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Interpretation of optical measurements of soot in flames. Final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5410032
Optical observations of agglomerated soot in flames in our laboratory and elsewhere are reviewed. The incompatibility of these observations with the Mie theory for polydispersions of absorbing spheres noted by D'Alessio et al. is confirmed. It is concluded that this conflict arises because the loosely packed, low density agglomerates have an effective refractive index that is significantly reduced below that of the particulate material. When the particles display the characteristics of Mie scattering, it is possible to determine the soot volume fraction, the width of the distribution function and various mean diameters, the agglomerate number concentration, and the effective refractive index of the soot agglomerates from certain optical observations. The solution for the soot properties is recovered from the observed data.
Research Organization:
National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (USA)
OSTI ID:
5410032
Report Number(s):
PB-84-106822
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English