QUANTITATIVE LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE MEASUREMENTS AND MODELING OF NITRIC OXIDE IN HIGH-PRESSURE (6–15 ATM) COUNTERFLOW DIFFUSION FLAMES

Abstract

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements of NO concentration ([NO]) have been obtained along the centerline of methane–air counterflow diffusion flames at 6 to 15 atm. This study is an extension of our previous work involving measurements of [NO] in similar flames at two to five atm, wherein we had used a counterflow premixed flame for calibration. For the flames studied here, a method based on computed overlap fractions is developed to calibrate [NO] measurements at higher pressures. The linear LIF measurements of [NO], which are corrected for variations in the electronic quenching rate coefficient, are compared with numerical predictions from an opposed-flow flame code utilizing two Gas Research Institute (GRI) chemical kinetic mechanisms (versions 2.11 and 3.0). The effect of radiative heat loss on code predictions is accounted for by using an optically thin radiation model. The revised GRI mechanism (version 3.0) offers a significant improvement in prompt-NO predictions for these flames compared to the older version (2.11), especially at pressures below eight atm. However, a consistent discrepancy remains in the comparisons, particularly at peak NO locations for pressures lower than six atm. The measurements display a continuing trend of decreasing NO concentration with increasing pressure at 6–15 atm as expected for flames dominated by prompt NO. The discrepancy between measurements and predictions decreases with rising pressure so that the revised GRI mechanism predicts [NO] with reasonable accuracy at pressures above six atm.