Engineering topics

Mielke, Amy F.

Publications and source records attributed to Mielke, Amy F..

13 records

NASA NTRS2009

Dynamic Measurement of Temperature, Velocity, and Density in Hot Jets Using Rayleigh Scattering

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique is utilized to measure gas temperature, velocity, and density in unseeded gas flows at sampling rates up to 10 kHz, providing fluctuation information up to 5 kHz based on the Nyquist theorem. A high-power continuous-wave laser beam is focused at a point in an air flow field and Rayleigh scattered light is collected and fiber-optically transmitted to a Fabry-Perot interferometer for spectral analysis. Photomultiplier tubes operated in the photon counting mode allow high-frequency sampling of the total signal level and the circular interference pattern to provide dynamic density, temperature, and velocity measurements. Mean and root mean square velocity, temperature, and density, as well as power spectral density calculations, are presented for measurements in a hydrogen-combustor heated jet facility with a 50.8-mm diameter nozzle at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. The Rayleigh measurements are compared with particle image velocimetry data and computational fluid dynamics predictions. This technique is aimed at aeronautics research related to identifying noise sources in free jets, as well as applications in supersonic and hypersonic flows where measurement of flow properties, including mass flux, is required in the presence of shocks and ionization occurrence.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Multiple-Point Mass Flux Measurement System Using Rayleigh Scattering

A multiple-point Rayleigh scattering diagnostic is being developed to provide mass flux measurements in gas flows. Spectroscopic Rayleigh scattering is an established flow diagnostic that has the ability to provide simultaneous density, temperature, and velocity measurements. Rayleigh scattered light from a focused 18 Watt continuous-wave laser beam is directly imaged through a solid Fabry-Perot etalon onto a CCD detector which permits spectral analysis of the light. The spatial resolution of the measurements is governed by the locations of interference fringes, which can be changed by altering the etalon characteristics. A prototype system has been used to acquire data in a Mach 0.56 flow to demonstrate feasibility of using this system to provide mass flux measurements. Estimates of measurement uncertainty and recommendations for system improvements are presented

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Dynamic Measurement of Temperature, Velocity, and Density in Hot Jets Using Rayleigh Scattering

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique was utilized to measure time-resolved gas temperature, velocity, and density in unseeded gas flows at sampling rates up to 10 kHz. A high power continuous-wave (cw) laser beam was focused at a point in an air flow field and Rayleigh scattered light was collected and fiber-optically transmitted to a Fabry-Perot interferometer for spectral analysis. Photomultipler tubes operated in the photon counting mode allowed high frequency sampling of the total signal level and the circular interference pattern to provide time-resolved density, temperature, and velocity measurements. Mean and rms velocity and temperature, as well as power spectral density calculations, are presented for measurements in a hydrogen-combustor heated jet facility with a 50.8-mm diameter nozzle at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The Rayleigh measurements are compared with particle image velocimetry data and CFD predictions. This technique is aimed at aeronautics research related to identifying noise sources in free jets, as well as applications in supersonic and hypersonic flows where measurement of flow properties, including mass flux, is required in the presence of shocks and ionization occurrence.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Time-Resolved Rayleigh Scattering Measurements in Hot Gas Flows

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique is developed to measure time-resolved gas velocity, temperature, and density in unseeded gas flows at sampling rates up to 32 kHz. A high power continuous-wave laser beam is focused at a point in an air flow field and Rayleigh scattered light is collected and fiber-optically transmitted to the spectral analysis and detection equipment. The spectrum of the light, which contains information about the temperature and velocity of the flow, is analyzed using a Fabry-Perot interferometer. Photomultipler tubes operated in the photon counting mode allow high frequency sampling of the circular interference pattern to provide time-resolved flow property measurements. Mean and rms velocity and temperature fluctuation measurements in both an electrically-heated jet facility with a 10-mm diameter nozzle and also in a hydrogen-combustor heated jet facility with a 50.8-mm diameter nozzle at NASA Glenn Research Center are presented.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Development of a Rayleigh Scattering Diagnostic for Time-Resolved Gas Flow Velocity, Temperature, and Density Measurements in Aerodynamic Test Facilities

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique is developed to measure time-resolved gas velocity, temperature, and density in unseeded turbulent flows at sampling rates up to 32 kHz. A high power continuous-wave laser beam is focused at a point in an air flow field and Rayleigh scattered light is collected and fiber-optically transmitted to the spectral analysis and detection equipment. The spectrum of the light, which contains information about the temperature and velocity of the flow, is analyzed using a Fabry-Perot interferometer. Photomultiplier tubes operated in the photon counting mode allow high frequency sampling of the circular interference pattern to provide time-resolved flow property measurements. An acoustically driven nozzle flow is studied to validate velocity fluctuation measurements, and an asymmetric oscillating counterflow with unequal enthalpies is studied to validate the measurement of temperature fluctuations. Velocity fluctuations are compared with constant temperature anemometry measurements and temperature fluctuations are compared with constant current anemometry measurements at the same locations. Time-series and power spectra of the temperature and velocity measurements are presented. A numerical simulation of the light scattering and detection process was developed and compared with experimental data for future use as an experiment design tool.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Rayleigh Scattering Diagnostic for Measurement of Temperature, Velocity, and Density Fluctuation Spectra

