Description
This experiment seeks out to investigate the flame structure of a small scale spreading flame. At the SDSU Computational Thermodynamics Laboratory an apparatus known as the Flame Stabilizer is constructed to study the structure of a small scale downward spreading flame. The flame fields and species fields under investigation are from cellulose filter paper and thermoplastic PMMA. Flame field measurement of a spreading flame is possible by implementing a linear actuator in a control system to stabilize a flame, in other words keeping it stationary in the same relative location. The flame is tracked with a thermocouple in a linear actuator system and the motion is controlled by a PID algorithm under NI LabVIEW. The thermal flame field is measured with K-type thermocouples. The species field is measured in CO_ with a non-dispersive infrared radiation (NDIR) sensor. A 2-D grid system is implemented in the x-y plane as a mapping field to measure the structure of the flame field. Temperature and CO_ sensors are placed in this grid system for measurements. The motion of the grid system is controlled by motors with linear actuators in the x-y plane for precise positioning. The CO_ fields found in this work are the first to be experimentally measured as far as moving flames are concerned. The results are useful to validate a computational model. Additionally, the fuel width, and fuel orientation to the direction of gravity are investigated to observe their effects on spread rate
