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NASA NTRS2018

Toward Simultaneous Velocity and Density Measurements Using FLEET and Laser Rayleigh Scattering

Femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (FLEET) velocimetry and laser Rayleigh scattering are conducted concurrently and are evaluated for their suitability to measure velocity and density simultaneously in NASA Langley’s 0.3-m Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel. FLEET velocimetry measurements are shown to be accurate to within 1.5 percent of the measured velocity throughout the facility testing envelope and exhibit a zero-velocity precision of 0.4 m/s. Rayleigh scattering density measurements indicate a characteristically linear dependence on flow density while having an accuracy within 5.4 percent of the measured density and a precision less than or equal to 6 percent. The preliminary assessment indicates that the joint technique would be advantageous for deployment in high-pressure, cryogenic test facilities.

Burns, Ross A.↗
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 NTRS2001

Rayleigh Scattering Diagnostic for Dynamic Measurement of Velocity and Temperature

A new technique for measuring dynamic gas velocity and temperature is described. The technique is based on molecular Rayleigh scattering of laser light, so no seeding of the flow is necessary. The Rayleigh scattered light is filtered with a fixed cavity, planar mirror Fabry-Perot interferometer. A minimum number of photodetectors were used in order to allow the high data acquisition rate needed for dynamic measurements. One photomultiplier tube (PMT) was used to measure the total Rayleigh scattering, which is proportional to the gas density. Two additional PMTs were used to detect light that passes through two apertures in a mask located in the interferometer fringe plane. An uncertainty analysis was used to select the optimum aperture parameters and to predict the measurement uncertainty due to photon shot-noise. Results of an experiment to measure the velocity of a subsonic free jet are presented.

Seasholtz, Richard G.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Molecular Rayleigh Scattering Diagnostic for Dynamic Temperature, Velocity, and Density Measurements

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique is developed to measure dynamic gas temperature, velocity, and density in unseeded turbulent flows at sampling rates up to 16 kHz. A high power CW laser beam is focused at a point in an air jet plume and Rayleigh scattered light is collected and spectrally resolved. The spectrum of the light, which contains information about the temperature and velocity 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 16 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. A low speed heated jet is used to validate the measurement of temperature fluctuations and an acoustically excited nozzle flow is studied to validate velocity fluctuation measurements. Power spectral density calculations of the property fluctuations, as well as mean and fluctuating quantities are presented. Temperature fluctuation results are compared with constant current anemometry measurements and velocity fluctuation results are compared with constant temperature anemometry measurements at the same locations.

Mielke, Amy R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Rocket plume flowfield characterization using laser Rayleigh scattering

A Doppler-resolved laser Rayleigh scattering diagnostic was applied to a 111 N thrust, regenerative and fuel-film cooled, gaseous hydrogen/gaseous oxygen rocket engine. The axial and radial mean gas velocities were measured from the net Doppler shifts observed for two different scattering angles. Translational temperatures and number densities were estimated from the Doppler widths and scattered intensities, respectively, by assuming that water was the dominant scattering species in the exhaust. The experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions from a full Navier-Stokes code (RD/RPLUS) and the JANNAF Two-Dimensional Kinetics (TDK) and Standardized Plume Flowfield (SPF-II) codes. Discrepancies between the measured and predicted axial velocities, temperatures, and number densities are evident. Radial velocity measurements, however, show excellent agreement with predictions. The discrepancies are attributed primarily to inefficient mixing and combustion caused by the injection of excessive oxidizer along one side of the thrust chamber. Thrust and mass flow rate estimates obtained from the Rayleigh measurements show excellent agreement with the globally measured values.

Zupanc, Frank J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Rocket plume flowfield characterization using laser Rayleigh scattering

A Doppler-resolved laser Rayleigh scattering diagnostic was applied to a 111 N thrust, regenerative and fuel-film cooled, gaseous hydrogen/gaseous oxygen rocket engine. The axial and radial mean gas velocities were measured from the net Doppler shifts observed for two different scattering angles. Translational temperatures and number densities were estimated from the Doppler widths and scattered intensities, respectively, by assuming that water was the dominant scattering species in the exhaust. The experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions from a full Navier-Stokes code (RD/RPLUS) and the JANNAF Two-Dimensional Kinetics (TDK) and Standardized Plume Flowfield (SPF-II) codes. Discrepancies between the measured and predicted axial velocities, temperatures, and number densities are evident. Radial velocity measurements, however, show excellent agreement with predictions. The discrepancies are attributed primarily to inefficient mixing and combustion caused by the injection of excessive oxidizer along one side of the thrust chamber. Thrust and mass flow rate estimates obtained from the Rayleigh measurements show excellent agreement with the globally measured values.

Zupanc, Frank J.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Rayleigh Scattering for Measuring Flow in a Nozzle Testing Facility

A molecular Rayleigh-scattering-based air-density measurement system was built in a large nozzle-and-engine-component test facility for surveying supersonic plumes from jet-engine exhaust. A molecular Rayleigh-scattering-based air-density measurement system was built in a large nozzle-and-enginecomponent test facility for surveying supersonic plumes from jet-engine exhaust

Gomez, Carlos R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Planar Rayleigh Scattering Results in Helium/Air Mixing Experiments in a Mach 6 Wind Tunnel

Planar Rayleigh scattering measurements using an ArF-excimer laser have been performed to investigate helium mixing into air at supersonic speeds. The capability of the Rayleigh scattering technique for flow visualization of a turbulent environment is demonstrated in a large-scale, Mach 6facility. The detection limit obtained with the present setup indicates that planar, quantitative measurements of density can be made over a large cross sectional area (5 cm by 10 cm) of the flow field in the absence of clusters.

