Fuel temperature influence on diesel sprays in inert and reacting conditions

Abstract

The detailed knowledge of the evaporationecombustion process of the Diesel spray is a key factor for the development of robust injection strategies able to reduce the pollutant emissions and keep or increase the combustion efficiency. In this work several typical measurement applied to the diesel spray diagnostic (liquid length, lift-off length and ignition delay) have been employed in a novel continuous flow test chamber that allows an accurate control on a wide range of thermodynamic test conditions (up to 1000 K and 15 MPa). A step forward in the control of the test boundary conditions has been done employing a special system to study the fuel temperature effect on the evaporation and combustion of the spray. The temperature of the injector body has been controlled with a thermostatic system and the relationship between injector body and fuel temperature has been observed experimentally. Imaging diagnostics have been employed to visualize the liquid phase penetration in evaporative/inert conditions and, lift-off length and ignition delay in reactive condition. The results underline a clear influence of the injector body temperature on both conditions, evaporative and, in a lesser degree, reactive; finally the physical models found in the literature have been compared with the results obtained experimentally