Rayleigh scattering for density measurements in premixed flames

Rayleigh scattering measurements for molecular number density in turbulent, premixed CH₄-air flames are discussed, and data for both flamelet passage time distributions and power spectral density functions are reported and compared to the recent predictions of Bray, Libby and Moss (1984). Measurement problems associated with variations in mixture-averaged Rayleigh scattering cross section, index of refraction fluctuations, finite spatial and temporal resolution and with scattering from particles are discussed. It is concluded that these effects are relatively minor in the reported experiments. Correction procedures are suggested for the effects of cross section variation and of finite resolution. Passage time and spectral data support the Bray, Libby and Moss hypothesis for the passage time distribution function. Furthermore, model predictions for the variation across the flame brush of mean passage times for both reactant and product eddies are in reasonable agreement with experiment. Finally, the data suggest that these mean times scale in part with ū and λ in the reactant flow.