Quantitative planar temperature imaging in turbulent non-premixed flames using filtered Rayleigh scattering.

Abstract

The paper presents results demonstrating the application of filtered Rayleigh scattering (FRS) for quantitative temperature measurements within turbulent non-premixed jet flames. Through targeted fuel tailoring, i.e., the selection of a specific fuel mixture, temperature measurements are made under non-premixed fueling conditions with a single FRS measurement. For this to be feasible, the instantaneous measured FRS signal is uniquely proportional to the local temperature for all thermo-chemical states of the targeted fuel-oxidizer system. Simulated results using laminar, counterflow flame calculations show that for select CH4/H2/Ar fuel mixtures issuing into air, a unique relationship between the local FRS signal and temperature is achieved for all mixture fraction values over a full range of operating conditions from near-equilibrium to near-extinction flames. Furthermore, for the selected FRS-optimized fuel, the local mixture-averaged Rayleigh scattering cross section is nearly constant from fuel to oxidizer to products. Thus, traditional laser Rayleigh scattering (LRS) can be used to determine the temperature as a "standard" to which to compare and assess the FRS-based temperature results. Simultaneous LRS-FRS temperature measurements from Re=10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 turbulent non-premixed jet flames are presented that show good agreement between the two techniques in terms of instantaneous temperature fields and statistical quantities at various spatial locations within the flame. These results provide confidence that the current approach of FRS thermometry allows for accurate temperature measurements within the selected set of turbulent non-premixed flames.