International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp.

167−173 (2012) Copyright © 2012 KSAE/ 063−01

DOI 10.1007/s12239−012−0014−7 pISSN 1229−9138/ eISSN 1976-3832

ANALYTICAL STUDY OF PRESSURE PULSATION

CHARACTERISTICS ACCORDING TO THE GEOMETRIES
OF THE FUEL RAIL OF AN MPI ENGINE

H. S. HEO1)*, S. J. BAE1), H. K. LEE1) and K. S. PARK2)

1)
Korea Automotive Technology Institute, 74 Yongjeong-ri, Pungse-myeon, Cheonan-si, Chungnam 330-912, Korea
2)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyunghee University, Gyeonggi 446-701, Korea

(Received 5 October 2010; Revised 11 March 2011; Accepted 9 May 2011)

ABSTRACT−In a conventional MPI engine, a pulsation damper is usually mounted on the fuel rail to diminish undesirable
noise in the vehicle cabin room; however, pulsation dampers are quite expensive. Therefore, several studies have focused on
reducing fuel pressure pulsation by increasing the self-damping characteristics of the fuel rail. This paper details the
development of a fuel rail that reduces pulsation using a self-damping effect. Using an oil hammer simulation technique,
pressure pulsation characteristics were investigated with respect to the aspect ratio of the cross-section, wall thickness, and fuel
rail material. Increasing the aspect ratio and decreasing the wall thickness efficiently reduced the pressure pulsation. In
addition, the pressure pulsation characteristics were investigated with respect to the resonant engine speed and injection
period. These simulated data can be used to reduce the pressure pulsation peak and to avoid the resonant point in the design
stage during the development of a fuel rail.

KEY WORDS : Bulk modulus, Fuel rail, Injection period, Oil hammer, Pressure change period, Pressure pulsation, Pressure
propagation speed

NOMENCLATURE 1. INTRODUCTION

H : height of fuel rail, mm In a conventional fuel supply system, a pressure regulator

K : bulk modulus, Pa is installed on the fuel rail to reduce the pressure pulsations
n : number of injectors that are created by the opening and closing of the injectors
P : fluid pressure, Pa that return residual fuel to the fuel tank; they are also
PC : pressure change period, ms installed to sustain a constant pressure in the system.
P/P : pressure pulsation peak, Pa Fuel is heated by the high temperature of the engine
rpm : engine speed, rev./min room, causing some of it to evaporate to the exterior of the
t : thickness of fuel rail, mm system through tubing before returning to the fuel tank.
T : time, s The evaporated fuel is classified as a noxious substance by
u : fluid flow velocity, m/s current exhaust emission regulations (Mizuno et al., 2002).
V : volume, cm3 Thus, returnless fuel supply systems are common in the
W : width of fuel rail, m automotive industry. In such systems, the pressure
a : pressure propagation speed, m/s regulator must be located in the fuel tank. Therefore, the
ρ : density, kg/m3 pressure pulsation is greater than it is in a return system,
where the pressure regulator is outside the fuel tank near
SUBSCRIPTS the fuel rail. The pressure pulsation from the fuel supply
system can cause undesirable noise in the cabin room.
f : fluid Therefore, a pulsation damper is mounted to resolve this
ref : reference problem, but pulsation dampers are expensive. Previously,
w : wall Mizuno et al. (2002) and Ogata et al. (2003) developed fuel
0 : value of reference rails that do not require a damper.
Unlike previous studies (Wu et al., 2001; Cortese et al.,
2004; Rakopoulos and Hountalas, 1996; Chen and Yang,
1998; Nam et al., 2003) on the subject of pulsation
*Corresponding author. e-mail: hsheo@katech.re.kr reduction, an experimental investigation (Huang and Lai,

167
168 H. S. HEO, S. J. BAE, H. K. LEE and K. S. PARK

Table 1. Basic geometries of the fuel rail system.

