Atomization Mechanism in Diesel Fuel Spray

Abstract

In the experiments presented, a single diesel spray of n-tridecane was injected for a certain duration through a hole-type nozzle into a quiescent atmosphere at room temperature at high pressure. The experimental variables were nozzle hole dimensions such as the hole diameter d_n, the hole length l_n and the hole offset between the nozzle axis and the hole axis, and the nozzle needle lift, in order to assess the turbulent flow field inside the nozzle, and the other was the back pressure, in order to examine the effect of the ambient gas properties, especially its kinematic viscosity. The macroscopic spray structures were observed by using instantaneous photography and a high-speed video camera system. Furthermore, the microscopic structure was observed by meant of scattering photography of fuel droplets taken by the laser light sheet of a pulsed ruby laser, and the quantitative 2-D image of fuel concentration in the cross section of the spray containing its central axis was obtained by the image processing. From the experiments, the variation in the spray cone angle with the needle lift is promoted by the turbulence in the sac volume, and spray angle is closely related to the ambient kinematic vincosity.