The Combustion Diagnostics and  Environmental Measurements Laboratory

	Practical Diagnostics for Gas Species and Particle Emissions The aim of this research is to develop real-time sensors that can accurately measure gas-phase emissions from engines and gas turbines during engine transients.  We are applying LIBS, Raman spectroscopy, and Laser-Induced Incandescence (LII) to this problem. Active and recent projects In situ engine diagnostics High speed flow mixing diagnostics Turbine health monitoring using LIBS These projects are funded by The Office of Naval Research, through a Young Investigator award The U.S. Air Force with an SBIR contract with Systems Planning and Analysis The National Science Foundation through a Major Research Instrumentation grant (with the University of Alabama, Paul Puzinauskas, PI)		What is LIBS? In LIBS, a pulsed laser creates a microplasma that can be between 10,000 - 15,000 K.  The plasma vaporizes particles and fragments molecules into atoms, thermally exciting electrons into excited states.  As the plasma cools, the electrons relax, yielding familiar atomic emissions lines that can be used to quantify elemental mass concentrations. (click here for intro slides) Recent publications / papers: F. Ferioli, P. Puzinauskas, and S.G. Buckley, “Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for On-Line Engine Equivalence Ratio Measurements,” Applied Spectroscopy 57 (9) pp 1183-1189 (2003). F. Ferioli and S.G. Buckley, “Measurements of Hydrocarbons using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy,” submitted, Combustion and Flame T. Tempel, A. Zang, K.H. Yu, and S.G. Buckley, “Mixture Fraction Measurements in a Supersonic Shear Layer Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy,” submitted, Experiments in Fluids. Recent Results: Talk from ONR Propulsion meeting, June 2003 Talk from ONR Propulsion meeting, June 2004