Multiple Laser Sheet Imaging Investigation of Turbulent Flame Structure in a Spark Ignition Engine 941992

A range of multiple and sequential Mie scattering imaging techniques have been employed to investigate turbulent flame propagation in a relatively quiescent optically accessed two-stroke spark ignition engine. Flame structure and turbulence scales have been characterised by a number of methods. These include fractal analysis, simple flame perimeter to area ratios and techniques based on Fourier analysis of an independent stationary coordinate. From this was derived an integral scale of flame wrinkling and a parameter related to turbulent flame thickness. Fully developed values of these turbulence parameters proved independent of cyclic variation, mixture strength and (apart from increasing flame thickness) apparent flame extinction. Islands of unburned gas behind the flame front were associated with encirclement by large scale structures rather than partial quench or total quenching due to flame stretch.