MILD Combustion

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Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion is a regime of combustion that has gained a lot of interest for its promise in obtaining higher efficiency and minimizing pollutant emissions. Its potential practical applications in clean combustors makes it a topic of great interest to me. One of the cool things about MILD combustion is that it is characterized by a flame that is so faint that it is often nearly invisible to the eye!

My recent research has been focused on studying how hydrocarbon flames transition from conventional to MILD combustion. In other words, I am studying how a flame turns invisible! I do this by a employing a combination of three techniques to image the combustion process - CH* chemiluminescence imaging, planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) of formaldehyde, and Rayleigh scattering. Through non-intrusive laser based techniques, I probe these flames to explore the complex interactions of turbulence and combustion chemistry that govern the behavior of MILD flames. Experimental insights from my research will guide the development of computational tools that will allow us to predict the onset of MILD combustion.