Spatially Resolved Combustion Species and Temperatures of Solid Propellant Flames Using Snapshot Spectroscopy

Abstract

Experimental improvements have been made in the ultraviolet (UV)-visible absorption spectroscopy technique applied to propellant flame diagnostics. The two-dimensional (2-D) feature of an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) detector was used to simultaneously record multiple, spatially distinct absorption spectra over a region of 0.35 cm. Temporal resolution has been increased to 1 ms by pulsing a simmering xenon arc lamp. The resulting increase in the light intensity by 30 to 70 times over the nonpulsed output provides the necessary light flux to achieve single-pulse, multiple absorption spectra. Species with low concentrations can be measured with the inclusion of multiple-pass optics to increase the effective path length through the combustion region. Due to broadband UV-visible absorption observed in propellant flame spectra, only 20% of the incident light is typically transmitted. However, inclusion of a calibrated neutral density filter during the measurement of the incident intensity (I sub 0) allows the dynamic range of the detector to be effectively increased by a factor of 5. With these improvements, temperature and OH and NO concentration maps, with 1-ms temporal resolution, have been determined for two different propellant flames.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA370349

Entities

People

  • Barrie E. Homan
  • John A. Vanderhoff

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Absorption Spectra
  • Arc Lamps
  • Charge Coupled Devices
  • Combustion
  • Detectors
  • Dynamic Range
  • Frequency
  • Lamps
  • Laser Induced Fluorescence
  • Light Sources
  • Measurement
  • Silicon Controlled Rectifiers
  • Solid Propellants
  • Spectra
  • Spectroscopy
  • Two Dimensional

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.
  • Rocket Propulsion.