Members of the UW Fire Research Group are involved in development and application of LIF and PLIF to reacting and non-reacting flows. Recent research efforts include the application of PLIF to measurement of joint velocity-scalar fields in large helium plumes and for visualization of nozzle flows in welding applications.
Helium plumes
This research was undertaken in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, NM with the aim to collect a set of validation quality data appropriate for comparison with velocity and scalar statistics predicted using large computational fire models. The experiments were conducted in the Sandia FLAME facility, Albuquerque, NM with participation of UW researchers. After characterization of the facility, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and PLIF were applied to measure joint velocity-concentration statistics in 1 m diameter helium plumes. Plumes were seeded with acetone to facilitate concentration measurements, and with glass microspheres as seed particles for PIV. A UV laser beam, expanded into a 1 m high sheet, was passed through the central plane of the plume, generating a fluorescence signal proportional to the acetone concentration in the plume. Using two high speed motion picture cameras, the fluorescence signal was captured on one film simultaneously with the PIV signal on the other. Film images were digitized and analysed using custom methods developed jointly by researchers at Sandia and the UW Fire Research Group.
In a complementary set of experiments in the same facility, PIV and PAH-fluorescence were employed to map velocity fields and reaction zone positions in 1 m diameter hydrogen and methane fires in quiescent environments.
This research was partially undertaken at FLAME facility at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, NM:
