Laser Rayleigh scattering for flame thermometry in a toroidal jet stirred combustor.

Pulsed laser Rayleigh scattering is used to obtain instantaneous flame temperatures in a turbulent flow combustor with poor optical access, a background of black body radiation, and laser induced glare. A novel method based on polarization is used for the extraction of the Rayleigh scattering. Probability density functions (PDFs) of the fluctuating temperature are obtained for fuel lean ethylene-air combustion. The smearing effects of shot noise are removed from the observed PDFs to obtain the actual fluctuating temperature PDF.