Supply line length Fuel rail length
2,000 310
(mm) (mm)
Supply line diameter 5 Number of injector 4
(mm) holes
Supply line thickness Diameter of injector
0.7 0.2
(mm) holes (mm)

multi-injections. The oil hammer effect was investigated to

obtain a fuel rail with an injector that is suddenly closed
Figure 1. Typical fuel rail with a damper. from steady injection. The pulsation simulations were
conducted with continuous four-port injection (in the order
of 1-3-4-2) at the resonant speed derived from the pressure
change period.
2009) had been conducted on the dynamic response of a The basic model for the simulation has four injectors on
fuel injection system with the injectors and pressure the fuel rail. The geometries of the injectors and supply line
modulator. However, there have been few studies that have are identical in every case. The supply line is composed of
focused on reducing pulsation in the fuel rail with an Nylon 12.
integrated self-damping effect because pressure pulsations Table 1 shows the basic data of the typical specifications
can be reduced by installing a pulsation damper. The cross- for the simulation models. Geometrical specifications for
section of the fuel rail is generally circular or square. A fuel individual cases are shown in Table 2. A cross-section of
rail is composed of low-carbon steel, stainless steel, 18×18 (Case 1 in Table 2) is the target model size. These
aluminum, or plastic. The use of plastic for fuel rails has simulations were performed to investigate the effect of
been reduced due to concerns that the material may emit increasing the aspect ratio with respect to the target model
evaporative gas (Mizuno et al., 2002). in the available layout.
Figure 1 shows a fuel rail of a conventional returnless Various geometries of the fuel rail were changed during
MPI fuel injection system. A pulsation damper is mounted the oil hammer simulations. With respect to the internal
on the fuel rail in this example. volume of the fuel rail, oil hammer simulations were
This study mainly investigates methods for developing a conducted for three different models that featured the same
damper-less fuel rail that has a self-damping effect. The rail length and aspect ratio of 2.25 but that featured
characteristics of an oil hammer, such as the peak-to-peak different areas of the rail cross-section (i.e., for Cases 2, 8,
pressure pulsations and pressure change period, were and 9). With respect to the aspect ratio, oil hammer
investigated with respect to a variety of geometries, simulations were conducted for seven models (i.e., for
including the internal volume, wall thickness, aspect ratio of
a rectangular cross-section, and the material of the fuel rail.
Table 2. Geometry characteristics of fuel rails.
The oil hammer simulation examined the pressure
pulsation characteristics in the event of a sudden closing of Model Volume W × H Aspect Thickness Material
the fuel injection. However, when fuel is repeatedly injected name (cm3) (mm×mm) ratio (mm)
with the pressure change period that has been predicted by Case 1 100.44 18×18 1:1 0.7 Al
the oil hammer simulation, the pressure waves are Case 2 ″ 27×12 2.25 : 1 0.7 ″
duplicated, and the pressure pulsation is amplified.
Therefore, the maximum pressure pulsation peak is Case 3 ″ 12×27 1 : 2.25 0.7 ″
observed from the repeated opening and closing of injectors Case 4-1 0.5 Al
at the engine speed corresponding to the pressure change Case 4-2 0.7 ″
period, i.e., the resonant point. Thus, this study also
investigated the pressure pulsation characteristics according Case 4-3 ″ 28.42×11.4 2.49 : 1 0.9 ″
to the engine speed in an effort to avoid the resonant point in Case 4-4 1.0 ″
the design stage. Case 4-5 0.7 LCS
Case 5 ″ 11.4×28.42 1 : 2.49 0.7 Al
2. NUMERICAL METHODS
Case 6 ″ 32.4×10 3.24 : 1 0.7 ″
2.1. Analysis Model Case 7 ″ 10×32.4 1 : 3.24 0.7 ″
The analysis of fuel rails in this paper consists of oil
Case 8 69.75 22.5×10 2.25 : 1 0.7 ″
hammer simulations with a single injector and pulsation
simulations according to the injection period with continuous Case 9 51.58 19.35×8.6 2.25 : 1 0.7 ″
 ANALYTICAL STUDY OF PRESSURE PULSATION CHARACTERISTICS ACCORDING TO 169

analysis model is shown in Figure 2. Models for the finite

element method are listed in Table 2. The deformations
were calculated with respect to the change in the pressure
on the inside of the fuel rail wall. The domain of the finite
element analysis is shown in Figure 3.

