A calibration-independent laser-induced incandescence technique for soot measurement by detecting absolute light intensity

Laser-induced incandescence (LII) has proved to be a useful diagnostic tool for spatially and temporally resolved measurement of particulate (soot) volume fraction and primary particle size in a wide range of applications, such as steady flames, flickering flames, and Diesel engine exhausts. We present a novel LII technique for the determination of soot volume fraction by measuring the absolute incandescence intensity, avoiding the need for ex situ calibration that typically uses a source of particles with known soot volume fraction. The technique developed in this study further extends the capabilities of existing LII for making practical quantitative measurements of soot. The spectral sensitivity of the detection system is determined by calibrating with an extended source of known radiance, and this sensitivity is then used to interpret the measured LII signals. Although it requires knowledge of the soot temperature, either from a numerical model of soot particle heating or experimentally determined by detecting LII signals at two different wavelengths, this technique offers a calibration-independent procedure for measuring soot volume fraction. Application of this technique to soot concentration measurements is demonstrated in a laminar diffusion flame.     

Quantitative investigation of soot distribution by laser-induced incandescence

Strategies employed for quantitative measurement by laser-induced incandescence are detailed. Data are obtained for several laminar diffusion flames formed from blended Diesel fuels of known composition. A tomographic procedure is developed to scale the two-dimensional data to soot volume fraction and to correct for the trapping of signal by the soot field. Scaling is achieved by use of laser extinction along the measurement plane. The findings are used in discussions of measurement issues within turbulent environments. Data are augmented with elastic scattering measurements, allowing particle-size and number-density distributions to be inferred. A degree of axial and radial similarity among various flames suggests that the processes of soot formation and oxidation occur over similar time scales for each fuel.     

Line Raman, Rayleigh, and laser-induced predissociation fluorescence technique for combustion with a tunable KrF excimer laser

We have applied a line UV Raman, Rayleigh, and laser-induced predissociation fluorescence technique for measurement of turbulent hydrocarbon flames. The species concentration of CO(2), O(2), CO, N(2), CH(4), H(2)O, OH, and H(2) and the temperature are measured instantaneously and simultaneously along a line of 11.4 mm, from which the gradients with respect to mixture fraction and spatial direction are obtained. The technique has been successfully tested in a laminar premixed stoichiometric methane flame and a laminar hydrogen diffusion flame. In addition the technique has been tested in a highly turbulent rich premixed methane flame. The data show that the technique can be used to provide instantaneous measurements of local profiles that describe the local flame structure in highly turbulent flames.     

Quantitative technique for imaging mixture fraction, temperature, and the hydroxyl radical in turbulent diffusion flames

A technique for obtaining simultaneous quantitative images of the hydroxyl radical, OH, temperature, mixture fraction, and scalar dissipation rates in turbulent diffusion flames is described. Mixture fraction is obtained from images of Rayleigh and fuel Raman scattering. We quantified the OH laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) images using detailed calibration and a correction for quenching and population distribution effects based on the simultaneous mixture fraction and temperature images. This correction was derived from calculations of laminar counterflow diffusion flames for identical fuel mixtures. These laminar flame computations are further used to estimate the errors in the measured OH concentrations. The technique is applied to piloted, nonpremixed flames over a range of jet velocities. The measured mixture fraction, temperature, and OH concentrations are in good agreement with those obtained earlier in similar flames using the single-point Raman/Rayleigh/LIF technique.     

Experimental Investigation of Buoyant Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames in an Inverted Configuration

Buoyant laminar jet diffusion flames are studied experimentally in an inverted configuration, where gaseous fuel-stream jets vertically downward into air. Flame shape, thermal structure, soot and stability behaviors are obtained until the blowoff limit is reached. By comparing with conventional jet flames, which are established when the fuel jets upward, the effects of buoyancy on laminar diffusion flames are analysed. Downward flame yields larger flame height, although the non-dimensional flame height increases linearly with the Reynolds number at nozzle exit, which is similar to upward flame. Possible reasons for the increased flame height include flow deceleration within downward buoyant flames and presence of more combustion products surrounded the jet stream, thus slowing mixing process between fuel and air. The different relative directions of buoyant flows and jet streams also result in different temperature distributions in downward and upward flames, and a stagnant interface produced by the balance between buoyant flow and jet stream is particularly observed downstream of downward flame. Downward flames contain more soot and the soot formation region is wider, which are mainly attributed to the modifications of flow field and soot path. In addition, downward and upward flames stabilize at different axial positions relative to the nozzle exit. Because of increased characteristic flame residence time, downward flames have higher blowoff limits. The downward jet flame provides an alternative configuration to upward jet flame in studying buoyant diffusion flames due to the different manifestations of buoyancy effects.     

