Accurate measurements of laminar burning velocity using the heat flux method and thermographic phosphor technique

The Heat Flux method was further developed to significantly reduce its experimental uncertainty and used to determine burning velocities under conditions when the net heat loss from the flame to the burner is zero. Non-stretched flames were stabilized on a perforated plate burner at 1 atm. Measurements of the adiabatic burning velocity of methane/air flames at initial mixture temperatures of 318 K are presented. Previously, tiny thermocouples in the thin burner plate were used to evaluate when the heat flux of the flame to the burner is zero. Related errors limit the accuracy of the method so far. A new experimental procedure based on thermographic phosphors is described which avoids these errors. The new experimental procedure is described. An UV thermographic phosphor ZnO:Zn was selected and used to sensitively control the temperature uniformity on the burner plate to within 60 mK. Uncertainties of the measurements were analyzed and assessed experimentally. A more accurate evaluation of the gas velocities, using mass weighting, was introduced to increase the accuracy further. The uncertainty of the measured adiabatic burning velocities due to the temperature scattering can be reduced from typically ±1.5 cm/s at F = 0.7 methane/air flame to ±0.25 cm/s. The overall accuracy of the burning velocities including the uncertainty from the employed mass flow controllers was evaluated to be better than ±0.35 cm/s. Possibilities to further improve the measurement accuracy are discussed with practical considerations.