2.3. Computational Fluid Dynamics

Pressure pulsations initiated by the opening and closing of
the injectors in a fuel supply system are described as wave
equations, which are a type of parabolic partial differential
equation (Mizuno et al., 2002; Ogata et al., 2003; Wu et al.,
2001).
2
∂-------
P-
2
= α2 ⋅ ∇2 P (1)
∂T
Figure 2. Basic configuration of the analysis model. ∂2 u-
------- = α2 ⋅ ∇2 u (2)
∂T2
The pressure propagation speed α can be correlated with
the bulk modulus of the wall:
1⁄ρ -
∂P = ------------------------------
α = ------ (3)
∂ρ 1 ⁄ Kf + 1 ⁄ Kw
The bulk modulus K is described as follows:
∆P ∆P
K = –------------- = ------------ (4)
∆ V ⁄ V ∆ρ ⁄ ρ
The density of the fluid in an unsteady flow is derived
from equations (4) and (5) as the correlation between the
pressure and the bulk modulus:
1
Figure 3. Domain of the finite element analysis. ρ = ρref ----------------------- (5)
P – Pref
1 – ---------------
K
Cases 1 through 7). The directions of the width and height A general-purpose computational fluid dynamics code,
are shown in Figure 2. Thus, the pairs of Cases 2 and 3, FLUENT6.2, was utilized to analyze the oil hammer
Cases 4 and 5, and Cases 6 and 7 have the same aspect characteristics of a fuel rail in which a UDF (user defined
ratios, with the locations of the injectors on opposite sides function) is employed for the allotment of the density and
in each case. The effect of the wall thickness on the pressure propagation speed of the flow field to all cells.
pulsations was investigated for the fuel rail system in Case CFD analyses were divided into analyses with only the
4. The wall thickness of the fuel rail was set to 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, bulk modulus of the fluid, Kf (#1) and analyses with the
and 1.0 mm. The effect of the material on the pulsations moduli of both the fluid and the wall, Kf and Kw (#2). The
was simulated for Case 4 using both aluminum (Al) and dominant factors affecting the characteristics of the
low-carbon steel (LCS). pressure pulsations were determined according to the flow
patterns resulting from the geometry of the rail cross-
2.2. Finite Element Method section and the bulk modulus of the wall.
The finite element method was used to include the bulk Gasoline was chosen as the working fluid in this case. It
moduli of the wall in the pressure pulsation analysis of the has a bulk modulus of 1.3 GPa (Kf). The reference density
fuel rail. and viscosity assuming a standard atmosphere were set to
The bulk modulus of the wall can be expressed as the 730 kg/m3 and 0.000467 kg/m-s, respectively.
ratio of the volume change ratio of the wall to the working The standard k-ε model was applied to the turbulence
pressure in the fuel rail, which is expressed by equation (4). model. The SIMPLEC algorithm was used to correlate the
A lower bulk modulus of the wall results in greater pressure and velocity. A power law scheme was utilized to
elasticity, which aids in the reduction of the pressure process the convection terms. The inlet pressure was set to
pulsations because more elastic energy can be absorbed 350 kPa.
from the fluid by the wall. The basic configuration of the For the oil hammer simulations, when the injector was
170 H. S. HEO, S. J. BAE, H. K. LEE and K. S. PARK

Figure 4. Mesh model for the CFD analysis.

Figure 5. Oil hammer simulation results (Case 2).

open, the injector outlet pressure was set to 0 bar (steady);

