Peter R. Thom and Associates Inc

Associate and Senior Forensic Engineer

Investigates and coordinates activities of client projects regarding litigation analysis and support.
Responsible for automobile and heavy transportation accident and failure reconstruction and documentation. Specialization in transportation fires and fatality accidents.

The Sabbatical

Venturer, Explorer, and Life Student

Historical solo 2600 mile motorcycle trip through CA, NV, UT, CO, NM, and AZ.
Guest bartender and assistant stage manager at Burning Man Festival.
Cultural Latin America travel from Santiago to Patagonia, Ibiza, Granada, Sevilla, Madrid, Barcelona, and Mexico.
Extensive Sailing education and instruction, organization and some racing, primarily through volunteer activities for Newport Beach Oasis Senior Center and American Legion Post 291.
Growth and Practice as a Weaver – helping others to lead lives of greater meaning, purpose and joy, and working towards repair of social unity.

GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group)

Council Member

Remote management and engineering consulting to clients to address complex strategic challenges, make better business decisions, and advance their careers. Conducts conversations, mentorships, small group convenings, and surveys for small and large business.

University of California - Irvine

Director, Engineering Design in Industry Program, Mechanical and Aerospace Department

Primary responsibilities include student advising and experimental design, management, and implementation of a very large variety of combusting and non-combustion projects. These projects include but are not limited to the build of a small engine dyno for evaluation of 1-10 KW class DCCI engines, the design and construction of a GE Discover funded coal drop tube furnace, an Air Force SFO sponsored high speed turbine burner simulation, design and build of NSF funded wind tunnel for droplet evaporation studies, design of a system for flow visualization of non-Newtonian shear flows, and application of laser based combustion and flow visualization to these and other systems. Additional activities include proposal writing, creation and mentoring of independent research activities, and sponsor company recruiter and forty four time instructor for the Engineering Design in Industry class, ME188.

Author and recipient of $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for development of a stored energy solar stove that enables carbon emissions-free cooking.

Cummins Pacific, LLC

Director - Tier IV Systems - Ultra-Clean Aftertreatment Systems for Diesel GenSets

Leader of 11 person 'Tier 4' Aftertreatment Program team comprising Engineering, Manufacturing, Purchasing, Marketing, Sales, Quality, and Customer Service. Responsibilities include addressing revenue, gross margins, overhead and profitability; development of document control strategies and design standards; new product development and validation; implementation of ISO 9001; warranties and accruals; development of marketing materials.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Thin filament pyrometry for temperature measurements in fuel hydrate flames and non-premixed water-laden methane-air flames

8th US National Combustion Meeting 2013

Thin filament pyrometry (TFP) is a minimally intrusive optical method used to obtain temperature measurements in unsteady environments requiring fast thermal response. The goal of this study is to determine the temperature of a methane hydrate flame and a counterflow nonpremixed water laden methane-air flame. Thin filament pyrometry involves the placement of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) filament in the flame and radiative emissions from the SiC filament are then compared to thermocouple (Type B) data. Before applying thin filament pyrometry a digital Nikon D90 camera is calibrated using a blackbody furnace operating at temperatures between 750-1700?C. The recorded images are analyzed for red, green and blue intensity values and ratios between these channels are correlated against temperature. Once the camera is calibrated, a tungsten filament halogen lamp is then calibrated using blackbody radiation principles to establish a relationship between power input and filament temperature. These results are used to verify temperatures obtained from TFP. Excitation of the sodium species is captured by a spectrometer at the D-lines, 589.0 and 589.6 nm. When the light from the tungsten filament at these same wavelengths is no longer brighter than the light from the sodium, Kirchhoff's law establishes that the corresponding lamp temperature is equivalent to the flame temperature.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Thin filament pyrometry for temperature measurements in fuel hydrate flames and non-premixed water-laden methane-air flames

