Laser Diagnostics in Combustion - Elastic Scattering and Picosecond Laser-Induced Fluorescence

Sammanfattning: Elastic scattering and the Lorenz-Mie (LM) theory in particular is used for the characterization of sub-micron- and micron-sized droplets of organic fuels in sprays and aerosols. Calculations on the Lorenz- Mie theory show that backward-sideward scattered visible radiation can be used for unambiguous detection of ensembles of homogeneous droplets of organic substances with diameters around 1 micrometer (size parameter between 2 and 6). A backward feature in the polarization ratio appears with a value considerably higher than one, on the opposite to the case of the rainbow observed for larger droplets. A comparison between measurements and LM calculations showed that a large amount of droplets in aerosols and well-atomized sprays were smaller than one micrometer in diameter. The LM theory was also used to characterize different size groups in a burning spray. A 3 – D technique based on a picosecond laser and a streak camera was demonstrated for measurements of fast and turbulent biphase flows. The entire 3 – D information was obtained within a time-span of less than 15 nanoseconds. A 2 – D technique for lifetime measurements based on a picosecond laser and a streak camera has been demonstrated on static objects. An analysis indicates that the technique may be applied to measurements of lifetimes around or below one picosecond employing femtosecond lasers and femtosecond streak-cameras. The technique may in princple be used to study dynamic systems when two detectors are used. Fluorescence lifetime measurements on hydrogen and oxygen atoms in flames at atmospheric pressure demonstrate the need of lasers with suiting spectral properties such as jitter and linewidth and the need of detectors with high sensitivity in the near IR in the case of oxygen atoms. The fluorescence lifetimes of gas phase acetone and 3-pentanone at 266 nm excitation wavelength have been measured for mixtures with nitrogen and air at temperatures between 323 and 723 K and pressures between 0.01 and 10 bar. The effective lifetimes generally decrease with temperature and increase with pressure and in different ways for the two substances which gives implications of their use to combustion related studies. The fluorescence emission from gas phase aromatic hydrocarbons has been studied at elevated temperatures and at atmospheric pressure for different concentrations of oxygen (0-10%). Picosecond laser radiation at 266 nm was used for the excitation. The lifetimes for most of the substances decreased between one and two orders of magnitude when the temperature was increased between 400 and 1200 K. The dependence of the lifetimes on temperature and oxygen concentration indicate that the relaxation dynamics is determined by sequences and the density of vibrational states. The results give also some implications to combustion related diagnostics.