Photos

Having just finished my degree (haven't got the results yet) I thought that I'd post a picture on here to give you a flavour of what I did during my five years at Loughborough University. I know it's not really showing you anything about anywhere so you'll just have to consider it as a taste of what Uni. life is like at Loughborough.

Today, governments and authorities are becoming stricter concerning emission levels and consumers demanding greater performance from products. This leads to a demand for greater knowledge of the combustion process and in turn a reduction in cycle to cycle variations in spark ignition internal combustion engines. Experimentation has shown that turbulence increases flame propagation rates to a degree, but if the turbulence intensities are high they can cause propagation rates to decrease. Neither theoretical models nor computational studies have yet been able to explain these observations. In fact, the theoretical models do not agree with the experiments nor with each other. My project consisted of designing a test rig (shown in the picture) to provide data for the numerical analysis of flame-vortex interactions and to verify that the rig is capable of providing this data. A deeper understanding of flame vortex interactions is possible if the numerical simulations closely complement laboratory experiments. The rig has been designed and built to observe and record the interaction of a laminar toroidal vortex with a propagating flame front moving through an air fuel premix, so that the interaction may be analysed. The data, recorded using High Speed Laser Sheet Flow Visualisation (HSLSFV), is then analysed using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) diagnostic techniques to provide a greater knowledge of the finer details of such interactions.

Sorry for the long winded note, that is basically the abstract from my report, if you like that sort of thing feel free to ask me any questions (I'm not saying that I'll know the answers, but I'll give it a go). Davy