Model for the Infrared Radiance of Optically Thin, Particulate Exhaust Plumes Generated by Pyrotechnic Flares Burning in a Vacuum

摘要

This report sets up a model for the intensity of infrared radiation emitted by a particulate exhaust plume generated by a pyrotechnic flare burning in a vacuum. The model assumes that the exhaust plume is optically thin, that it is composed mostly of discrete particles, that the particles have a size spectrum described by a log-normal probability density function, that they cool off entirely by the emission of thermal radiation, and that they all travel at the same average velocity. The model is used to predict how a magnesium-Teflon exhaust plume would look when viewed as an approximate point source by a distant infrared sensor and also to analyze the data acquired from three separate magnesium-Teflon flares burned in a large vacuum chamber.