Three-dimensional Monitoring and Characterisation of Gaseous

Flames Using Digital Imaging Techniques

H. C. Bheemul, G. Lu, and Y. Yan∗

Abstract--This paper presents a novel optical combustion conditions.

instrumentation system developed for the
measurement of three-dimensional (3D) geometric
parameters of gaseous flames. The system consists
of three monochromatic CCD cameras, a frame
grabber and a computer with associated software.
The three cameras, placed equidistant and
equiangular from each other, capture the images
of the flame simultaneously. Using advanced
digital image processing techniques, the contours
of the flame are extracted from the images and
geometric parameters of the flame are determined.
A series of experiments was conducted on a
combustion test rig to evaluate the performance of
the system over a range of combustion conditions.
The results show that the system is capable of
measuring all the 3D parameters of a flame
including length, orientation, centroid and volume.
A set of algorithms has also been developed for the
reconstruction of 3D models of the flame. These
models combined with the 3D geometrical
parameters will help combustion engineers to have
a better insight of the dynamic nature of a flame
under a range of operating conditions.
Index terms--flame, combustion, CCD camera,
contour extraction, image processing, three-
dimensional models
I. INTRODUCTION
Fossil fuel fired combustion systems are widely
used in many industries to generate electrical
power and thermal energy. Optimised operating
conditions in such systems are required to
enhance furnace safety, improve combustion
efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions. A
flame is the central reaction zone of a
combustion process and its geometrical,
luminous and thermodynamic characteristics
provide instantaneous information on the quality
and performance of the combustion process.
Monitoring and characterisation of combustion
flames have therefore become increasingly
important to combustion engineers for improved
understanding and on-line optimisation of
Various techniques such as those based on
photographing and light scattering are being
used to study the flame parameters such as
microscopic structures of time-resolved
temperature distribution of turbulent diffusion
flames [1]. But the cost and complexity of such
systems are deemed unsuitable for industrial
applications. A number of instrumentation
systems combined with the latest optical sensing
and advanced digital imaging techniques have
recently been developed for the measurements of
geometric, luminous and thermodynamic
parameters of fossil fuel fired flames [2-5].
Several systems have also been evaluated on
industrial furnaces [6-9], and have proven to be
very reliable and cost-effective. However, the
sensing arrangement only allows a flame to be
visualised from one direction and hence
information obtained is limited to two-dimension
and the third dimension is not taken into
account.
A flame is a 3D flow field and has an inherent
dynamic nature. It can be either laminar or
turbulent depending on the Reynold’s number of
the combustion flow. The shape of the burner
outlet contributes enormously to the irregularity
of the flame shape. As the flame emerges from
the burner, the root of the flame usually shapes
out according to the structure and geometry of
the burner outlet. However, the burner outlet is
not always practically perfect as it is affected by
various factors such as wear and tear, corrosion
of the burner material and inelastic expansion of
the material at high temperatures. The flame
parameters, measured from different viewing
locations using a 2D imaging system, may not be
identical and this fact has been confirmed by
recent experimental work [10]. To achieve an in-
depth understanding of a flame and subsequent
optimisation of combustion conditions, the flame
should ideally be monitored three-dimensionally.

