The facilities for studying IC engine combustion include three single-cylinder engine test stands, two for SI engine research and one for diesel engine research. The two SI engines are currently configured as gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines, based on a CLR crankcase and the head from a production Ford Zetec engine. The two GDI engines are identical except that one has a fused-silica cylinder for optical access into the combustion chamber and the other has a steel cylinder. Both GDI engines are fully instrumented with standard engine temperature, pressure and flow rate measurement capabilities and with computer based data acquisition systems. Emission measurement equipment is also available including a heated FID total hydrocarbon analyzer, infrared CO and CO2 analyzers, a chemiluminescence NOx analyzer,  a paramagnetic oxygen analyzer, a gas chromatograph and a heated 16-loop gas sample storage system.

Fused-Silica Cylinder	Schematic of Single Cylinder Optical Engine

The gas turbine combustion research facilities in the TCL include two combustor test rigs for the study of a variety of gas turbine combustion-related phenomena. Both combustors operate at a pressure of two atmospheres, with inlet temperatures up to 700 K (800^oF) and air flow rates up to 0.3 lbm/sec. Fuel supply systems for both natural gas and liquid fuels are available. The combustors are extensively instrumented with thermocouples and high-frequency response pressure transducers. Also available are gas analyzers for exhaust gas measurements of CO, CO₂ and total hydrocarbons and six computer-based data acquisition/processing systems.  Both combustors are designed with complete optical access to facilitate the use of a variety of optical measurement techniques.

Extensive optical and laser-based diagnostic instrumentation is also available in the TCL, including six Nd:YAG lasers, two Nd:YAG pumped dye lasers, a flashlamp pumped dye laser, three argon ion lasers, an infrared HeNe laser, four intensified CCD camera systems and the related image acquisition/processing computer systems, 1/4-meter and  3/4-meter spectrometers, two LDV systems and ten PC based data acquisition/data processing systems. Equally important is the fact that the staff and students of the TCL have extensive experience in the use of this equipment.

Instrumentation which is available for such measurements include 5 pulsed Nd:YAG lasers, 2 argon ion lasers, an infrared HeNe laser, 2 thermo-electrically cooled IR detectors, 3 intensified CCD camera and related image processing systems, 2 digital storage oscilloscopes, a ¼-meter spectrometer and a two component LDV system. The staff and students in the Turbulent Combustion Lab have extensive experience using this instrumentation for making laser Doppler velocimetry, chemiluminescence imaging, planar laser induced fluorescence, Mie scattering, laser absorption and Raman scattering measurements in both laboratory and practical combustion environments.

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