Concentration fluctuation measurements in tracer plumes using high and low frequency response detectors

A set of tracer experiments designed to compare two concentration fluctuation detectors and measure fluctuation statistics at high frequencies is described. A detector which has been used in several previous fluctuation experiments (the TIP photoionisation detector manufactured by Photovac of Canada) is compared with another with a much higher frequency response (the flame ionisation detector — FID — made by Cambustion of the UK). Good agreement is found and results show that the signal optimization system used in previous work with the TIP provides an accurate enhancement of the instrument output, thus improving confidence in the results of previous papers. They also confirm that the TIP detector is able to resolve most of the concentration variance in most situations of interest, but not at very short range. Measurements of the high frequency end of the fluctuation spectrum using the FID show inertial-convective subrange behaviour at frequencies not resolved by the TIP, supporting earlier work. Fluctuation spectra measured very close to the source are also shown to have a characteristic +2/3 power law behaviour (when nSc (n) is plotted against n) at lower frequencies, in agreement with theoretical predictions.