Temperature- and pressure-dependent absorption cross sections of gaseous hydrocarbons at 3.39 µm

Abstract

The pressure- and temperature-dependent absorption cross sections of several neat hydrocarbons and multi-component fuels are measured using a 3.39 µm helium–neon laser. Absorption cross section measurements are reported for methane, ethylene, propane, n-heptane, iso-octane, n-decane, n-dodecane, JP-10, gasoline and jet-A with an estimated uncertainty of less than 3.5%. The experimental conditions range from 298 to 673 K and from 500 to 2000 Torr with nitrogen as the bath gas. An apparatus is designed to facilitate these measurements, and specific care is taken to ensure the compositional accuracy of the hydrocarbon/N2 mixtures. The absorption cross sections of the smallest hydrocarbons, methane and ethylene, vary with temperature and pressure. The cross sections of larger hydrocarbons show negligible dependence on pressure and only a weak dependence on temperature. The reported data increase the range of conditions and the number of hydrocarbons for which cross section measurements are available at the HeNe laser wavelength.