Time-resolved, 3D, laser-induced fluorescence measurements of fine-structure passive scalar mixing in a tubular reactor

A three-dimensional, time-resolved, laser-induced fluorescence (3D-LIF) technique was developed to measure the turbulent (liquid-liquid) mixing of a conserved passive scalar in the wake of an injector inserted perpendicularly into a tubular reactor with Re=4,000. In this technique, a horizontal laser sheet was traversed in its normal direction through the measurement section. Three-dimensional scalar fields were reconstructed from the 2D images captured at consecutive, closely spaced levels by means of a high-speed CCD camera. The ultimate goal of the measurements was to assess the downstream development of the 3D scalar fields (in terms of the full scalar gradient vector field and its associated scalar energy dissipation rate) in an industrial flow with significant advection velocity. As a result of this advection velocity, the measured 3D scalar field is artificially "skewed" during a scan period. A method to correct for this skewing was developed, tested and applied. Analysis of the results show consistent physical behaviour.