In-situ temperature and major species measurements of sooting flames based on short-gated spontaneous Raman scattering

Abstract

Spontaneous Raman scattering is a conventional in-situ laser-diagnostic method that has been widely used for measurements of temperature and major species. However, utilization of Raman scattering in sooting flames suffers from strong interference including laser-induced fluorescence, laser-induced incandescence, and flame luminosity, which has been a challenge for a long time. This work introduces an easy-to-implement and calibration-free Raman scattering thermometry in sooting flames based on a 355-nm nanosecond-pulsed laser beam. Several strategies were utilized to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and suppress the interference: (1) nanosecond intensified CCD gate width; (2) optimized intensified CCD gate delay; (3) specially designed focused laser beam; (4) ultraviolet polarizer filter. The temperature was obtained by fitting the spectral profile of Stokes-Raman scattering of N2 molecules without any calibrations. Based on the measured temperature, the mole fraction of major species can be evaluated. This method was applied to measure the temperature and major species profiles in a steady ethylene–air counterflow diffusion flame with a spatial resolution of 1.2 mm × 10.8 mm × 0.13 mm. The experimental results agree well with the simulation results in both sooting and non-sooting regions, demonstrating the feasibility of this method for quantitative diagnostics of temperature and major species in multiphase reacting flows.