∗ Corresponding author: Advanced Instrumentation and Control Research Centre, School of Engineering,
University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
Email: H.C.Bheemul@gre.ac.uk, G.Lu@gre.ac.uk, Y.Yan@gre.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1634 883732, Fax: +44 (0) 1634 883153
3D flame monitoring would also generate ample
data for the validation of Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) models of flames and furnaces.
Very limited work has been reported on 3D
monitoring and characterisation of flames.
Preliminary studies on the reconstruction of 3D
models of a flame using imaging techniques has
been described by Annunzotia et al [11], where
only two flame parameters were measured
including volume and surface area. Tomographic
approach has also been applied in an attempt to
reconstruct 3D models of a flame, but no
measurement of the aforementioned flame
parameters has been made [12]. Three-
dimensional temperature measurement has been
performed by multi-spectral tomographic image
analysis [13].
In this paper, the design, implementation and
evaluation of a novel instrumentation system for
the advanced 3D monitoring and characterisation
of fossil fuel fired flames are described.
Experimental work was carried out on a
combustion test rig under a range of operating
conditions. Three identical CCD cameras were
placed equidistantly on the furnace. The cameras
capture 2D images of the flame simultaneously
from three different directions. Using contour
extraction methods, the contour of the flame is
extracted from each 2D image and is spatially
arranged in the ‘x-y-z’ co-ordinate system. A set
of 3D geometric parameters is then computed
from the contours arrangement using various
image processing techniques. Reconstruction of
3D models of the flame is also undertaken using
the flame contours.
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
A. Sensing arrangement
For 3D monitoring and characterisation of a
fossil fuel fired flame as well as its
reconstruction of 3D models, the imaging system
must be capable of “observing” the entire flame.
There are different ways of visualising the flame.
A trifurcated image fibre bundle can capture
three flame images from three different viewing
locations using a single CCD camera. However,
attenuation of the signal with respect to the
length and bending of the fibre, small field of
views and excessive cost make this approach
less feasible [14-15]. Such a system has limited
flexibility, as the length of the fibre needs to be
altered according to the size of the furnace every
time the system is installed on a new furnace. An
optical arrangement using beam-splitters,
coupled with converging and diverging lenses, is
another way of capturing multiple images on a
single CCD camera [5]. However, the system
has a poor portability due to the complexity of
the sensing arrangement.
In the present studies, three identical
monochromatic CCD cameras are utilised to
visualise the entire flame, which neutralise all
the drawbacks associated with other approaches.
More cameras could be employed to enhance the
performance of the system and improve the
quality of the 3D reconstruction of flame
models.
B. System set-up
The instrumentation system, as shown in Fig.1,
consists of three monochromatic CCD cameras,
a frame grabber, and a microcomputer with
associated software. The cameras are placed at
fixed locations A, B and C, separated by an
equal angle of 120°. Each camera has a 2/3 inch
CCD panel with a resolution of 816×606 pixels.
The frame grabber is capable of handling three
simultaneous video input signals, and uses the
RS-170/CCIR standard acquisition capabilities
to capture flame images from locations A, B and
C simultaneously. The three analogue signals are
converted into 2D digital images with 8-bit
digitisation at a rate of up to 45MHz. The frame
grabber supports a transfer rate of 132 MB/s,
providing real-time transfer of the images to the
host computer memory
A dimensional calibration of the system was
carried out by reproducing a geometrical
relationship between the cameras and the flame.
Each camera has to be calibrated separately due
to tolerance in size of the CCD sensors. Several
rectangular templates of known dimensions were
placed where the flame was to be located, and
faced one of the cameras. The horizontal and
vertical transformation factors were determined
to convert the calculated parameters into
absolute dimensions. This calibration process
was then repeated for the other two cameras.

Flame
Burner centre
B Image
120ο
120ο
A
120ο CCD camera
C
Representation
Fig.1 System set-up
C. Flame parameters and their measurement
principles
A 2D digital image of a flame comprises H×V
pixels. It can be regarded as the spatial
distribution of “mass” points in an x-y
coordinate plane where the grey-level of each
pixel representing the density of the presumed
mass. The grey-level of each pixel provides
essential information for image processing
operations. After an appropriate threshold is
defined to filter the background noise, the
contour of the flame is extracted from the image
[10].
Using the flame contours, a set of geometrical
parameters, as illustrated in Fig.2, is defined as
follows:
(1) Length (Lf): The length is defined as the
Computer
distance between the furthest point of the flame
and the burner outlet. Lf is obtained by scanning
the flame axis. The distance between the highest
Acquisition
point which intersects the flame contour and the
burner outlet is the length of the flame (Fig.2(a)).
Image
Processing (2) Centroid (Xc, Yc, Zc): The centroid is the
‘centre-of-mass’ of the flame and is measured in
terms of absolute dimensions (Fig.2(b)). Each
Data
2D flame image also has a centroid, defined in
the same principle. Three centroids can then be
determined from the three 2D images and are
arranged in the ‘x-y-z’ co-ordinate system. The
centre of the three points gives the 3D centroid
of the flame and is used to determine the flame
orientation.
(3) Orientation (αf): Due to disturbances in the
furnace, the flame may shift off the burner axis.
This characteristic of the flame is represented in
terms of its orientation, which is defined as the
angle of deviation of the centroid with respect to
the burner axis (Fig.2(b)):
 x2 + y2 
α f = tan − 1  c c 
(1)
 zc 
 

