Two-Dimensional Imaging of Soot Volume Fraction in Pulsed Diffusion Flames by Laser-Induced Incandescence

Laser-Induced Incandescence (LII) is used in this study to measure soot volume fractions in steady and flickering ethylene diffusion flames burning at atmospheric pressure. Better understanding of flickering flame behavior also promises to improve understanding of turbulent combustion systems. A very-high-speed solenoid valve is used to force the fuel flow rate with frequencies between 10 Hz and 200 Hz with the same mean fuel flow rate of steady flame. Periodic flame flickers are captured by two-dimensional phase-locked emission and LII images for eight phases (0°–360°) covering each period. LII spectra scan for minimizing C₂ swan band emission and broadband molecular florescence, a calibration procedure using extinction measurements, and corrections for laser extinction and LII signal trapping are carried out towards developing reliable LII for quantitative applications. A comparison between the steady and pulsed flames results and the effect of the oscillation frequency on soot volume fraction for the pulsed flames are presented.