when it was closed, the outlet was assumed to be a wall Table 4. P/Ps and PC periods.
(unsteady). The propagation time was set so that it was
Case 1 2 4 6 8 9
sufficiently long enough to simulate the oil hammer effect.
For the pressure pulsation simulations, the injection P/P (kPa) 102.9 58.3 52.6 37.8 90.2 105.0
#1
period was set to 2 ms, 3 ms, and 4 ms, depending on the PC (ms) 24.7 45.6 51.3 69.4 28.3 22.1
engine speed, which varied. The injection periods occurred
P/P (kPa) 144.1 139.1 126.4 121.9 163.9 191.9
when the injectors were open. The time difference was 50 #2
µs for the unsteady flow analysis. PC (ms) 18.2 18.3 20.7 21.2 14.7 12.8
Figure 4 shows the mesh model for the oil hammer
analysis of the fuel rail. A symmetry condition was adopted
for the model, which had roughly 1 million cells for the injector positions.
analysis. All of the pressure pulsation data represented
below were obtained from a monitoring section located in 3.2. Oil Hammer Characteristics
the supply line at a point 50 mm from the fuel rail, as shown Figure 5 shows the pressure wave for the fluid in the oil
in Figure 4, and they were averaged at every time step. hammer simulation for Case 2, which has a sinusoidal
damping function. In this case, the pressure pulsation peak
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION (P/P) is 58.3 kPa, and the pressure change (PC) period is
45.6 ms.
3.1. Bulk Modulus of the Wall The pressure pulsation peaks and the pressure change
Table 3 shows the calculated values of the bulk moduli of periods calculated from the CFD analyses are shown in
wall Kw from the finite element method analysis. Table 3 Table 4, showing results both when Kw is taken into
shows that, in Cases 2, 8 and 9, where the aspect ratio was consideration in each case (#1) and when it is not (#2).
held constant, Kw decreases as the internal volume of the In Case 4, the wall thickness is 0.7 mm, and the material
fuel rail increases. is aluminum. When the bulk modulus of wall Kw is
When the internal volume is held constant, Kw decreases considered, the pressure pulsation peak is markedly
with an increase in the aspect ratio and a decrease in the reduced in each case. This trend is distinct when Kw is
wall thickness. The value of Kw for the rail made of decreased. In Case 1, Kw is 4.07 GPa, which is higher than
aluminum was less than that for low-carbon steel. There Kf, and the change in the pressure pulsation peak is 28.6%,
are few differences in the values of Kw in cases where the which is the smallest among all cases. In Case 6, the aspect
fuel rail has the same rectangular cross-section but different ratio is higher than in any other case, and the pressure
pulsation peak is reduced by 69%. The pressure change
period increases when Kw is taken into account compared
Table 3. Results of the computation of the bulk modulus of with when it is not.
the wall. Figure 6 shows the influence of the internal volume of
Case 1 2 3 4-1 4-2 4-3 4-4 the fuel rail on the reduction of the pressure pulsation for
an aspect ratio of 2.25:1 when the rail length remains
Kw (GPa) 4.07 0.21 0.2 0.0217 0.16 0.67 1.2 constant. The pressure pulsation peak is reduced by 14.1%
Case 4-5 5 6 7 8 9 and then by 44.5% when the volume increases from
51.58 cm3 to 69.75 cm3 and then to 100.44 cm3, respectively;
Kw (GPa) 1.22 0.15 0.078 0.076 0.59 1.39
however, the internal volume of the fuel rail is correspondingly
 ANALYTICAL STUDY OF PRESSURE PULSATION CHARACTERISTICS ACCORDING TO
Figure 6. Effect of the fuel rail internal volume on P/P.
Figure 7. Effect of the fuel rail internal volume on the PC
period.
Figure 8. Effect of aspect ratio on P/P.
increased by 35.2% and then by 94.7%, respectively. These
results show that it is not significantly effective or economical
to increase the internal volume of a fuel rail for the purpose
of reducing the pressure pulsations. Figure 7 shows that the
pressure change period is linearly proportional to the
change of the internal volume.
171
Figure 9. Effect of the perimeter of the cross-section on the
PC period.
Figure 10. Effect of the wall thickness and materials on P/P.
Figure 11. Effect of the wall thickness and materials on the
PC period.
Figure 8 shows the effect of the aspect ratio on the
pressure pulsation in fuel rails that have internal volumes
of 100.44 cm3. These rails were fabricated from a 0.7 mm
aluminum sheet. Fuel rails with a rectangular cross-section
have considerably lower pressure pulsation peaks than rails
172 H. S. HEO, S. J. BAE, H. K. LEE and K. S. PARK

