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The accuracy of laser-induced incandescence (LII) measurements is significantly influenced by the calibration process and the laser profile degradation due to beam steering. Additionally, the wavelength used for extinction measurements, needed for LII calibration, is critical and should be kept as high as possible in order to avoid light absorption by molecular species in the flame. The influence of beam steering on the LII measurement was studied in turbulent sooting C 2 H 4 /air flames at different pressures. While inhomogeneities in the laser profile become smoothed out in time averaged measurements, especially at higher pressure, the corresponding single shot beam profiles reveal an increasing effect of beam steering. In the current configuration it was observed that the resulting local laser fluence remains within certain limits (30% to 200%) of the original value. A sufficiently high incident laser fluence can thus prevent the local fluence from dropping below the LII threshold value of approximately 0.3 J/cm 2 at the cost of increased soot surface vaporization. A spatial resolution in the dimension of the sheet thickness of below 1 mm cannot be guaranteed at increased pressure of 9 bars due to beam steering. A feasibility study in a combustor at technical conditions demonstrates the influence of both effects beam steering and choice of calibration wavelength and led to the conclusion that, however, a shot to shot calibration of LII with simultaneously measured extinction can be realized.

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Mean and instantaneous flow fields were derived for sooting pressurized swirl flames, operated with ethylene/air in an aero-engine model combustor. Stereo particle image velocimetry served to deduce three velocity components and to identify locations of soot based on soot scattering. The measurements complement those of other quantities in the same flames published recently. Flow fields determined for cold and reactive conditions confirm conclusions drawn from application of other laser-based diagnostics: soot is mainly formed in the inner recirculation zone which recirculates reactive, hot unburnt reaction products, and partly transported into the high-velocity in-flow regions. Oxidation air injected after two thirds of the combustor forms a stagnation zone close to the combustor axis and splits into a portion flowing downstream towards the combustor exit and one transported upstream thereby affecting the local gas composition and temperatures in the inner recirculation zone. Analysis of the instantaneous images by proper orthogonal decomposition reveals the existence of a precessing vortex core which impacts the soot distribution. Presence of soot in high-velocity/high strain rate regions where soot formation is unlikely to occur can be explained as a result of transport. Flow field characterization and the correlation with soot presence, in complement of existing data, are expected to provide a valuable contribution to soot model validation.

The mechanisms of transient formation and oxidation of soot in an aero-engine model combustor at elevated pressure are studied for the first time using a combination of high-speed simultaneous stereo-PIV and OH-PLIF and results from a recent detailed LES. A combined analysis of experiment and LES shows that the highly transient and intermittent evolution of soot in this combustor is governed by an unsteady interplay of distinct pockets of burned gas in the inner recirculation zone (IRZ) with either relatively rich or relatively lean composition. The former originate from reaction of fuel-rich unburned gas, whereas the latter result from additional admixture of secondary air further downstream. The analysis further enables distinction and localization of premixed and diffusion-type flame fronts within the flame zone. The time-resolved complementary measurements of velocity field and flame structure allow accurate tracking of both the burned gas pockets and soot filaments. It is seen that soot generally forms in the rich pockets if their residence time in the IRZ is sufficient, whereas oxidation occurs in the lean zones carrying OH. Correlating the dynamics of flow field and soot indicates that the intermittency of soot is driven by an intermittent flow of lean burned gas into the IRZ that affects the residence time of rich pockets. The results suggest that the formation of soot might be further reduced by a proper adjustment of secondary air injection aiming at a sufficient and more constant recirculation of lean burned gas. A remarkably good agreement of measured and simulated instantaneous flame structures is observed, indicating that flow field and gas-phase reactions are well predicted by the LES. The experimental insights into the transient mechanisms of soot formation and oxidation, on the other hand, may provide useful input for LES soot models where deviations from measurements are generally larger.

Visualization of soot inception in turbulent pressurized flames by simultaneous measurement of laserinduced fluorescence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and laser-induced incandescence, and correlation to OH distributions, Appl. Phys. B 119 (2015) 717-730.

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a b s t r a c tLaser-induced incandescence (LII) has emerged as a promising non-invasive technique for measuring spatially and temporally resolved soot volume fraction and size. In this investigation we try to assess its performance in more detail by characterizing primary particle sizes using time-resolved LII and soot volume fractions by 2D LII. The experiments were performed at a fixed location in premixed ethylene/air flames burning on a sintered stainless-steel plug (McKenna) burner with varying values of the equivalence ratio for primary particle sizing and on the burner axis for concentration measurements. Maximum soot concentrations follow a power law behavior with equivalence ratio. The primary particle sizes obtained from LII decay curves are in good agreement with the values measured by other techniques and show a clear rise of particle size with equivalence ratio. The data analyzed with the help of a validated LII model will be useful for the further development of soot formation models.