Tri-zone flame spatial structure imaging combined with endogenic polarized scattering

We propose a multi-mode optical imaging method to retrieve the 2D and 3D spatial structures of the preheating, reaction, and recombination zones of an axisymmetric steady flame. In the proposed method, an infrared camera, a visible light monochromatic camera, and a polarization camera are triggered synchronously to capture 2D flame images, and their corresponding 3D images are reconstructed by combining different projection position images. The results of the experiments conducted indicate that the infrared and visible light images represent the flame preheating and flame reaction zones, respectively. The polarized image can be obtained by computing the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) of raw images captured by the polarization camera. We discover that the highlighted regions in the DOLP images lie outside the infrared and visible light zones; they are insensitive to the flame reaction and have different spatial structures for different fuels. We deduce that the combustion product particles cause endogenic polarized scattering, and that the DOLP images represent the flame recombination zone. This study focuses on the combustion mechanisms, such as the formation of combustion products and quantitative flame composition and structure.