z z
Xc
f g

Centroid
e d
Burner axis
αf
Zc
Outer edge
of the flame Centroid
Lf
c o x
Zc
(0,0,0)
Yc
x
b
Yc
Xc a

y y
(a) Length (b) Centroid and orientation

Fig.2 Definition of flame parameters

(4) Volume (Qf): The volume of the flame is the
space it occupies in the furnace. As shown in
Fig.3, the flame contour is segmented at every
height interval h, and it is assumed that the
change from one contour to the other is uniform.
Therefore, the volume of the flame is the
summation of all the segments and is obtained
as:
r1 (n )r2 (n )+ r 2 (n )r3 (n ) 
N
hπ  
Qf = ∑ + r3 (n )r4 (n )+ r4 (n )r5 (n )
n =1 6  
+ r5 (n )r6 (n )+ r6 (n )r1 (n )
z
n=1
r3 h r1
r5
Burner
r4
axis
nth segment
y Camera C
(a) Segmented flame image
Fig.3 Flame segmentation for volume calculation
D. Uncertainty of flame parameters
The instantaneous value of a flame parameter is
fluctuating due to the inherent dynamic nature of
the flame. Unlike a conventional measurement
system, the uncertainty of a flame parameter is
far greater than the repeatability of the system.
To obtain relatively steady flame parameters, a
time-averaged mechanism is incorporated into
the image processing software. A total of 20
instantaneous images are averaged over a period
of 20 seconds to produce an average flame
image, from which the flame parameters are then
determined.
To obtain an indication of the flame stability, the
standard deviation (STD) of each flame
parameter is determined, which is referred to as
uncertainty of the flame parameter.
E. Reconstruction of 3D models
Many 3D reconstruction methods are based on
projection and spectroscopy. However, they are
where r1(n), r2(n), r3(n), r4(n), r5(n) and r6(n) are
the distances of the flame contour from the
burner axis at the nth segment, h is the height of
the flame segment, N is the number of flame
segments, and θ is the angle separating each
contour and 60°in this case. The accuracy of the
volume calculation depends on the values of h
and θ.
(2)
Camera B
Burner axis
θ r2
Camera A
r6
r3
r5
r4 h
(b) Enlarge view of the nth segment
inappropriate for the reconstruction of a 3D
model of the flame. This is because the flame
lacks the required features such as edges and
textures. These drawbacks have led to an attempt
of developing an innovative algorithm, which
relies on the information of the flame contours.
Mesh-generation techniques have been
incorporated into the algorithm to reconstruct the
flame models [16, 17].
As seen in Fig.3, the imaging system visualises
the entire flames at six different edges. Each
edge is separated by an angle of 60°. However,
the intermediate contours between each edge of
the flame are required to reconstruct the entire
model. The intermediate contours are extracted
from the more luminous region of the flame by
defining a higher threshold value.
The information of all the flame contours is in
2D. By using 3×3 transformation matrices, the
2D information is converted to 3D. A point of
view is chosen, and the contours are spatially
organised in the ‘x-y-z’ co-ordinate system, as
seen by the imaging system. The contours are
finally joined by a set of β-spline curves, which
are computed between the coordinates of each
contour. The model is hence reconstructed in the
mesh form. However, the point of view has to be
changed to visualise other parts of the flame
model such as the back and side views. By
constantly rotating the entire contour
arrangement by 60°, the model is seen at six
different points of view. By using an adaptive
program, pseudo-colours are applied to the
monochromatic models. Animated flame models
are also created, which enable us to view all
round the flame in near real-time.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Experimental arrangement
To evaluate the performance of the system, a
series of experiments was conducted on gas fired
combustion test rig. Fig.4 illustrates the
combustion test rig and the general experimental
arrangement. It comprises of a combustion
chamber, a burner of both air and fuel inlets, and
