Laminar axisymmetric propane air diffusion flames were studied at pressures 0.1 to 0.725 MPa (1 to 7.25 atm). To investigate the effect of pressure on soot formation, radially resolved soot temperatures and soot volume fractions were deduced from soot radiation emission scans collected at various pressures using spectral soot emission (SSE). Overall flame stability was quite good as judged by the naked eye. Flame heights varied by 15% and flame axial diameters decreased by 30% over the entire pressure range.Analysis of temperature sensitivity to variations in E lambda(m) revealed that a change in E lambda(m) of +/-20% produced a change in local temperature values of about 75 to 100 K or about 5%.Temperatures decreased and soot concentration increased with increased pressure. More specifically, the peak soot volume fraction showed a power law dependence, fv ∝ Pn where n = 2.0 over the entire pressure range. The maximum integrated soot volume fraction also showed a power law relationship with pressure, f ̄v ∝ Pn where n = 3.4 for 1 ≤ P ≤ 2 atm and n = 1.4 for 2 ≤ P ≤ 7.25 atm. The percentage of fuel carbon converted to soot increased with pressure at a rate, etas ∝ Pn where n = 3.3 and n = 1.1 for 1 ≤ P ≤ 2 atm and 2 ≤ P ≤ 7.25 atm respectively.

Ethane-air laminar coflow non-smoking diffusion flames have been studied at pressures up to 3.34 MPa to determine the effect of pressure on soot formation, flame temperatures and physical flame properties. The spectral soot emission (SSE) diagnostic was used to obtain spatially resolved (both radially and axially) soot volume fraction and soot temperature measurements at pressures of 0.20 to 3.34 MPa. In general, temperature profiles of a given height were found to decrease with increasing pressure. Pressure was found to enhance soot formation with decreased sensitivity as pressures were increased. A power law relation between maximum soot volume fraction and pressure was found to be fvmax & prop;P 2.39 for 0.20 & le; P & le; 1.52 MPa and fvmax & prop;P 1.10 for 1.52 & le; P & le; 3.34 MPa. The integrated line-of-sight soot volume fraction was found to vary as fvline, max & prop;P 2.32 for 0.20 & le; P & le; 0.51 MPa, fvline, max & prop;P 1.44 for 0.51 & le; P & le; 1.52 MPa and fvline, max & prop;P 0.95 for 1.52 & le; P & le; 3.34 MPa. The variation of maximum carbon conversion to soot, as a percentage of the fuel's carbon, was etas, max & prop; P2.23 for 0.20 & le; P & le; 1.13 MPa, etas, max & prop; P1.12 for 0.51 & le; P & le; 1.52 MPa and etas, max & prop; P0.41 for 1.52 & le; P & le; 3.34 MPa. The maximum value of carbon conversion was found to be eta s, max = 27.61% at P = 3.34 MPa.

An experimental study was conducted using axisymmetric co-flow laminar diffusion flames of methane-air, methane-oxygen and ethylene-air to examine the effect of pressure on soot formation and the structure of the temperature field. A liquid fuel burner was designed and built to observe the sooting behavior of methanol-air and n-heptane-air laminar diffusion flames at elevated pressures up to 50 atm. A non-intrusive, line-of-sight spectral soot emission (SSE) diagnostic technique was used to determine the temperature and the soot volume fraction of methane-air flames up to 60 atm, methane-oxygen flames up to 90 atm and ethylene-air flames up to 35 atm. The physical flame structure of the methane-air and methane-oxygen diffusion flames were characterized over the pressure range of 10 to 100 atm and up to 35 atm for ethylene-air flames. The flame height, marked by the visible soot radiation emission, remained relatively constant for methane-air and ethylene-air flames over their respected pressure ranges, while the visible flame height for the methane-oxygen flames was reduced by over 50 % between 10 and 100 atm. During methane-air experiments, observations of anomalous occurrence of liquid material formation at 60 atm and above were recorded. The maximum conversion of the carbon in the fuel to soot exhibited a strong power-law dependence on pressure. At pressures 10 to 30 atm, the pressure exponent is approximately 0.73 for methane-air flames. At higher pressures, between 30 and 60 atm, the pressure exponent is approximately 0.33. The maximum fuel carbon conversion to soot is 12.6 % at 60 atm. For methane-oxygen flames, the pressure exponent is approximately 1.2 for pressures between 10 and 40 atm. At pressures between 50 and 70 atm, the pressure exponent is about -3.8 and approximately -12 for 70 to 90 atm. The maximum fuel carbon conversion to soot is 2 % at 40 atm. For ethylene-air flames, the pressure exponent is approximately 1.4 between 10 and 30 atm. The maximum carbon conversion to soot is approximately 6.5 % at 30 atm and remained constant at higher pressures.