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Schlieren/shadowgraphy has been adopted in the combustion research as a standard technique for tip penetration analysis of sprays under diesel-like engine conditions. When dealing with schlieren images of reacting sprays, the combustion process and the subsequent light emission from the soot within the flame have revealed both limitations as well as considerations that deserve further investigation. Seeking for answers to such concerns, the current work reports an experimental study with this imaging technique where, besides spatial filtering at the Fourier plane, both short exposure time and chromatic filtering were performed to improve the resulting schlieren image, as well as the reliability of the subsequent tip penetration measurement. The proposed methodology has reduced uncertainties caused by artificial pixel saturation (blooming).

The objective of the paper is the characterization of the macroscopic behavior of Diesel sprays by focusing in at the first instants of the injection process at which the spray is clearly affected by the injector needle dynamic. There are several works dealing with the characterization of Diesel sprays in stationary conditions. Most of them conclude with empirical correlations which predict spray tip penetration as a function of the most important parameters involved in the injection process, such as: injection pressure, gas ambient density, hole diameter and time elapsed from the start of injection. In all these experiments, authors find similar power law dependencies with more or less high level of confidence. Nevertheless, few works have tried to validate or to obtain new correlations for the first instants of the injection process where the spray develops in not stationary conditions because of the influence of injector needle lift.

The dense spray region in the near-field of diesel fuel injection remains an enigma. This region is difficult to interrogate with light in the visible range and difficult to model due to the rapid interaction between liquid and gas. In particular, modeling strategies that rely on Lagrangian particle tracking of droplets have struggled in this area. To better represent the strong interaction between phases, Eulerian modeling has proven particularly useful. Models built on the concept of surface area density are advantageous where primary and secondary atomization have not yet produced droplets, but rather form more complicated liquid structures. Surface area density, a more general concept than Lagrangian droplets, naturally represents liquid structures, no matter how complex. These surface area density models, however, have not been directly experimentally validated in the past due to the inability of optical methods to elucidate such a quantity.

In the present work a CFD analysis of formation and spray evolution emerging from a Multi-holes-Common Rail Diesel injector under non-evaporative conditions has been carried out. The aim of the work was to set up a tool for fuel spray simulation that could offer reasonable accuracy for the prediction of the spray tip penetration, droplet size and a reduction of CPU time. For this purpose the influence of different primary and secondary break-up models as well as drop interaction has been investigated. Phenomenological relationships have also been implemented in the code in order to enhance the prediction of the stable diameter inside the break-up models, allowing the mean drop size to be better predicted and a reduction of the time necessary to set-up the model.

Starting and operating of diesel engines in cold conditions is a common and important problem. Many factors such as ambient conditions, fuel properties, fuel injection, cranking speed, etc, affect cold engine functionality. In order to improve diesel engine cold start, it is essential to understand better these problems. In this paper the injection development at cold temperatures is studied, since it is an important parameter that affects the fuel interaction with the air, so the future combustion process would also be influenced. In particular, a hydraulic characterization of diesel injection is made, using specialized test rigs that simulate real engine in-cylinder air pressure and density; the fuel is injected from three axi-symmetric convergent nozzles at several injection pressures (30, 50, 80, 120 and 180 MPa), two chamber densities and two temperatures of 255 K (winter) and 298 K (reference).

The aim of this paper is to present an experimental study of the influence of using biodiesel blended fuels on a standard injection system taken from a DI commercial Diesel engine. The effects have been evaluated through injection rate measurements, spray momentum and spray visualization at ambient temperature (non-evaporating condition). These tests have been done using five different injection pressures, from 300 to 1600 bar, and three back pressures: 20, 50 and 80 bar. It is well known that fuel properties like density or kinematic viscosity are higher in vegetable oils and strongly affect how injection system operates. The tests showed that the use of biodiesel fuels leads to a higher mass flow when the injector is fully open. The spray pattern is also affected, biodiesel penetrates more and the spray is narrower. Some explanations are provided in this paper in order to understand better the injection process when vegetable oils are used.

In this paper, a special technique for visualizing the first 1.5 millimetres of the spray has been applied to examine the link between cavitation phenomenon inside the nozzle and spray behaviour in the near nozzle field. For this purpose, a real Diesel axi-symmetric nozzle has been analyzed. Firstly, the nozzle has been geometrically and hydraulically characterized. Mass flow measurements at stationary conditions have allowed the detection of the pressure conditions for mass flow choking, usually related with cavitation inception in the literature. Nevertheless, with the objective to get a deeper knowledge of cavitation phenomenon, near nozzle field visualization technique has been used to detect cavitation bubbles injected in a pressurized chamber filled with Diesel fuel. Using backlight illumination, the differences in terms of density and refractive index allowed the distinction between vapour and liquid fuel phases.