8th US National Combustion Meeting 2013

Thin filament pyrometry (TFP) is a minimally intrusive optical method used to obtain temperature measurements in unsteady environments requiring fast thermal response. The goal of this study is to determine the temperature of a methane hydrate flame and a counterflow nonpremixed water laden methane-air flame. Thin filament pyrometry involves the placement of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) filament in the flame and radiative emissions from the SiC filament are then compared to thermocouple (Type B) data. Before applying thin filament pyrometry a digital Nikon D90 camera is calibrated using a blackbody furnace operating at temperatures between 750-1700?C. The recorded images are analyzed for red, green and blue intensity values and ratios between these channels are correlated against temperature. Once the camera is calibrated, a tungsten filament halogen lamp is then calibrated using blackbody radiation principles to establish a relationship between power input and filament temperature. These results are used to verify temperatures obtained from TFP. Excitation of the sodium species is captured by a spectrometer at the D-lines, 589.0 and 589.6 nm. When the light from the tungsten filament at these same wavelengths is no longer brighter than the light from the sodium, Kirchhoff's law establishes that the corresponding lamp temperature is equivalent to the flame temperature.

Entrained Flow Reactor Characterization of Pulverized Coal Combustion

2011 Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute (2011)

A tubular, downward-fired, refractory-lined, laminar entrained flow reactor (EFR) provides a pilot scale environment with 2 seconds residence time for studying coal combustion. A three dimensional numerical model of the EFR was created which included appropriate convective and radiative heat transfer, fluid dynamics, as well as heterogeneous combustion chemistry. EFR experimental data were obtained for operating conditions adjusted to reproduce temperature/oxygen distributions and residence times typically found in coal-fired utility boilers. The temperature and oxygen concentration radial profiles were measured at different axial locations along the EFR. According to the measurements, the temperature and oxygen concentration profiles across the EFR are nearly uniform. The measurements were found to agree well with the CFD model once the appropriate mixing rates were included. The results demonstrated that the EFR provides an effective environment in which char burnout can be studied and that the burnout is sensitive to both temperature and oxygen concentration in the reactor.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Thin filament pyrometry for temperature measurements in fuel hydrate flames and non-premixed water-laden methane-air flames

8th US National Combustion Meeting 2013

Thin filament pyrometry (TFP) is a minimally intrusive optical method used to obtain temperature measurements in unsteady environments requiring fast thermal response. The goal of this study is to determine the temperature of a methane hydrate flame and a counterflow nonpremixed water laden methane-air flame. Thin filament pyrometry involves the placement of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) filament in the flame and radiative emissions from the SiC filament are then compared to thermocouple (Type B) data. Before applying thin filament pyrometry a digital Nikon D90 camera is calibrated using a blackbody furnace operating at temperatures between 750-1700?C. The recorded images are analyzed for red, green and blue intensity values and ratios between these channels are correlated against temperature. Once the camera is calibrated, a tungsten filament halogen lamp is then calibrated using blackbody radiation principles to establish a relationship between power input and filament temperature. These results are used to verify temperatures obtained from TFP. Excitation of the sodium species is captured by a spectrometer at the D-lines, 589.0 and 589.6 nm. When the light from the tungsten filament at these same wavelengths is no longer brighter than the light from the sodium, Kirchhoff's law establishes that the corresponding lamp temperature is equivalent to the flame temperature.

Entrained Flow Reactor Characterization of Pulverized Coal Combustion

2011 Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute (2011)

A tubular, downward-fired, refractory-lined, laminar entrained flow reactor (EFR) provides a pilot scale environment with 2 seconds residence time for studying coal combustion. A three dimensional numerical model of the EFR was created which included appropriate convective and radiative heat transfer, fluid dynamics, as well as heterogeneous combustion chemistry. EFR experimental data were obtained for operating conditions adjusted to reproduce temperature/oxygen distributions and residence times typically found in coal-fired utility boilers. The temperature and oxygen concentration radial profiles were measured at different axial locations along the EFR. According to the measurements, the temperature and oxygen concentration profiles across the EFR are nearly uniform. The measurements were found to agree well with the CFD model once the appropriate mixing rates were included. The results demonstrated that the EFR provides an effective environment in which char burnout can be studied and that the burnout is sensitive to both temperature and oxygen concentration in the reactor.

