Reconstruction of Multi-perforated Burner Flames through Sectioning Tomography and Light Field Imaging

Multi-perforated combustors are promising for reducing carbon emissions by improving combustion efficiency and reducing pollutant formation. These systems produce dense flame fields composed of multiple spatially confined and often overlapping flame structures, posing significant challenges for accurate flame image reconstruction, which is essential for combustion analysis and optimization. Existing methods primarily focus on reconstructing multiple depth sections of single flames, which limits their applicability to multi-flame configurations. This study proposes a novel imaging reconstruction approach that integrates sectioning tomography, light field imaging, and digital refocusing to achieve accurate depth-resolved flame images in multi-perforated burners. This method prioritizes accurate reconstruction of individual flame images by reconstructing one representative section per flame. Experiments were carried out on both non-overlapping and overlapping flames to demonstrate the method’s ability to reconstruct depth-specific images of complex flame structures. Results show that the proposed method accurately reconstructed flame contours and intensity distributions in nonoverlapping flames, while effectively isolating radiative contributions from depth-specific sections in overlapping flames. This strategy captures the overall combustion characteristics while allowing for a detailed analysis of individual flame states, providing a comprehensive understanding of both global and local combustion behaviors. Furthermore, it reduces computational complexity while preserving high-fidelity flame representation, offering an efficient tool for advanced diagnostics in multi-perforated burners.