Temperature measurement of plasma-assisted flames: comparison between optical emission spectroscopy and 2-color laser induced fluorescence techniques

Abstract

Accurate thermometry of highly reactive environments, such as plasma-assisted combustion, is challenging. With the help of conical laminar premixed methane-air flames, this study compares two thermometry techniques for the temperature determination in a combustion front enhanced by nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) plasma discharges. Based on emission spectroscopic analysis, the results show that the rotational temperature of CH(A) gives a reasonable estimate for the adiabatic flame temperature, only for lean and stoichiometric conditions. The rotational temperature of N2(C) is found to significantly underestimate the flame temperature. The 2-color OH-PLIF technique gives correct values of the flame temperature.