Combustion Measurements in Air Breathing Propulsion Engines. Survey and Research Needs

Abstract

—The current measurement needs of the jet engine combustion engineers and scientists are considered. An assessment is made of the potential of probe and optical technologies to meet them. In the first part, the available instrumentation are evaluated and compared for the following criteria: non-interfering access to the flow, specificity, accuracy, sensitivity, space and time resolution, and cost effectiveness. The flow properties of interest are: velocity, pressure, temperature and the components of the flow (N₂, O₂, CO₂, H₂O, CO, NO, NO₂, OH, THC's and smoke). In the second part, the different needs of the development engineer, the combustor researcher and the fundamental combustion scientist are established separately. Desirable levels of measurement criteria are proposed for all three situations. Several experiments are suggested.