Experimental Investigation on Self-Excited Thermoacoustic Instability in a Rijke Tube

Abstract

The experimental investigations into the thermoacoustic instability in a Rijke tube are presented. In order to capture the dynamics of the temperature, a single-ended tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) technique was developed, with a measurement rate of 5 kHz. The temperature was found to fluctuate periodically at a dominant frequency of 230 Hz, corresponding to the fundamental frequency of the Rijke tube used in the experiment. The flame chemiluminescence was detected by a high-speed camera to demonstrate flame response to thermoacoustic instability. It was evident that the flame front stretched regularly and had jagged edges. To quantitate the fluctuations of chemiluminescence intensity, the relative area was defined. According to the result, the intensity also oscillated at 230 Hz. Furthermore, the same feature was found in regard to pressure at the exit of the Rijke tube. Compared with temperature and chemiluminescent intensity, the pressure oscillations presented the most approximate standard waveform, as they suffered the least disruptions. The results indicated that the dominant frequencies of temperature, chemiluminescent intensity and pressure were consistent, in accordance with the fundamental frequency of the Rijke tube in the experiment. In addition, etalon effects on the TDLAS signals were mitigated efficiently by a lowpass filter.