ABSTRACT
Flames are fascinating phenomena, and they reveal some of their inherent features directly to man’s senses: they radiate heat and light, they may hiss, crackle, and smell. To a combustion scientist or engineer, characterization will, however, involve measurements of quantitative combustion characteristics, including temperature, pressure, heat release, or the amount of gaseous and particulate emission. Since optimization of combustion devices involves computer-based simulation of the entire process, combustion measurements are often used to validate relevant submodels from the fuel delivery to the combustion effl uent. With practical combustion devices as different in scale as kilns for waste management, power plant combustors, rocket engines, gas turbines, internal combustion engines, or household burners, measurements of relevant fl ame parameters need a large arsenal of techniques.
