Experimental and numerical characterization of a turbulent spray flame

A turbulent ethanol spray flame is characterized through quantitative experiments using laser-based imaging techniques. The data set is used to validate a numerical code for the simulation of spray combustion. The spray burner has been designed to generate a stable flame without the use of a bluff body or a pilot flame facilitating numerical simulations. The experiments include spatially-resolved measurements of droplet sizes (Mie/LIF-dropsizing and PDA), droplet velocity (PDA), liquid-phase temperature (2-color LIF temperature imaging with Rhodamine B) and gas-phase temperature (multi-line NO-LIF temperature imaging). The measurements close to the nozzle exit are used to determine the initial conditions for numerical simulations. An Eulerian–Lagrangian model including spray flamelet modeling is applied to calculate the development of the spray. Good agreement with the experimental data is found. The experimental data set and the numerical results will be published on a website to allow other groups to evaluate their experimental and/or numerical data.