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique is developed to measure dynamic gas temperature, velocity, and density in unseeded turbulent flows at sampling rates up to 10 kHz. A high power CW laser beam is focused at a point in a heated air jet plume and Rayleigh scattered light is collected and spectrally resolved. The spectrum of the light, which contains information about the temperature, velocity, and density of the flow, is analyzed using a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The circular interference fringe pattern is divided into four concentric regions and sampled at 1 and 10 kHz using photon counting electronics. Monitoring the relative change in intensity within each region allows for measurement of gas temperature and velocity. Independently monitoring the total scattered light intensity provides a measure of gas density. Power spectral density calculations of temperature, velocity, and density fluctuations, as well as mean and fluctuating quantities are demonstrated for various radial locations in the jet flow at a fixed axial distance from the jet exit plane. Results are compared with constant current anemometry and pitot probe measurements at the same locations.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Molecular Rayleigh Scattering Diagnostic for Measurement of High Frequency Temperature Fluctuations

A novel technique for measurement of high frequency temperature fluctuations in unseeded gas flows using molecular Rayleigh scattering is investigated. The spectrum of laser light scattered from molecules in a gas flow is resolved using a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The width of the spectral peak is broadened by thermal motion of the molecules and hence is related to gas temperature. The interference fringe pattern containing spectral information is divided into four concentric regions using a series of mirrors angled with respect to one another. Light from each of these regions is directed towards photomultiplier tubes and sampled at 10 kHz using photon counting electronics. Monitoring the relative change in intensity within each region allows measurement of gas temperature. Independently monitoring the total scattered intensity provides a measure of gas density. This technique also has the potential to simultaneously measure a single component of flow velocity by monitoring the spectral peak location. Measurements of gas temperature and density are demonstrated using a low speed heated air jet surrounded by an unheated air co-flow. Mean values of temperature and density are shown for radial scans across the jet flow at a fixed axial distance from the jet exit plane. Power spectra of temperature and density fluctuations at several locations in the jet are also shown. The instantaneous measurements have fairly high uncertainty; however, long data records provide highly accurate statistically quantities, which include power spectra. Mean temperatures are compared with thermocouple measurements as well as the temperatures derived from independent density measurements. The accuracy for mean temperature measurements was +/- 7 K.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Molecular Rayleigh Scattering Techniques Developed for Measuring Gas Flow Velocity, Density, Temperature, and Turbulence

Nonintrusive optical point-wise measurement techniques utilizing the principles of molecular Rayleigh scattering have been developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center to obtain time-averaged information about gas velocity, density, temperature, and turbulence, or dynamic information about gas velocity and density in unseeded flows. These techniques enable measurements that are necessary for validating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational aeroacoustic (CAA) codes. Dynamic measurements allow the calculation of power spectra for the various flow properties. This type of information is currently being used in jet noise studies, correlating sound pressure fluctuations with velocity and density fluctuations to determine noise sources in jets. These nonintrusive techniques are particularly useful in supersonic flows, where seeding the flow with particles is not an option, and where the environment is too harsh for hot-wire measurements.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Planar particle/droplet size measurement technique using digital particle image velocimetry image data

A method for determining a mass flux of an entrained phase in a planar two-phase flow records images of particles in the two-phase flow. Respective sizes of the particles (the entrained phase) are determined as a function of a separation between spots identified on the particle images. Respective velocities of the particles are determined. The mass flux of the entrained phase is determined as a function of the size and velocity of the particles.

Wernet, Mark P.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Time-Averaged Velocity, Temperature and Density Surveys of Supersonic Free Jets

A spectrally resolved molecular Rayleigh scattering technique was used to simultaneously measure axial component of velocity U, static temperature T, and density p in unheated free jets at Mach numbers M = 0.6,0.95, 1.4 and 1.8. The latter two conditions were achieved using contoured convergent-divergent nozzles. A narrow line-width continuous wave laser was passed through the jet plumes and molecular scattered light from a small region on the beam was collected and analyzed using a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The optical spectrum analysis air density at the probe volume was determined by monitoring the intensity variation of the scattered light using photo-multiplier tubes. The Fabry-Perot interferometer was operated in the imaging mode, whereby the fringe formed at the image plane was captured by a cooled CCD camera. Special attention was given to remove dust particles from the plume and to provide adequate vibration isolation to the optical components. The velocity profiles from various operating conditions were compared with that measured by a Pitot tube. An excellent comparison within 5m's demonstrated the maturity of the technique. Temperature was measured least accurately, within 10K, while density was measured within 1% uncertainty. The survey data consisted of centerline variations and radial profiles of time-averaged U, T and p. The static temperature and density values were used to determine static pressure variations inside the jet. The data provided a comparative study of jet growth rates with increasing Mach number. The current work is part of a data-base development project for Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aeroacoustics codes that endeavor to predict noise characteristics of high speed jets. A limited amount of far field noise spectra from the same jets are also presented. Finally, a direct experimental validation was obtained for the Crocco-Busemann equation which is commonly used to predict temperature and density profiles from known velocity profiles. Data presented in this paper are available in ASCII format upon request.

