LAUSR

Abstract Comparison of the flame structure, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and soot formation characteristics of commercial diesel and a diesel surrogate is investigated using planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH and PAH at 283 nm, and laser-induced incandescence (LII) of soot at 1064 nm. The diesel and diesel surrogate flames present a similar overall appearance, with a “dark core” region of fine droplets exiting the injector and a light blue outer flame near the base. Hot soot regions appear downstream, indicated by bright yellowish flame luminosity. Comparison of simultaneously acquired single-laser-shot PLIF images of OH and PAH indicates that smaller PAH reside mostly in the central regime in the ~20–60% height of the flame, sandwiched between the flame fronts. In contrast, larger PAH and soot particles are formed further downstream. Soot-LII signals are present only in the upper ~40% height of the flame for both the fuels. The distribution of mean PAH-PLIF and soot-LII signals along the flame height is also found to be similar for both fuels, except diesel is shown to produce approximately 1.5× more soot than the diesel surrogate. Based on the analysis of probability distributions, the maximum OH-PLIF signals in both fuels have similar radial and axial spatial distributions, while maximum PAH-PLIF signals occur at a higher axial location for the diesel surrogate. However, for the diesel surrogate, maximum soot-LII signals are frequently appeared at lower heights. Therefore, exploration of more appropriate diesel surrogates may be necessary to closely mimic the PAH and soot formation behaviors of diesel fuel. The present study shows that the combined optical diagnostic techniques and the statistical analysis can be used for studying commercial diesel and diesel surrogates, and thus establish a robust framework for detailed studies of chemical kinetics, combustion dynamics, and soot formation in liquid hydrocarbon spray combustion.