Swirl vane design for miniature fuel film combustor

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

Previous research on fuel film combustors has shown their potential as portable power devices with high mass and volume specific power and energy. In this work, the addition of a swirl vane at the bottom of the film combustor, while retaining the original design of tangential fuel inlets, will be presented. Two prototypes with different sub-centimeter inner diameters were studied. The construction challenge of building small devices with complex geometry was met by taking advantage of rapid prototyping. We found, however, that the spatial resolution of this method created some limitations. In the end, the entire small burner and the swirl vane section of the larger burner were constructed using 3D stereolithography techniques. Different swirl vanes were designed, varying the geometry and the uid dynamic features. The swirl vanes were tested in sub-centimeter burners, changing the metal of the chamber and investigating various lengths of the chamber. Operating limits and combustion stability were analyzed in a wide range of overall equivalence ratios. The effects of each swirl vane design on the combustion stability and the air/fuel mixing behavior were studied by direct and schlieren imaging.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Thin filament pyrometry for temperature measurements in fuel hydrate flames and non-premixed water-laden methane-air flames

8th US National Combustion Meeting 2013

Thin filament pyrometry (TFP) is a minimally intrusive optical method used to obtain temperature measurements in unsteady environments requiring fast thermal response. The goal of this study is to determine the temperature of a methane hydrate flame and a counterflow nonpremixed water laden methane-air flame. Thin filament pyrometry involves the placement of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) filament in the flame and radiative emissions from the SiC filament are then compared to thermocouple (Type B) data. Before applying thin filament pyrometry a digital Nikon D90 camera is calibrated using a blackbody furnace operating at temperatures between 750-1700?C. The recorded images are analyzed for red, green and blue intensity values and ratios between these channels are correlated against temperature. Once the camera is calibrated, a tungsten filament halogen lamp is then calibrated using blackbody radiation principles to establish a relationship between power input and filament temperature. These results are used to verify temperatures obtained from TFP. Excitation of the sodium species is captured by a spectrometer at the D-lines, 589.0 and 589.6 nm. When the light from the tungsten filament at these same wavelengths is no longer brighter than the light from the sodium, Kirchhoff's law establishes that the corresponding lamp temperature is equivalent to the flame temperature.

Entrained Flow Reactor Characterization of Pulverized Coal Combustion

2011 Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute (2011)

A tubular, downward-fired, refractory-lined, laminar entrained flow reactor (EFR) provides a pilot scale environment with 2 seconds residence time for studying coal combustion. A three dimensional numerical model of the EFR was created which included appropriate convective and radiative heat transfer, fluid dynamics, as well as heterogeneous combustion chemistry. EFR experimental data were obtained for operating conditions adjusted to reproduce temperature/oxygen distributions and residence times typically found in coal-fired utility boilers. The temperature and oxygen concentration radial profiles were measured at different axial locations along the EFR. According to the measurements, the temperature and oxygen concentration profiles across the EFR are nearly uniform. The measurements were found to agree well with the CFD model once the appropriate mixing rates were included. The results demonstrated that the EFR provides an effective environment in which char burnout can be studied and that the burnout is sensitive to both temperature and oxygen concentration in the reactor.

Swirl vane design for miniature fuel film combustor

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

Previous research on fuel film combustors has shown their potential as portable power devices with high mass and volume specific power and energy. In this work, the addition of a swirl vane at the bottom of the film combustor, while retaining the original design of tangential fuel inlets, will be presented. Two prototypes with different sub-centimeter inner diameters were studied. The construction challenge of building small devices with complex geometry was met by taking advantage of rapid prototyping. We found, however, that the spatial resolution of this method created some limitations. In the end, the entire small burner and the swirl vane section of the larger burner were constructed using 3D stereolithography techniques. Different swirl vanes were designed, varying the geometry and the uid dynamic features. The swirl vanes were tested in sub-centimeter burners, changing the metal of the chamber and investigating various lengths of the chamber. Operating limits and combustion stability were analyzed in a wide range of overall equivalence ratios. The effects of each swirl vane design on the combustion stability and the air/fuel mixing behavior were studied by direct and schlieren imaging.

