Experimental Diagnostics in Gas Phase Combustion Systems

As virtually all our energy at present is derived from fossil fuels through some sort of a combustion process, improved understanding of combustion processes will undoubtedly lead to the development of more efficient and environmentally acceptable power generating devices and thus affect conservation of energy resources and the environment.

Recognizing the increasing importance of combustion diagnostics, this volume has been prepared with the hope that it will serve either as a starting point for the scientist entering this field of research or as a survey of the state of the art for the engineer who needs to investigate experimentally a combustion situation. With these objectives in mind, each of the five chapters of this volume was planned to contain at least one tutorial type article, the purpose of which is to provide the novice with the background needed for reading the remaining papers in that chapter. To provide some commonality, the papers in the various chapters have been divided according to the primary physical phenomenon or experimental technique upon which they are based. Accordingly, Chapter I is concerned with the use of probes in combustion diagnostics; Chapter II deals with diagnostics based upon absorption-emission techniques; Chapter III describes measurement based upon light scattering from particles; Chapter IV describes techniques based upon Raman and Rayleigh scattering; and Chapter V deals primarily with interferometry. As some of the papers deal with several measurement techniques, departures from the above division often could not be avoided.

This volume is the first of a planned pair of volumes concerned with diagnostics in combustion systems. The present volume contains papers dealing with measurements in gas phase combustion systems only, whereas the second volume, to appear later in the Series, will contain papers describing diagnostics of combustion situations involving not only gaseous systems but also the interaction of solid and gas phases.