second, a technique is used to develop a complete snapshots from an incomplete set of aerodynamic snapshots. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Experimental data from two cold airflow turbine tests were evaluated. The two tests had different, relatively high gradient flow fields at the turbine exit. The objective of the research was to evaluate data requirements, including the averaging techniques, the number of measurements, and the types of measurements needed, for high gradient flow fields. Guidelines could then be established for future tests that could allow reduction in test time and costs. An enormous amount of data was collected for both tests. These test data were then manipulated in various ways to study the effects of the averaging techniques, the number of measurements, and the types of measurements on the turbine efficiency. The effects were evaluated relative to maintaining a specific accuracy (1%) for the turbine efficiency. Mass and area averaging were applied to each case. A detailed uncertainty analysis of each case was done to evaluate the uncertainty of the efficiency calculations. A new uncertainty analysis technique was developed to include conceptual bias estimates for the spatially averaged values required in the efficiency equations. Conceptual bias estimates were made for each test case, and these estimates can be used as guidelines for similar turbine tests in the future. The evaluations proved that mass averaging and taking measurements around the full 360 degree was crucial for obtaining accurate efficiency calculations in high gradient flow fields. In addition, circumferential averaging of wall-static pressure measurements could be used rather than measuring static pressures across the annulus of the high gradient flow field while still maintaining highly accurate efficiency calculations. These are an important finding in that considerable time and cost savings may be realized due to the decreased test time, probe measurements, and calibration requirements.

<p dir="ltr">This dissertation describes efforts in the development of an optically-accessible solid fuel ramjet combustion experiment and the application, and requisite modifications, of multiple laser-based diagnostics. These measurements target the characterization of the complex turbulent reacting flow physics in a multi-phase combustion environment representative of conditions within a solid fuel ramjet.</p><p dir="ltr"><br>First, dynamic flow-flame interactions were investigated in an optically-accessible solid fuel ramjet combustor. Experiments were performed with a single hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene fuel slab located downstream of a backward-facing step in a rectangular chamber. To emulate flight-relevant combustor conditions, unvitiated heated air was directed through the combustion chamber with an inlet temperature of ∼655 K, chamber pressures of 450–690 kPa, and port Reynolds number of ∼500,000. 20 kHz OH∗-chemiluminescence and 10 kHz particle imaging velocimetry measurements were used to characterize the heat-release distribution and velocity field. Comparison between the mean OH∗ chemiluminescence images acquired at three flow conditions indicates reduction in flame height above the grain with increasing air mass flow rate. Dominant heat-release coherent structures in the statistically stationary flow are identified using the spectral proper orthogonal decomposition technique implemented on time-series of instantaneous images. The spatial mode shapes of the chemiluminescence and velocity field measurements indicated that the flow-flame interactions were dominated by vortex shedding generated at the backward facing step in the combustor, at Strouhal numbers of 0.06 – 0.10.</p><p dir="ltr"><br>Following this effort, a coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) laser system was assembled and aligned for measurements of the Q-branch ro-vibrational energy level structure of nitrogen using a coannular phase-matching scheme and frequency-shifted probe beam. These measurements were demonstrated in the model SFRJ combustion chamber operated with an inlet air temperature of 690 K and pressure of 0.59 MPa. Over 300 single-shot spectra were collected and fit for temperatures ranging from the core air flow to the combustion gases with a probe location situated above the redeveloping boundary layer region diffusion flame. A skewed temperature distribution was reported at the probe location, as expected from a region only intermittently exposed to hot combustion gases. Temperatures of 500-2000 K were fit to theory, indicating a requirement for high dynamic range measurements.</p><p dir="ltr"><br>A handful of shortcomings were identified in the application of the shifted-CARS technique to the luminous SFRJ flow-field and thus modifications were made to the CARS system for improved dynamic range, signal-to-noise ratio and signal-to-interference ratio. A dual-pump system provided simultaneous measurements of the Q-branch ro-vibrational energy level structure of nitrogen and pure-rotational energy level structure of nitrogen and oxygen. These spectra possessed ample features for accurate comparison to theory at temperatures of 600-2500 K, a typical range at flame locations within the highly dynamic SFRJ reacting flow. Additionally, an electro-optical shutter (EOS), comprised of a Pockels cell located between crossed-axis polarizers, was integrated into the CARS system. The use of the EOS enabled thermometry measurements in high luminosity flames through significant reduction of the background resulting from broadband flame emission. Temporal gating ≤100 nanoseconds along with an extinction ratio >10,000:1 was achieved using the EOS. Integration of the EOS enabled the use of an unintensified CCD camera for signal detection, improving upon the signal-to-noise ratio achievable with inherently noisy microchannel plate intensification processes, previously employed for short temporal gating.<br></p><p dir="ltr">Using this system, temperature and relative oxygen concentration scalar fields were measured in an optically accessible solid fuel ramjet (SFRJ) combustion chamber using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). Additionally, planar laser-induced fluorescence measurements of the hydroxyl radical (OH-PLIF) were performed to spatially characterize flame location and provide context to the temperature measurements. The combustion chamber was operated with an inlet air temperature of 670 K, mass flowrate of 1.14 kg/s, and pressure of 0.57 MPa, conditions relevant to practical device operation. The dual-pump CARS system provided simultaneous measurements of the Q-branch ro-vibrational energy level structure of nitrogen and pure-rotational energy level structure of nitrogen and oxygen. These spectra possessed ample features for accurate comparison to theory at temperatures of 600-2500 K, a typical range at flame locations within the highly dynamic SFRJ reacting flow<br>and inherently track the relative oxygen concentration within the measurement volume. A skewed temperature distribution was reported at various probe locations, as expected from stochastic probing of dynamic reacting vortex structures. Comparison between CARS and OH-PLIF measurements within the flow impingement region indicated that the high temperature regions closely align with regions of high OH-PLIF intensity while the temperature standard deviation better matches the flame-surface density. The signal intensity distribution within instantaneous OH-PLIF images indicates transport of combustion products toward the grain, supported by the near-wall peak temperatures. This process is critical for the transport of energy to the grain such that additional fuel can be volatilized and mix with the air to support the flame.</p><p dir="ltr"><br>Finally, an ultra-fast CARS system has been designed and aligned for 1 kHz one-dimensional measurements of temperature by targeting the ro-vibrational Q-branch transitions of nitrogen. This effort seeks to develop a technique that can capture the hydrodynamics that drive the combustion in SFRJ and provide an intuition for the energy transport near the solid fuel wall of the SFRJ combustor through capturing instantaneous temperature profiles. The designed system utilized a 9 W high-energy regenerative amplifier with 30 fs duration pulses.<br>For the CARS measurement, the 4 W 800 nm output from the external compressor is used as the Stokes beam and a 0.5 W, 675 nm ouput from the TOPAS optical parametric amplifier (OPA) split to and used as the pump and probe beams. A chirping rod placed in the beam path of the probe beam was used to generate the picosecond pulse. Preliminary measurements have been acquired within room air and a laminar H2-Air nonpremixed flame. A discussion of the experimental challenges and remaining work is presented in this document.</p>

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