Fuel efficiency & Emission Study of a Small Scale Spark Assisted Compression Ignition (SACI) Engine

2009 Fall Technical Meeting Western States Sections of the Combustion Institute

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Thin filament pyrometry for temperature measurements in fuel hydrate flames and non-premixed water-laden methane-air flames

8th US National Combustion Meeting 2013

Thin filament pyrometry (TFP) is a minimally intrusive optical method used to obtain temperature measurements in unsteady environments requiring fast thermal response. The goal of this study is to determine the temperature of a methane hydrate flame and a counterflow nonpremixed water laden methane-air flame. Thin filament pyrometry involves the placement of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) filament in the flame and radiative emissions from the SiC filament are then compared to thermocouple (Type B) data. Before applying thin filament pyrometry a digital Nikon D90 camera is calibrated using a blackbody furnace operating at temperatures between 750-1700?C. The recorded images are analyzed for red, green and blue intensity values and ratios between these channels are correlated against temperature. Once the camera is calibrated, a tungsten filament halogen lamp is then calibrated using blackbody radiation principles to establish a relationship between power input and filament temperature. These results are used to verify temperatures obtained from TFP. Excitation of the sodium species is captured by a spectrometer at the D-lines, 589.0 and 589.6 nm. When the light from the tungsten filament at these same wavelengths is no longer brighter than the light from the sodium, Kirchhoff's law establishes that the corresponding lamp temperature is equivalent to the flame temperature.

Entrained Flow Reactor Characterization of Pulverized Coal Combustion

2011 Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute (2011)

A tubular, downward-fired, refractory-lined, laminar entrained flow reactor (EFR) provides a pilot scale environment with 2 seconds residence time for studying coal combustion. A three dimensional numerical model of the EFR was created which included appropriate convective and radiative heat transfer, fluid dynamics, as well as heterogeneous combustion chemistry. EFR experimental data were obtained for operating conditions adjusted to reproduce temperature/oxygen distributions and residence times typically found in coal-fired utility boilers. The temperature and oxygen concentration radial profiles were measured at different axial locations along the EFR. According to the measurements, the temperature and oxygen concentration profiles across the EFR are nearly uniform. The measurements were found to agree well with the CFD model once the appropriate mixing rates were included. The results demonstrated that the EFR provides an effective environment in which char burnout can be studied and that the burnout is sensitive to both temperature and oxygen concentration in the reactor.

Swirl vane design for miniature fuel film combustor

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

Previous research on fuel film combustors has shown their potential as portable power devices with high mass and volume specific power and energy. In this work, the addition of a swirl vane at the bottom of the film combustor, while retaining the original design of tangential fuel inlets, will be presented. Two prototypes with different sub-centimeter inner diameters were studied. The construction challenge of building small devices with complex geometry was met by taking advantage of rapid prototyping. We found, however, that the spatial resolution of this method created some limitations. In the end, the entire small burner and the swirl vane section of the larger burner were constructed using 3D stereolithography techniques. Different swirl vanes were designed, varying the geometry and the uid dynamic features. The swirl vanes were tested in sub-centimeter burners, changing the metal of the chamber and investigating various lengths of the chamber. Operating limits and combustion stability were analyzed in a wide range of overall equivalence ratios. The effects of each swirl vane design on the combustion stability and the air/fuel mixing behavior were studied by direct and schlieren imaging.

Fuel efficiency & Emission Study of a Small Scale Spark Assisted Compression Ignition (SACI) Engine

2009 Fall Technical Meeting Western States Sections of the Combustion Institute

Probing dense sprays with gated, picosecond, digital particle field holography

International Journal of Spray and Combustion Dynamics

This paper describes work that demonstrated the feasibility of producing a gated digital holography system that is capable of producing high-resolution images of three-dimensional particle and structure details deep within dense particle fields of a spray. We developed a gated picosecond digital holocamera, using optical Kerr cell gating, to demonstrate features of gated digital holography that make it an exceptional candidate for this application. The Kerr cell gate shuttered the camera after the initial burst of ballistic and snake photons had been recorded, suppressing longer path, multiple scattered illumination. By starting with a CW laser without gating and then incorporating a picosecond laser and an optical Kerr gate, we were able to assess the imaging quality of the gated holograms, and determine improvement gained by gating. We produced high quality images of 50-200 μm diameter particles, hairs and USAF resolution charts from digital holograms recorded through turbid media where more than 98% of the light was scattered from the field. The system can gate pulses as short as 3 mm in pathlength (10 ps), enabling image-improving features of the system. The experiments lead us to the conclusion that this method has an excellent capability as a diagnostics tool in dense spray combustion research.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Thin filament pyrometry for temperature measurements in fuel hydrate flames and non-premixed water-laden methane-air flames

