Analysis of flow and density oscillations in a swirl-stabilized flame employing highly resolving optical measurement techniques

Modern aircraft engines operate with a reduced core air mass flow, which is challenging regarding an efficient and most of all stable combustion of fuel. A variable geometry burner investigated here allows a stable lean combustion with lower air mass flow rate than with a fixed geometry. In order to optimize such burners further, the occurring flame instabilities have to be investigated. This requires optical measurement techniques with a high measurement rate and an insensitivity regarding flame glow. Concerning flow velocity measurements, the frequency modulated Doppler global velocimetry (FM-DGV) fulfills these demands. In the swirl-stabilized flame of the variable geometry burner, spectra up to 2.5 kHz of the flow velocity field were obtained with FM-DGV. For example, a resonance peak at about 255 Hz was identified in the swirled flame, which also occurs in complementing density measurements by laser interferometric vibrometry. The combined analysis of velocity and density oscillations offer new insights into the physics of flame flows.