Analysis of infrared plume images and temperature determination

Kurzfassung

This study reconstructs plume temperature fields from infrared thermography data obtained during a hydrogen peroxide catalytic decomposition experiment. The objective is to improve the physical interpretation of the apparent temperature recorded by the infrared camera by combining image processing, radiative correction, and comparison with numerical simulation. The workflow includes thermal-video trimming, plume masking, region-of-interest extraction, and conversion of exported temperature matrices into processed thermal fields. Because the plume is a semitransparent volumetric object, the measured infrared signal is integrated along the line of sight. To address this effect, an Abel-inversion-based approach is used to obtain a more meaningful representation of the plume radiative structure under an approximate axisymmetry assumption. Emissivity correction is first investigated using a simplified constant-emissivity Stefan-Boltzmann model and is then refined through a thickness-based variable-emissivity model. The resulting reconstructed temperature fields are compared with a steady numerical simulation using aligned field visualization and cross-sectional profile analysis. The results show strong qualitative agreement in plume structure and thermal trends, demonstrating that infrared thermography, combined with suitable correction methods, can provide useful temperature information for plume analysis.