Soot maturity studies in methane-air diffusion flames at elevated pressures using laser-induced incandescence
Manu Mannazhi, Sandra Török, Jinlong Gao, Per-Erik Bengtsson
Abstract
Two-dimensional laser-induced incandescence (LII) measurements were used for quantitative soot volume fraction (fv) measurements in methane-air diffusion flames at pressures ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 MPa. Additionally, laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) was used for visualization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) considered as important soot precursors. A heat and mass transfer-based LII model was used for the analysis of experimental LII fluence curves to evaluate soot absorption functions, E(m), at various spatial positions in the flames. Based on previous work, variations in the evaluated E(m) was assumed to be related to soot maturity. Generally, the most mature soot was found at the spatial position of maximum fv along the central axis and at the flame edges. Also, the soot maturity at the position of maximum fv at each pressure was found to increase from the flame at 0.1 MPa to 0.5 MPa. A critical examination of the assumptions and uncertainties in the E(m) analysis was made. The present study emphasizes the limitation of assigning soot a constant E(m) in the overall flame for temperature and soot concentration evaluation using the optical methods spectral soot emission (SSE) and line-of-sight attenuation (LOSA), which are commonly used non-intrusive optical diagnostic techniques in sooting high-pressure flames. The study also demonstrates the critical choice of fluence in quantitative imaging LII measurements of fv when the E(m) of soot spans over large range of values.