Two-color laser-induced incandescence (2C-LII) technique for absolute soot volume fraction measurements in flames

A two-color version of the laser-induced incandescence (2C-LII) technique was implemented for measuring absolute soot volume fraction in flames. By using a calibrated tungsten ribbon lamp, soot peak temperatures were measured as a function of fluence at several locations in an ethylene diffusion flame by using a steeply edged laser beam profile. Above a certain fluence threshold, peak temperatures were tightly distributed just above 4000 K independent of the particle size and number density. Radial profiles of soot volume fraction were obtained and compared (not calibrated) with results from the laser extinction technique. Good agreement showed the validity of the 2C-LII technique at a controlled fluence.     

Evaluation of the extinction factor in a laminar flame established over a PMMA plate in microgravity

A methodology for estimating the extinction factor at λ=530 nm in diffusion flames is presented. All experiments have been in microgravity and have as their objective the production of quantitative data that can serve to evaluate the soot volume fraction. A better understanding of soot formation and radiative heat transfer is of extreme importance to many practical combustion related processes such as spacecraft fire safety. The experimental methodology implements non-axisymmetric configurations that provide a laminar diffusion flame at atmospheric pressure. PMMA is used as fuel. The oxidizer flows parallel to its surface. Optical measurements are performed at the 4.74 s ZARM drop tower.     

Two-dimensional imaging of soot volume fraction in laminar diffusion flames

A technique for acquiring two-dimensional soot-volume-fraction measurements in laminar flames has been demonstrated. The technique provides a map of very low noise concentration over a range of wavelengths (250-1100 nm). A noise level of 0.0007 in extinction and a spatial resolution of 30-40 mum for soot concentration were achieved with an arc lamp source that was filtered to provide greater spatial coherence and a CCD detector. The broadband arc lamp source also allowed us to avoid the added noise resulting from speckle with coherent laser sources. Beam steering, due to refractive-index gradients in the flame, was measured and compared with theoretical predictions. The optical arrangement to minimize the effect of beam steering is described. As a result the beam steering had no effect on the soot measurements in the flames examined. Flame-transmission maps obtained with this system in an ethylene/air laminar diffusion flame are presented. Tomographic analysis from use of an Abel inversion of the line-of-sight data to obtain radial profiles of soot concentration is described.     

Quantitative imaging of temperature and OH in turbulent diffusion flames by using a single laser source

We describe a diagnostic technique for obtaining quantitative, simultaneous, and instantaneous images of temperature and the concentration of the hydroxyl radical OH in turbulent flames. The technique uses a single laser source and a single intensified CCD camera. A stoichiometric premixed flame is used for calibration. We use detailed calculations of laminar flames of similar fuels to estimate the effects of quenching and ground-state population on the OH signal. A factor combining both effects is generated as a function of temperature. We validate the technique by comparing measured temperature and OH number density with calculated values in laminar diffusion flames. Absolute errors of 10-20% and 20-30% are estimated on the measured temperature and OH number density, respectively. The technique is applicable to regions of the flames where the Rayleigh cross section is close to that of air.     

Soot formation and oxidation in oscillating methane-air diffusion flames at elevated pressure

Comparisons with respect to the sooting tendency are made between stationary diffusion flames and diffusion flames with pulsations induced by oscillating fuel flow. Time-resolved measurements of the soot particle properties in the flames are obtained by combining Rayleigh-scattering, laser-induced incandescence, and extinction measurements into the RAYLIX method. Furthermore, flame luminosity at 590 nm and OH*-chemoluminescence signals at 310 nm are monitored to obtain data regarding the flame structure. Mean soot volume fractions of oscillating flames are significantly different from those of stationary flames with the same mean fuel flow rate; oscillations of the total amount of soot are phase shifted and asymmetric compared with fuel flow oscillations.     

