Measuring rocket engine temperatures with hydrogen Raman spectroscopy

Optically accessible, high-pressure, hot-fire test articles are available at NASA-Marshall for use in development of advanced rocket-engine propellant injectors. Single laser-pulse UV Raman spectroscopy has been used, in the past, in these devices for analysis of high pressure H-2- and CH4-fueled combustion, but relies on an independent pressure measurement in order to provide temperature information. A variation of UV Raman (High Resolution Hydrogen Raman Spectroscopy) is under development and will allow temperature measurement without the need for an independent pressure measurement, useful for flows where local pressure may not be accurately known. The technique involves the use of a spectrometer with good spectral resolution, requiring a small entrance slit for the spectrometer. The H-2 Raman spectrum, when created by a narrow-linewidth laser source and obtained from a good spectral resolution spectrograph, has a spectral shape related to temperature. By best-fit matching an experimental spectrum to theoretical spectra at various temperatures, a temperature measurement is obtained. The spectral model accounts for collisional narrowing, collisional broadening, Doppler broadening, and collisional line shifting of each Raman line making up the H-2 Stokes vibrational Q-branch spectrum. At pressures from atmospheric up to those associated with advanced preburner components (5500 psia), collisional broadening, though present, does not cause significant overlap of the Raman lines, allowing high resolution H-2 Raman to be used for temperature measurements in plumes and in high pressure test articles. Experimental demonstrations of the technique are performed for rich H-2-air flames at atmospheric pressure. Spectrometer imaging quality is identified as being critical for successful implementation of the technique.