Fractal Characteristics of Soot Particles in Ethylene/Air inverse diffusion Flame

Abstract

Soot is produced in incomplete combustion of fuels, it is harmful to human health and the environment. Sampling points were set along the flame height of different air-fuel ratios in ethylene/air IDF and samples were tested by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). MATLAB software was used to process TEM images, calculated the fractal dimensions of soot samples and analyzed the fractal features. With the increasing of air-fuel ratio, the soot fractal dimension decreases, the size and the number of primary particles included in aggregates increase. With the increasing of flame height, the fractal dimension value decreases, and the size of primary particle increases, the aggregating soot particles are united loose.