Shirinzadeh, B.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Rayleigh Scattering Diagnostic for Measurement of Velocity and Density Fluctuation Spectra

A new molecular Rayleigh scattering based flow diagnostic is used for the first time to measure the power spectrum of gas density and radial velocity component in the plumes of high speed jets. The technique is based on analyzing the Rayleigh scattered light with a Fabry-Perot interferometer used in the static, imaging mode. The PC based data acquisition system is capable of simultaneous sampling of velocity and density at rates to 100 kHz and data record lengths to 10 million. Velocity and density power spectra and velocity-density cross spectra are presented for a subsonic jet, an underexpanded screeching jet, and for Mach 1.4 and Mach 1.8 supersonic jets. Software and hardware interfaces were developed to allow computer control of all aspects of the experiment and data acquisition.

Seasholtz, Richard G.↗
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 NTRS1994

Errors induced by the neglect of polarization in radiance calculations for Rayleigh-scattering atmospheres

Although neglecting polarization and replacing the rigorous vector radiative transfer equation by its approximate scalar counterpart has no physical background, it is a widely used simplification when the incident light is unpolarized and only the intensity of the reflected light is to be computed. We employ accurate vector and scalar multiple-scattering calculations to perform a systematic study of the errors induced by the neglect of polarization in radiance calculations for a homogeneous, plane-parallel Rayleigh-scattering atmosphere (with and without depolarization) above a Lambertian surface. Specifically, we calculate percent errors in the reflected intensity for various directions of light incidence and reflection, optical thicknesses of the atmosphere, single-scattering albedos, depolarization factors, and surface albedos. The numerical data displayed can be used to decide whether or not the scalar approximation may be employed depending on the parameters of the problem. We show that the errors decrease with increasing depolarization factor and/or increasing surface albedo. For conservative or nearly conservative scattering and small surface albedos, the errors are maximum at optical thicknesses of about 1. The calculated errors may be too large for some practical applications, and, therefore, rigorous vector calculations should be employed whenever possible. However, if approximate scalar calculations are used, we recommend to avoid geometries involving phase angles equal or close to 0 deg and 90 deg, where the errors are especially significant. We propose a theoretical explanation of the large vector/scalar differences in the case of Rayleigh scattering. According to this explanation, the differences are caused by the particular structure of the Rayleigh scattering matrix and come from lower-order (except first-order) light scattering paths involving right scattering angles and right-angle rotations of the scattering plane.

Mishchenko, M. I.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Scattering in the atmosphere of Venus. Line profiles and phase curves for Rayleigh scattering

Spectral line profiles, curves of growth, and curves for the equivalent width of a line as a function of Venus phase angle are computed for a Rayleigh scattering cloud and compared with those for a cloud of isotropic scatterers. The results are similar for the two kinds of scattering, with the exception for the curves of equivalent width as a function of Venus phase angle. These latter curves exhibit the inverse phase effect and rule out the possibility that the scale height of the clouds can be much less than half the scale height of the gas.

Young, L. D. G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Planar Rayleigh scattering results in helium-air mixing experiments in a Mach-6 wind tunnel

Planar Rayleigh scattering measurements with an argon-fluoride excimer laser are performed to investigate helium mixing into air at supersonic speeds. The capability of the Rayleigh scattering technique for flow visualization of a turbulent environment is demonstrated in a large-scale, Mach-6 facility. The detection limit obtained with the present setup indicates that planar, quantitative measurements of density can be made over a large cross-sectional area (5 cm x 10 cm) of the flow field in the absence of clusters.

Shirinzadeh, B.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Study of Rayleigh scattering for visualization of helium-air mixing at Mach 6

Using an ArF excimer laser, planar Rayleigh scattering measurements were performed to investigate helium mixing into air at supersonic speeds. These experiments were conducted in the Mach 6, high-Reynolds-number facility at NASA Langley Research Center. The capability of the Rayleigh scattering technique for flow visualization of a turbulent environment was demonstrated. The qualitative agreement between the averaged Rayleigh results and the reduced mean-mass-densities obtained from probe measurements substantiate that careful application of the technique, even in the presence of clusters, can give very useful results. It was also demonstrated that planar, quantitative measurements can be made in the absence of clusters.

Shirinzadeh, B.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Study of Injection of Helium into Supersonic Air Flow Using Rayleigh Scattering

A study of the transverse injection of helium into a Mach 3 crossflow is presented. Filtered Rayleigh scattering is used to measure penetration and helium mole fraction in the mixing region. The method is based on planar molecular Rayleigh scattering using an injection-seeded, frequency-doubled ND:YAG pulsed laser and a cooled CCD camera. The scattered light is filtered with an iodine absorption cell to suppress stray laser light. Preliminary data are presented for helium mole fraction and penetration. Flow visualization images obtained with a shadowgraph and wall static pressure data in the vicinity of the injection are also presented.

Seaholtz, Richard G.↗