8th US National Combustion Meeting 2013

Thin filament pyrometry (TFP) is a minimally intrusive optical method used to obtain temperature measurements in unsteady environments requiring fast thermal response. The goal of this study is to determine the temperature of a methane hydrate flame and a counterflow nonpremixed water laden methane-air flame. Thin filament pyrometry involves the placement of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) filament in the flame and radiative emissions from the SiC filament are then compared to thermocouple (Type B) data. Before applying thin filament pyrometry a digital Nikon D90 camera is calibrated using a blackbody furnace operating at temperatures between 750-1700?C. The recorded images are analyzed for red, green and blue intensity values and ratios between these channels are correlated against temperature. Once the camera is calibrated, a tungsten filament halogen lamp is then calibrated using blackbody radiation principles to establish a relationship between power input and filament temperature. These results are used to verify temperatures obtained from TFP. Excitation of the sodium species is captured by a spectrometer at the D-lines, 589.0 and 589.6 nm. When the light from the tungsten filament at these same wavelengths is no longer brighter than the light from the sodium, Kirchhoff's law establishes that the corresponding lamp temperature is equivalent to the flame temperature.

Entrained Flow Reactor Characterization of Pulverized Coal Combustion

2011 Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute (2011)

A tubular, downward-fired, refractory-lined, laminar entrained flow reactor (EFR) provides a pilot scale environment with 2 seconds residence time for studying coal combustion. A three dimensional numerical model of the EFR was created which included appropriate convective and radiative heat transfer, fluid dynamics, as well as heterogeneous combustion chemistry. EFR experimental data were obtained for operating conditions adjusted to reproduce temperature/oxygen distributions and residence times typically found in coal-fired utility boilers. The temperature and oxygen concentration radial profiles were measured at different axial locations along the EFR. According to the measurements, the temperature and oxygen concentration profiles across the EFR are nearly uniform. The measurements were found to agree well with the CFD model once the appropriate mixing rates were included. The results demonstrated that the EFR provides an effective environment in which char burnout can be studied and that the burnout is sensitive to both temperature and oxygen concentration in the reactor.

Swirl vane design for miniature fuel film combustor

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

Previous research on fuel film combustors has shown their potential as portable power devices with high mass and volume specific power and energy. In this work, the addition of a swirl vane at the bottom of the film combustor, while retaining the original design of tangential fuel inlets, will be presented. Two prototypes with different sub-centimeter inner diameters were studied. The construction challenge of building small devices with complex geometry was met by taking advantage of rapid prototyping. We found, however, that the spatial resolution of this method created some limitations. In the end, the entire small burner and the swirl vane section of the larger burner were constructed using 3D stereolithography techniques. Different swirl vanes were designed, varying the geometry and the uid dynamic features. The swirl vanes were tested in sub-centimeter burners, changing the metal of the chamber and investigating various lengths of the chamber. Operating limits and combustion stability were analyzed in a wide range of overall equivalence ratios. The effects of each swirl vane design on the combustion stability and the air/fuel mixing behavior were studied by direct and schlieren imaging.