A study of the internal flow in the most used nozzle types in Diesel engines (microSAC and valve covered orifice VCO) was carried out in order to compare injection characteristics and understand the differences between them. To determine these differences, several experimental installations will be used, such as the injection rate test rig, steady flow test rig and spray momentum test rig, to obtain a full hydrodynamic characterization. With the help of the silicone methodology and a microscope, it is possible to determine the needle tip geometry (seat). As the geometrical characterization of the components in both nozzles was known, it was possible to carry out a CFD analysis at several needle lifts and thus observe the behavior of the internal flow in the nozzle seats and be able to compare both nozzles

The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology based on experimental and theoretical studies for the modeling of typical exhaust systems used in two-stroke small engines. The steady and dynamic behaviors of these systems have been measured in a flow test rig and in an impulse test rig, respectively. Information obtained from these experiments is used in two ways: to find a suitable geometric model to be used in a finite-difference scheme code, and to provide a mean pressure and a frequency domain reflecting boundary, in the frame of a hybrid method. A complete 50cc engine was modeled and comparisons between predicted and measured instantaneous pressure at the exhaust port show a fair agreement, the results of the hybrid approach being more accurate.

In order to analyze the influence of nozzle geometry on the internal flow characteristics of a Diesel injector, a CFD analysis of the flow through various nozzle geometries has been carried out with a commercial code. This program includes a numerical model simulating the effect of cavitation. For the flow simulation, cylindrical and conical nozzles with different grades of hydro-grinding were used in order to observe the individual effects of these geometrical parameters. The model predicts accurately the onset of cavitation, but is very limited for strongly cavitating flow, so that the analysis of the solution may only be qualitatively assessed. However, the simulations confirm the tendency observed in experiments, that the nozzle geometry significantly influences the inner flow characteristics.

In Diesel injection Systems, cavitation often appears in the injection nozzle holes. This paper analyses how cavitation affects the Diesel spray behavior. For this purpose two spray parameters, mass flux and momentum flux, have been measured at different pressure. We know that cavitation brings about the mass flux choke, but there are few studies about how the cavitation affects the momentum and the outlet velocity. The key of this study is just the measurement of the spray momentum under cavitation conditions.

A prototype multi-hole diesel injector operating with n-heptane fuel from a high-pressure common rail system is used in a high-pressure and high-temperature test rig capable of reaching 1100 Kelvin and 150 bar under different oxygen concentrations. A novel optical set-up capable of visualizing the soot cloud evolution in the fuel jet from 30 to 85 millimeters from the nozzle exit with the high-speed color diffused back illumination technique is used as a result of the insertion of a high-pressure window in the injector holder opposite to the frontal window of the vessel. The experiments performed in this work used one wavelength provide information about physical of the soot properties, experimental results variating the operational conditions show the reduction of soot formation with an increase in injection pressure, a reduction in ambient temperature, a reduction in oxygen concentration or a reduction in ambient density.

In this work a detailed soot model based on stationary flamelets is used to simulate soot emissions of a reactive Diesel spray. In order to represent soot formation and oxidation processes properly, a calibration of the soot reaction rates has to be performed. This model calibration is usually performed on basis of engine out soot measurements. Contrary to this, in this work the soot model is calibrated on local soot concentrations along the spray axis obtained from laser extinction chamber measurements. The measurements are performed with B7 certification Diesel and a series production multihole injector to obtain engine similar boundary conditions. In order to ensure that the flow and mixture field is captured well by the CFD-simulation, the simulated liquid penetration lengths and flame lift-off lengths are compared to chamber measurements.

Nowadays the main part of investigations in controlled auto-ignition (CAI) engines are centered on performance or some engine processes simulation, leaving aside particle number (PN) emission. The present work is focused on this last topic: PN emission analysis using two different injectors in a 2-stroke CAI engine, and a global comparison of PN emission of this engine with its homonymous 4-stroke engines at two operating conditions. The study was performed in a single-cylinder gasoline engine with 0.3 l displacement, equipped with an air-assisted direct-injection (DI) fuel injection system. Concerning the injectors evaluated, significant differences in PN emission have been found. When the I160X injector (narrow spray angle) was used, PN emissions were reduced. The spray cone angle during the injection event appears to be a key factor for PN emission reduction.