Simultaneous estimation of the 3-D soot temperature and volume fraction distributions in asymmetric flames using high-speed stereoscopic images

An inverse radiation analysis using soot emission measured by a high-speed stereoscopic imaging system is described for simultaneous estimation of the 3-D soot temperature and volume fraction distributions in unsteady sooty flames. A new iterative reconstruction method taking self attenuation into account is developed based on the least squares minimum-residual algorithm. Numerical assessment and experimental measurement results of an ethylene/air diffusive flame show that the proposed method is efficient and capable of reconstructing the soot temperature and volume fraction distributions in unsteady flames. The accuracy is improved when self attenuation is considered.     

Forward-illumination light-extinction technique for soot measurement

A forward-illumination light-extinction (FILE) soot volume fraction measurement technique was developed and tested. By using a camera and a point light source in front of the flame and a diffuser behind the flame, with this technique one can achieve a two-dimensional soot concentration measurement with only one window when one is studying confined combustion. The line-of-sight quantitative soot volume fraction is obtained by calculation of the reflected light intensity with or without the presence of soot cloud. Verification of this technique was accomplished by measurement of an axisymmetric ethylene diffusion flame. The field distribution obtained by Abel inversion is presented and matched well with previous point measurements. The FILE technique has high time resolution when a high-speed camera and a copper vapor laser are adopted. All these advantages of FILE make it suitable for line-of-sight integrated, two-dimensional soot distribution of transient combustion, e.g., in the case of in-cylinder Diesel combustion.     

Laser-induced incandescence measurements of soot in turbulent pool fires

We present what we believe to be the first application of the laser-induced incandescence (LII) technique to large-scale fire testing. The construction of an LII instrument for fire measurements is presented in detail. Soot volume fraction imaging from 2?m diameter pool fires burning blended toluene/methanol liquid fuels is demonstrated along with a detailed report of measurement uncertainty in the challenging pool fire environment. Our LII instrument relies upon remotely located laser, optical, and detection systems and the insertion of water-cooled, fiber-bundle-coupled collection optics into the fire plume. Calibration of the instrument was performed using an ethylene/air laminar diffusion flame produced by a Santoro-type burner, which allowed for the extraction of absolute soot volume fractions from the LII images. Single-laser-shot two-dimensional images of the soot layer structure are presented with very high volumetric spatial resolution of the order of 10(-5)?cm3. Probability density functions of the soot volume fraction fluctuations are constructed from the large LII image ensembles. The results illustrate a highly intermittent soot fluctuation field with potentially large macroscale soot structures and clipped soot probability densities.     

Isolation of Gravity Effects on Diffusion Flames by Magnetic Field

We present the experimental demonstration of the ability of magnetic field to remove buoyancy effects on flames. The experiment consists to observing the shape and colour changes of a laminar jet diffusion flame located in the air-gap of a Bitter magnet able to delivering up 650 T²/m in magnetic gradient intensity. At some critical (predicted theoretically) value of the upward magnetic field gradient strength, the flame becomes nearly hemispheric and free of soot similarly to flames at zero-gravity in drop towers.     

Temperature imaging in nonpremixed flames by joint filtered Rayleigh and Raman scattering

Joint fuel Raman and filtered Rayleigh-scattering (FRS) imaging is demonstrated in a laminar methane-air diffusion flame. These experiments are, to our knowledge, the first reported extension of the FRS technique to nonpremixed combustion. This joint imaging approach allows for correction of the FRS images for the large variations in Rayleigh cross section that occur in diffusion flames and for a secondary measurement of fuel mole fraction. The temperature-dependent filtered Rayleigh cross sections are computed with a six-moment kinetic model for calculation of major-species Rayleigh-Brillouin line shapes and a flamelet-based model for physically judicious estimates of gas-phase chemical composition. Shot-averaged temperatures, fuel mole fractions, and fuel number densities from steady and vortex-strained diffusion flames stabilized on a Wolfhard-Parker slot burner are presented, and a detailed uncertainty analysis reveals that the FRS-measured temperatures are accurate to within +/- 4.5 to 6% of the local absolute temperature.     

Cavity ringdown and laser-induced incandescence measurements of soot

Currently laser-induced incandescence (LII) is widely used for the measurement of soot volume fraction. A particularly important aspect of the technique that has received less attention, however, is calibration. The applicability of cavity ringdown (CRD) for measurement of soot volume fraction f(v) is assessed, and the calibration of LII by means of CRD is demonstrated. The accuracy of CRD for f(v) determination is validated by comparison with traditional light extinction and path-integrated LII. By use of CRD, the quantification of LII for parts in 10(9) (ppb) f(v) levels is demonstrated. Results are presented that demonstrate the accuracy of CRD for a single laser pulse to be better than ?5% for measurement of ppb soot volume-fraction levels over a 1-cm path length. By use of CRD, spatially resolved LII signals from soot within methane-air diffusion flames are calibrated for ppb f(v) levels, thereby avoiding the extrapolation required of less sensitive methods in current use.     