Fuel efficiency & Emission Study of a Small Scale Spark Assisted Compression Ignition (SACI) Engine

2009 Fall Technical Meeting Western States Sections of the Combustion Institute

Probing dense sprays with gated, picosecond, digital particle field holography

International Journal of Spray and Combustion Dynamics

This paper describes work that demonstrated the feasibility of producing a gated digital holography system that is capable of producing high-resolution images of three-dimensional particle and structure details deep within dense particle fields of a spray. We developed a gated picosecond digital holocamera, using optical Kerr cell gating, to demonstrate features of gated digital holography that make it an exceptional candidate for this application. The Kerr cell gate shuttered the camera after the initial burst of ballistic and snake photons had been recorded, suppressing longer path, multiple scattered illumination. By starting with a CW laser without gating and then incorporating a picosecond laser and an optical Kerr gate, we were able to assess the imaging quality of the gated holograms, and determine improvement gained by gating. We produced high quality images of 50-200 μm diameter particles, hairs and USAF resolution charts from digital holograms recorded through turbid media where more than 98% of the light was scattered from the field. The system can gate pulses as short as 3 mm in pathlength (10 ps), enabling image-improving features of the system. The experiments lead us to the conclusion that this method has an excellent capability as a diagnostics tool in dense spray combustion research.

Photoignited Aluminum Nanopowder Combustion in Air

Journal of Aeronautics, Astronautics and Aviation, Vol.47, No.3 pp.299 - 308

The objective of this work was to investigate experimentally the oxidation behavior of nanosized aluminum powders in air under white light photo-ignition conditions. Powder samples with three different nominal size particles of 20, 50, and 70 nm were characterized with HRSEM and TEM. The results showed that the reactivity of photo-ignited powder decreased with increasing size whereas the energy threshold for ignition had the opposite trend. The presence of a natural oxide coating and changes in the optical properties of the powder are proposed as the cause of this behavior.

Observations of periodic oscillatory behavior in flow rates of laboratory syringe pumps and proposed remedies

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

This experimental study focused on testing a variety of syringe pumps in use on a university campus after periodic oscillations were discovered in the flow rate of a brand new syringe pump purchased by the Lasers, Flames and Aerosols Research Group at UC-Irvine. The set up and data processing is discussed as well the results which show periodic deviations as much at 12 percent from measured mean flow rates. A potential solution for damping out periodic variations is investigated and presented. A small volume air reservoir is implemented in series with an adjustable needle valve to create a pressure drop. Damping effects and stabilization times are presented as a function of pressure drop and air volume.

Evaporation of a droplet larger than the Kolmogorov length scale immersed in a relative mean flow

International Journal of Multiphase Flow

An experimental effort to understand the contribution of turbulence to the evaporation rate of fuel droplets has been performed with particular attention to conditions when the turbulence scale is smaller than the droplet diameter. N-heptane has been chosen as working fluid to give measurable evaporation rates from droplet images over relatively short experiment times. An active turbulence grid wind tunnel is built for the requirements of this experiment. A camera triggered by a pulse generator takes images of the droplets pinned on wires across the tunnel. The results show a small increase in evaporation rate with increasing turbulence intensity, and that mean flow around the droplets has more impact on evaporation than does the turbulence state.

The Effects of Carbon-in-Ash on Mercury Capture from Flue Gas

Environmental Management and Sustainable Development

Mercury capture mostly occurs under heterogeneous conditions between sorbent particles and gaseous mercury, and this study is mainly devoted to understanding the role of carbon-in-ash on mercury capture from flue gas.

Thin filament pyrometry for temperature measurements in fuel hydrate flames and non-premixed water-laden methane-air flames

8th US National Combustion Meeting 2013

Thin filament pyrometry (TFP) is a minimally intrusive optical method used to obtain temperature measurements in unsteady environments requiring fast thermal response. The goal of this study is to determine the temperature of a methane hydrate flame and a counterflow nonpremixed water laden methane-air flame. Thin filament pyrometry involves the placement of a Silicon Carbide (SiC) filament in the flame and radiative emissions from the SiC filament are then compared to thermocouple (Type B) data. Before applying thin filament pyrometry a digital Nikon D90 camera is calibrated using a blackbody furnace operating at temperatures between 750-1700?C. The recorded images are analyzed for red, green and blue intensity values and ratios between these channels are correlated against temperature. Once the camera is calibrated, a tungsten filament halogen lamp is then calibrated using blackbody radiation principles to establish a relationship between power input and filament temperature. These results are used to verify temperatures obtained from TFP. Excitation of the sodium species is captured by a spectrometer at the D-lines, 589.0 and 589.6 nm. When the light from the tungsten filament at these same wavelengths is no longer brighter than the light from the sodium, Kirchhoff's law establishes that the corresponding lamp temperature is equivalent to the flame temperature.