a fuel-air flow control unit. The chamber serves
to create a stable experimental environment. It is
designed in a hexagonal shape, each side being a
rectangle of 270×670mm. The hexagonal shape
is chosen to generate an equal angle of 120°
between the three viewing locations. Fixed at
each viewing location is a camera mount, which
supports horizontal and vertical adjustments of
the camera. The fuel used for the experiments
was commercial butane stored in a cylinder.
Diffusive flame generated at eight different fuel
flow rates, was used in the experiments.
c latest optical sensing and digital imaging
C
a techniques is described. A series of experiments
A b
B
(a) Camera, (b) Burner, (c) Combustion chamber
Fig.4 Combustion test rig and experimental arrangement
B. Measurement of flame parameters
Fig.5 illustrates the variations of each flame
parameter with fuel flow rate. Also, as the fuel
flow rate increases gradually, more vigorous
chemical and physical reactions take place in the
flame resulting in higher luminous region and
hence an increase in centroid (Zc). As the
experiments are conducted in an idealised
environment, the luminous region of the flame is
concentrated along the burner axis. Therefore,
the value of Xc and Yc are very small or zero. The
environmental condition, as well as the vertical
arrangement of the burner, contributes to small
orientation (αf) of the flame.
C. 3D flame models
Fig.6 shows reconstructed flame models at
different fuel flow rates. It is observed that the
size of the flame increases with fuel flow rate.
The flame does not drift significantly from the
burner axis (Z-axis), hence the small orientation
angle. It is evident that the flame models
reconstructed using our approach is significantly
better than those reported by other researchers
[11, 12].
Fig.7 displays a typical set of reconstructed
flame models at different intervals of time under
constant operating conditions. It is clear that the
flame fluctuates randomly in shape and size
under constant operating conditions. These
models in addition to the 3D parameters
obtained using the 3D monitoring and
characterisation technique may offer a useful
means for combustion engineers to quantify the
dynamic nature and behaviour of flames three-
dimensionally.
IV. CONCLUSION
A novel instrumentation system operating on the
conducted on the combustion test rig has
demonstrated that the system can measure a set
of 3D geometric parameters of the flame. The
defined flame parameters are derived from the
flame contour, which is obtained using the
contour extraction method. The results presented
have demonstrated that, as expected, the
characteristics of the flames are dependent on
the operational conditions of the rig. The contour
extraction method has also been used in the 3D
reconstruction of flame models. The algorithms
developed have proven efficient and reliable. It
 is envisaged that reconstructed 3D flame models
will enable an in-depth understanding of the
dynamic behaviour of flames under different
operating conditions. Further investigations are
being carried out to measure the flame
parameters under a wider range of conditions
such as different fuels and variable air-to-fuel
ratios. Measurements of 3D luminous and
thermodynamics parameters such as brightness,
uniformity, flicker and temperature of a flame
will also to be undertaken in the near future.

300 200

250 150

Centroid (mm)
Lf (mm)

200
100
150 Xc
Yc
50 Zc
100
50 0

0 -50
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Fr (cm 3s-1) Fr (cm3s-1)
(a) Length (b) Centroid

7 140
6 120
Qf×1000 (mm 3)

5 100
αf (deg)

4 80
3 60
2 40
1 20
0 0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Fr (cm 3s-1) Fr (cm 3s-1)
(c) Orientation (d) Volume
Fig.5 Variation of flame parameters with fuel flow rate

3.1 cm3s-1 7.9 cm3s-1 10.2 cm3s-1 11.8 cm3s-1

Fig.6 Reconstructed 3D flame models for different fuel flow rates
 5s 10s 15s 20s

Fig.7 Reconstructed 3D flame models at different time intervals for fuel flow rate 10.2cm3s-1

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