Energy & Fuels, Vol.8, No.5, 1115-1122, 1994
Quantitative LiF Measurements of Nitric-Oxide in Laminar High-Temperature Flames
We have obtained quantitative LIF measurements of NO concentration as a function of height above the burner for several laminar, high-temperature, premixed C2H6/O-2/N-2 flames at pressures of 1.0 and 3.05 atm. Flame temperatures are found using a Rayleigh scattering technique; the maximum temperatures are between 2100 and 2300 K. Significant amounts of thermal-NO are produced in the burnt-gas region at these flame temperatures. In addition to the measurements, we have modeled the flames using the chemical kinetics model of Glarborg et al. (1986) as modified by Drake and Blint (1991). Because of the difficulty in obtaining a temperature profile for the flames near the burner surface, the solution of the coupled species-energy equations was used as the temperature profile for the predictions. This temperature profile was then adjusted to more closely reproduce the temperatures found with the Rayleigh scattering technique in the postflame zone. In general, the agreement between the [NO] measurements and predictions is within +/-30%, although more precise temperature measurements are needed for accurate assessment of the chemical kinetics model. Finally, excitation scans indicate that the NO fluorescence signals appear to suffer little interference from O-2.