Entrained Flow Reactor Characterization of Pulverized Coal Combustion

2011 Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute (2011)

A tubular, downward-fired, refractory-lined, laminar entrained flow reactor (EFR) provides a pilot scale environment with 2 seconds residence time for studying coal combustion. A three dimensional numerical model of the EFR was created which included appropriate convective and radiative heat transfer, fluid dynamics, as well as heterogeneous combustion chemistry. EFR experimental data were obtained for operating conditions adjusted to reproduce temperature/oxygen distributions and residence times typically found in coal-fired utility boilers. The temperature and oxygen concentration radial profiles were measured at different axial locations along the EFR. According to the measurements, the temperature and oxygen concentration profiles across the EFR are nearly uniform. The measurements were found to agree well with the CFD model once the appropriate mixing rates were included. The results demonstrated that the EFR provides an effective environment in which char burnout can be studied and that the burnout is sensitive to both temperature and oxygen concentration in the reactor.

Swirl vane design for miniature fuel film combustor

Fall Technical Meeting of the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute 2011, WSS/CI 2011 Fall Meeting

Previous research on fuel film combustors has shown their potential as portable power devices with high mass and volume specific power and energy. In this work, the addition of a swirl vane at the bottom of the film combustor, while retaining the original design of tangential fuel inlets, will be presented. Two prototypes with different sub-centimeter inner diameters were studied. The construction challenge of building small devices with complex geometry was met by taking advantage of rapid prototyping. We found, however, that the spatial resolution of this method created some limitations. In the end, the entire small burner and the swirl vane section of the larger burner were constructed using 3D stereolithography techniques. Different swirl vanes were designed, varying the geometry and the uid dynamic features. The swirl vanes were tested in sub-centimeter burners, changing the metal of the chamber and investigating various lengths of the chamber. Operating limits and combustion stability were analyzed in a wide range of overall equivalence ratios. The effects of each swirl vane design on the combustion stability and the air/fuel mixing behavior were studied by direct and schlieren imaging.

Fuel efficiency & Emission Study of a Small Scale Spark Assisted Compression Ignition (SACI) Engine

2009 Fall Technical Meeting Western States Sections of the Combustion Institute

Probing dense sprays with gated, picosecond, digital particle field holography

International Journal of Spray and Combustion Dynamics

This paper describes work that demonstrated the feasibility of producing a gated digital holography system that is capable of producing high-resolution images of three-dimensional particle and structure details deep within dense particle fields of a spray. We developed a gated picosecond digital holocamera, using optical Kerr cell gating, to demonstrate features of gated digital holography that make it an exceptional candidate for this application. The Kerr cell gate shuttered the camera after the initial burst of ballistic and snake photons had been recorded, suppressing longer path, multiple scattered illumination. By starting with a CW laser without gating and then incorporating a picosecond laser and an optical Kerr gate, we were able to assess the imaging quality of the gated holograms, and determine improvement gained by gating. We produced high quality images of 50-200 μm diameter particles, hairs and USAF resolution charts from digital holograms recorded through turbid media where more than 98% of the light was scattered from the field. The system can gate pulses as short as 3 mm in pathlength (10 ps), enabling image-improving features of the system. The experiments lead us to the conclusion that this method has an excellent capability as a diagnostics tool in dense spray combustion research.

Photoignited Aluminum Nanopowder Combustion in Air

Journal of Aeronautics, Astronautics and Aviation, Vol.47, No.3 pp.299 - 308

The objective of this work was to investigate experimentally the oxidation behavior of nanosized aluminum powders in air under white light photo-ignition conditions. Powder samples with three different nominal size particles of 20, 50, and 70 nm were characterized with HRSEM and TEM. The results showed that the reactivity of photo-ignited powder decreased with increasing size whereas the energy threshold for ignition had the opposite trend. The presence of a natural oxide coating and changes in the optical properties of the powder are proposed as the cause of this behavior.

Char Burnout Kinetics in an Entrained Flow Reactor

American Flame Research Committee, Pacific Rim Combustion Symposium