Analysis of uncertainties in instantaneous soot volume fraction measurements using two-dimensional, auto-compensating, laser-induced incandescence (2D-AC-LII)

Laser-induced incandescence (LII) is an optical measurement technique capable of measuring soot volume fraction over a wide range of conditions. However, development of two-dimensional auto-compensating LII (2D-AC-LII) in the literature has been limited and until now, instantaneous measurements have not been demonstrated. In this paper, we successfully demonstrate instantaneous 2D-AC-LII soot volume fraction (SVF) measurements in an ethylene-air co-annular diffusion flame. Results were then used to support a detailed uncertainty analysis based on a Monte-Carlo simulation. Agreement between both the instantaneous and average SVF measurements with published data from attenuation measurements under identical conditions was found to be good. Uncertainties are discussed both in terms of an overall accuracy of the SVF measurement, which is strongly dominated by uncertainty in the optical properties of soot, and the comparative uncertainties with optical properties fixed. The uncertainty in an instantaneous 2D determination of SVF for a comparative measurement is dominated by photon shot noise, and in regions of high soot volume fraction it is below 25% (95% confidence interval). Shot noise uncertainty could be further reduced with additional pixel averaging at the expense of spatial resolution. This diagnostic shows significant promise for quantitative planar soot concentration measurements within turbulent flames.