Panda, Jayanta↗

NASA NTRS2004

Time-Average Measurement of Velocity, Density, Temperature, and Turbulence Using Molecular Rayleigh Scattering

Measurement of time-averaged velocity, density, temperature, and turbulence in gas flows using a nonintrusive, point-wise measurement technique based on molecular Rayleigh scattering is discussed. Subsonic and supersonic flows in a 25.4-mm diameter free jet facility were studied. The developed instrumentation utilizes a Fabry-Perot interferometer to spectrally resolve molecularly scattered light from a laser beam passed through a gas flow. The spectrum of the scattered light contains information about velocity, density, and temperature of the gas. The technique uses a slow scan, low noise 16-bit depth CCD camera to record images of the fringes formed by Rayleigh scattered light passing through the interferometer. A kinetic theory model of the Rayleigh scattered light is used in a nonlinear least squares fitting routine to estimate the unknown parameters from the fringe images. The ability to extract turbulence information from the fringe image data proved to be a challenge since the fringe is broadened by not only turbulence, but also thermal fluctuations and aperture effects from collecting light over a range of scattering angles. Figure 1 illustrates broadening of a Rayleigh spectrum typical of flow conditions observed in this work due to aperture effects and turbulence for a scattering angle, chi(sub s), of 90 degrees, f/3.67 collection optics, mean flow velocity, u(sub k), of 300 m/s, and turbulent velocity fluctuations, sigma (sub uk), of 55 m/s. The greatest difficulty in processing the image data was decoupling the thermal and turbulence broadening in the spectrum. To aid in this endeavor, it was necessary to seed the ambient air with smoke and dust particulates; taking advantage of the turbulence broadening in the Mie scattering component of the spectrum of the collected light (not shown in the figure). The primary jet flow was not seeded due to the difficulty of the task. For measurement points lacking particles, velocity, density, and temperature information could reliably be recovered, however the turbulence estimates contained significant uncertainty. Resulting flow parameter estimates are presented for surveys of Mach 0.6, 0.95, and 1.4 jet flows. Velocity, density, and temperature were determined with accuracies of 5 m/s, 1.5%, and 1%, respectively, in flows with no particles present, and with accuracies of 5 m/s, 1-4%, and 2% in flows with particles. Comparison with hotwire data for the Mach 0.6 condition demonstrated turbulence estimates with accuracies of about 5 m/s outside the jet core where Mie scattering from dust/smoke particulates aided in the estimation of turbulence. Turbulence estimates could not be recovered with any significant accuracy for measurement points where no particles were present.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Effect of Heating on Turbulent Density Fluctuations and Noise Generation From High Speed Jets

Heated jets in a wide range of temperature ratios (TR), and acoustic Mach numbers (Ma) were investigated experimentally using far field microphones and a molecular Rayleigh scattering technique. The latter provided density fluctuations measurements. Two sets of operating conditions were considered: (1) TR was varied between 0.84 and 2.7 while Ma was fixed at 0.9; (2) Ma was varied between 0.6 and 1.48, while TR was fixed at 2.27. The implementation of the molecular Rayleigh scattering technique required dust removal and usage of a hydrogen combustor to avoid soot particles. Time averaged density measurements in the first set of data showed differences in the peripheral density shear layers between the unheated and heated jets. The nozzle exit shear layer showed increased turbulence level with increased plume temperature. Nevertheless, further downstream the density fluctuations spectra are found to be nearly identical for all Mach number and temperature ratio conditions. To determine noise sources a correlation study between plume density fluctuations and far field sound pressure fluctuations was conducted. For all jets the core region beyond the end of the potential flow was found to be the strongest noise source. Except for an isothermal jet, the correlations did not differ significantly with increasing temperature ratio. The isothermal jet created little density fluctuations. Although the far field noise from this jet did not show any exceptional trend, the flow-sound correlations were very low. This indicated that the density fluctuations only acted as a "tracer parameter" for the noise sources.

Panda, Jayanta↗

NASA NTRS2004

Time-Average Molecular Rayleigh Scattering Technique for Measurement of Velocity, Denisty, Temperature, and Turbulence Intensity in High Speed Nozzle Flows

A molecular Rayleigh scattering based flow diagnostic is developed to measure time average velocity, density, temperature, and turbulence intensity in a 25.4-mm diameter nozzle free jet facility. The spectrum of the Rayleigh scattered light is analyzed using a Fabry-Perot interferometer operated in the static imaging mode. The resulting fringe pattern containing spectral information of the scattered light is recorded using a low noise CCD camera. Nonlinear least squares analysis of the fringe pattern using a kinetic theory model of the Rayleigh scattered light provides estimates of density, velocity, temperature, and turbulence intensity of the gas flow. Resulting flow parameter estimates are presented for an axial scan of subsonic flow at Mach 0.95 for comparison with previously acquired pitot tube data, and axial scans of supersonic flow in an underexpanded screeching jet. The issues related to obtaining accurate turbulence intensity measurements using this technique are discussed.

Mielke, Amy F.↗