Laser-induced incandescence: excitation intensity

Assumptions of theoretical laser-induced incandescence (LII) models along with possible effects of high-intensity laser light on soot aggregates and the constituent primary particles are discussed in relation to selection of excitation laser fluence. Ex situ visualization of laser-heated soot by use of transmission electron microscopy reveals significant morphological changes (graphitization) induced by pulsed laser heating. Pulsed laser transmission measurements within a premixed laminar sooting flame suggest that soot vaporization occurs for laser fluences greater than 0.5 J/cm(2) at 1064 nm. Radial LII intensity profiles at different axial heights in a laminar ethylene gas jet diffusion flame reveal a wide range of signal levels depending on the laser fluence that is varied over an eight fold range. Results of double-pulse excitation experiments in which a second laser pulse heats in situ the same soot that was heated by a prior laser pulse are detailed. These two-pulse measurements suggest varying degrees of soot structural change for fluences below and above a vaporization threshold of 0.5 J/cm(2) at 1064 nm. Normalization of the radial-resolved LII signals based on integrated intensities, however, yields self-similar profiles. The self-similarity suggests robustness of LII for accurate relative measurement of soot volume fraction despite the morphological changes induced in the soot, variations in soot aggregate and primary particle size, and local gas temperature. Comparison of LII intensity profiles with soot volume fractions (f(v)) derived by light extinction validates LII for quantitative determination of f(v) upon calibration for laser fluences ranging from 0.09 to 0.73 J/cm(2).     

Dynamic and scalar turbulent fluctuation in a diffusion flame of an-axisymmetric methane jet into air

 A study of turbulence/combustion interactions in a relatively large turbulent diffusion flame of an axisymmetric methane jet into air is presented. A first order k–ɛ turbulence closure model is used along with two different models (equal scales and non-equal scales) for the submodel describing the scalar dissipation rate. The flamelet concept is used to model the turbulent combustion along with a joint mixture fraction/strain rate probability density function (PDF) for the prediction of the average parameters of the turbulent diffusion flame. The numerical approach is that of Patankar and Spalding, while the flamelet simulations are obtained from the RUN-1DL code of Rogg and co-workers based on a 17 species detailed reaction mechanism. The chosen configuration is that of the experimentally studied turbulent diffusion flame of Streb [1]. A comparison between these experimental results and the obtained numerical ones is thus presented. Relatively good agreements are obtained which show the usefulness of the two-scale model compared to the classical one-scale model for predicting turbulent diffusion flames. Nonetheless some discrepancies are obtained in the outer and downstream regions of the jet, especially in comparison with the experimental data. These are attributed to short coming of the considered turbulence model and soot radiation which is not accounted for. Received: 2 May 2002 / Accepted: 31 January 2003     

Numerical study of interaction of coal dust with premixed fuel-lean methane-air flames

Interaction of combustible particles with flames occurs in fire scenarios. In this study, numerical investigation of interaction of coal dust or micron-sized particles with lean premixed methane-air flames is presented. A two-dimensional axisymmetric domain is employed to simulate conical premixed flames from lab-scale Bunsen burner. A chemical kinetic mechanism having 25 species and 121 elementary reactions, temperature dependent thermo-physical properties, multi-component diffusion with Soret effect and radiation model accounting for gas and soot radiation are used. Discrete Phase Model (DPM) is used to simulate the transport of coal particles. Coal particles in varies size ranges and concentrations are injected into the premixed reactant mixture at equivalence ratio between 0.75 and 0.85. Multiple species from devolatilization of coal particles are considered to enter the gas-phase. Laminar flame speeds are predicted using numerical shadowgraphs and validated against the experimental data from literature. Injection of coal particles affects the laminar burning velocity and flame structure. The numerical model is able to predict the variation trends in the laminar flame speed data quite reasonably. A detailed analysis of injection of coal particles on the resultant flame dynamics are presented using the fields of temperature, flow, species, net reaction rate, heat release rate and DPM.