Instantaneous temperature measurement in a rapid-compression machine using laser Rayleigh scattering

• DOI: 10.1007/bf01090974
• Publication Date: 2005-02-04T10:49:32Z
• Authors: P. Desgroux; L. Gasnot; L. R. Sochet
• Keywords: Pulse compression

The instantaneous local temperature is measured in a Rapid-Compression Machine (RCM) after the compression. The technique that we have used is the laser Rayleigh scattering at 532 nm. Despite the important background noise due to the very confined RCM chamber, optimum optical conditions lead to a single-shot temperature accuracy of 30 K at the end of compression. The temperature history is sampled at the laser pulse rate, and it exhibits large temperature fluctuations just after the end of compression. Comparison with the extensively used calculated adiabatic core gas temperature shows excellent agreement, at least in the time interval corresponding to ignition delays ( < 100 ms). This first experimental assessment of core-gas assumption is important for chemical-kinetics numerical predictions in RCMs.