An experimental study has been performed to evaluate the impact of different needle partial lifts on the nozzle orifices flow. A prototype injector with a multi-orifice nozzle was used. This injector allows controlling the needle lift at different percentages of maximum lift. Different measures of mass flow rate and spray momentum flow at several rail pressures (up to 200 MPa) were made in order to observe the effect of different needle lift percentages on the amount of fuel injected and momentum of the jet. The influence of partial needle lifts on nozzle orifices flow was estimated by using non-dimensional parameters of discharge coefficient (Cd), velocity coefficient (Cv) and area coefficient (Ca). The results show an interesting reduction in nozzle discharge coefficient at partial lift. This reduction of Cd value at partial needle lift is not only due to the drop in the velocity coefficient but also to a reduction of the effective orifice area.

In the present work a constant-pressure flow facility able to reach 15 MPa ambient pressure and 1000 K ambient temperature has been employed to carry out experimental studies of the combustion process at Diesel engine like conditions. The objective is to study the effect of orifice diameter on combustion parameters as lift-off length, ignition delay and flame penetration, assessing if the processing methodologies used for a reference nozzle are suitable in heavy duty applications. Accordingly, three orifice diameter were studied: a spray B nozzle, with a nominal diameter of 90 μm, and two heavy duty application nozzles (diameter of 194 μm and 228 μm respectively). Results showed that nozzle size has a substantial impact on the ignition event, affecting the premixed phase of the combustion and the ignition location. On the lift-off length, increasing the nozzle size affected the combustion morphology, thus the processing methodology had to be modified from the ECN standard methodology.

Most studies about common-rail diesel injection consider the fuel flow along the injector as isothermal. This hypothesis is arguable given the small diameter of the orifices along which the fuel flows, together with the expansions that take place across them. These phenomena may provoke variations in the fuel temperature, which in turn modify the fuel properties (i.e. viscosity, density, speed of sound…), thus influencing injector dynamics as well as the fuel atomization and mixing processes. The present investigation accounts for these effects by means of a 1D model for the fuel flow along a common-rail ballistic injector. Local variations of fuel temperature and pressure are considered by the model thanks to the implementation of the adiabatic flow hypothesis.

Regulations on emissions from diesel engines are becoming more stringent worldwide. Hence there is a great deal of interest in developing engine combustion systems that offer the fuel efficiency of a diesel engine, but with low smoke and NOx emissions. Thus, premixed compression ignition combustion is an interesting way to achieve a clean and efficient engine. However, using a high reactivity fuel such as diesel fuel leads to a complex and expensive engine design. A proven way to overcome this drawback is to actively control the reactivity of the fuel using low cetane fuels such as gasoline. This strategy has been explored with single and multiple cylinder engines. However no detailed and well conducted studies of the injection process were found related to the effects of gasoline use in a standard commercial compression ignition diesel engine injection system.

In the wake of the Turbulent Nonpremixed Flames group (TNF) for atmospheric pressure flames, an open group of laboratories belonging to the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) agreed on a list of boundary conditions -called “Spray A”- to study the free diesel spray under steady-state conditions. Such conditions are relevant of a diesel engine operating at low temperature combustion conditions with moderate EGR, small nozzle and high injection pressure. The objective of this program is to accelerate the understanding of diesel flames, by applying each laboratory's knowledge and skills to a specific set of boundary conditions, in order to give an extensive and reliable experimental database to help spray modeling. In the present work, “Spray A” operating condition has been achieved in a constant pressure, continuous flow vessel. Schlieren high-speed imaging has been conducted to measure the spray penetration under evaporative conditions.

This publication is the result of a multidisciplinary collaboration between the academia and the industry. An attempt to pre-ionize and influence the trajectory and the fluid mechanics of the injected fuel into an experimental injection system by means of electromagnetic fields was made. This collaboration project started from research proposal, which aims at exploring the effects of a highly ionized environment on the fuel injection event and how the momentum of the injected fuel droplets may be affected by the electromagnetic fields in form of quantified variables, such as spray penetration, spreading angle and the spray axis angle. An influence of the applied electromagnetic field on the fuel spray depending on the electrode configuration was observed and is presented and discussed in this publication.