Measurement of Radicals and Visualization of Flame Propagation in Propellant Combustion

摘要

This report describes instrtmentation acquired as part of the DoD- DURP program. The major pieces of equipment purchased were components that upgraded an existing triple quadrupole spectrometer to a molecular beam sampling capability, a high-speed film camera, and components for a data acquisition system. These components are now being utilized in studies on the interaction between a high-temperature, high-pressure plasma and a solid propellant. The plasma is being generated by a capacitive discharge that lasts about 300 micros, depending upon ambient pressure, capillary size, and capillary meterial as the temporal variation of resistance of the plasma has a controlling influence on the behavior of the RLC circuit. The molecular beam sampling capability allows the identification and possibly quantification of radicals present in the plasma due to decomposition of capillary material and solid propellant, as well as reactions between species present in the plasma and decomposition products of the propellant. The high-speed film camera has been used to capture the evolution of the plasma to reveal the complex structure of the underexpanded supersonic jet.