Reaction zone characteristics were studied using hydroxy radical planar laser-induced fluorescence （OH-PLIF） technique for a counter-flow preheated （CH4＋N2）/（Air＋N2） diluted diffusion flames. The effects of preheat temperature and dilute ratio on the reaction zone characteristics were investigated by demonstrating the OH intensity distribution and reaction zone thickness from OH-PLIF images. Under the experimental conditions of constant cold flow velocity, the results show that the OH intensity and reaction zone thickness decrease with the increase of dilute ratio at constant preheat temperature and increase with preheat temperature at fixed dilute ratio. The OH maximum intensity shifts towards the ＂lean＂ side of counter flow at constant preheat temperature, and it shifts towards the fuel side with the increase of dilute ratio of fuel stream and towards the oxidizer side with the increase of dilute ratio of oxidizer stream respectively. The feasibility of OH as a reaction zone marker in this diluted combustion is verified further. The variation of diffusion and chemical reaction rate of reactants due to preheat and dilution contributes to the reaction zone characteristics simultaneously. The effect of strain on the flame reaction zone should be included in the future work.
