Particle image velocimetry of pulverized oxy-coal flames

Oxy-fuel combustion of pulverized coal is a promising technology for cost-effective power production with carbon capture and sequestration that has impacts on emission reductions. To fully understand the behavior of turbulent oxy-coal flames, and to validate oxy-coal simulation models, accurate experimental data are needed on the details of the flow field and dynamics of pulverized coal flames at multiple scales. A non-intrusive laser diagnostic technique, Particle image velocimetry (PIV), has been used in the past to analyze the velocity field of flames under various combustion conditions. In this technique a laser sheet, formed using a combination of spherical and cylindrical lenses, illuminates seeding particles in the flow at two different times and images are recorded on a camera that is synchronized with the laser. Using PIV software, the images are divided into interrogation areas and cross-correlated to determine the displacement between the two images. Knowing the time between the two laser pulses, velocity components and all velocity-derived quantities are calculated. Although PIV has seen considerable application in laboratory flames, there has been limited application of this technique in pulverized-coal flames. In this work, PIV measurements were made of pulverized oxy-coal flames in a laboratory-scale laminar diffusion flame burner.