Puffing frequency and soot extinction correlation in JP-8 and heptane pool fires

Abstract

A new approach for characterizing puffing frequency was established by performing total extinction measurements on pool fires of JP-8 (Jet Propulsion Fuel 8) and heptane using a multiple beam extinction experiment. A maximum entropy method (MEM) was applied to extract a characteristic extinction frequency that was found to correlate well with puffing frequency. The measured extinction frequency for both flames was found to have some variation with height, though this is small. The amplitude of the frequency of the measured oscillations was found to be higher for JP-8 than for heptane, and became constant one diameter above the fuel pan for both flames. The variance of total extinction in the JP-8 and heptane pool fires was approximately 20% and 17%, respectively. Correlation statistics between the various extinguished beams reveal an increase in axi-symmetry of the instantaneous oscillations with height above the pool.