with a square cross-section. This downward tendency in simulation of a fuel rail at the period corresponding with
the pressure pulsation peak increases with the aspect ratio. speed. The engine speed is correlated with the pressure
Comparisons between the results of Cases 2 and 3, 4 and 5, change period from the oil hammer simulation as follows:
and 6 and 9 demonstrate that the injector position has no
60 × 2
effect on the pressure pulsation characteristics. Compared rpm = --------------- (6)
PC × n
with the square cross-section, the pressure pulsation peak is
reduced by 63.3% in Case 6, which has an aspect ratio of In the equation, n represents the number of injectors.
3.24:1. Changing the aspect ratio of the fuel rail while Figure 12 presents the characteristics of the pressure
maintaining the volume is thus shown to be more effective pulsation of the fuel rail for Case 2 with an injection period
and economical than changing the internal volume. of 4 ms at various engine speeds. As shown in Figure 12
As shown in Figure 9, the pressure change period is (a), at 658 rpm (the engine speed at which resonance
linearly proportional to the perimeter of the rectangular occurs), the pressure pulsation is amplified up to a certain
cross-section of the fuel rail, which implies that the point and is then maintained at its peak of approximately
pressure change period is linearly proportional to the 150 kPa.
surface area of the fuel rail because all of the rails in this This effect occurs because the fluid has a certain
case have the same length. magnitude of compressibility and because the wall has a
Figure 10 shows how the pressure pulsation peaks vary certain degree of elasticity. Pressure pulsations at 750 and
with changes in the wall thickness and materials of
geometrically identical fuel rails. For a given material, the
pressure pulsation peak is reduced by 77% when the wall
thickness is decreased by 50%.
The fuel rail made of 0.7-mm-thick low-carbon steel has
nearly the same pressure pulsation peak as the fuel rail
made of 1.0 mm aluminum. The aluminum fuel rail has
elasticity, enabling it to reduce pressure pulsations more
than the low-carbon steel rail. The effect of the wall
thickness and material on the pressure change period is
shown in Figure 11. The inverse of the ratio of the pressure
change period to the reference period ((PC/PC0)-1) can be
correlated with the ratio of the wall thickness to the
reference thickness (t/t0).
Because the pressure change period caused by the
opening and closing of the injectors determines the engine
resonance speed (i.e., the engine speed at which the
maximum pressure pulsation peak of the fuel rail occurs),
the pressure change period is one of the most important
characteristics associated with the fuel rail. If the pressure
pulsation peak varies widely, the engine control unit (ECU)
can lose appropriate control over the injection period,
which in turn adversely affects the air-fuel ratio (Ogata et
al., 2003). Therefore, it is critical to design a fuel rail with
a pressure change period that will not fall within the
conventional engine speed range. That is, if the maximum
pressure pulsation peak occurs at an engine speed near the
idle speed, then the geometrical design of the fuel rail
system should be changed so that the pressure change
period is below the idle speed.

3.3 Pulsation Characteristics with Injection Periods

In an analytical approach for determining the pressure
pulsation at the resonant engine speed, it is difficult and
time consuming to seek the resonant engine speed to
simulate four-port injection over the entire conventional
engine speed range. However, there is a more efficient
method for determining the resonant speed in an oil Figure 12. Pressure pulsations at an injection period of 4
hammer simulation and for performing the pulsation ms.
 ANALYTICAL STUDY OF PRESSURE PULSATION CHARACTERISTICS ACCORDING TO
Figure 13. Comparison of the pressure pulsations at 658
rpm with respect to the injection period.
850 rpm show the declining trend of pulsation at engine
speeds that differ from the resonance speed. The degree of
pulsation is progressively reduced as the engine speed
deviates further from the resonant speed. These figures
show that the pressure waves emerge from the four
different injectors and interact with one another, resulting
in various pulsation patterns. These characteristics are
governed by time.
Figure 13 compares the pulsation characteristics with
respect to injection periods of 2 ms, 3 ms, and 4 ms at a
resonant speed of 658 rpm. Figure 13 demonstrates that, at
an identical engine speed, the pulsation peak increases with
the injection period, which explains how kinetic energy is
produced when the injector nozzle is opened and then how
it is converted into pressure energy.
The pressure pulsation is generated from the elastic
wave in the rail so that the kinetic energy converted into
pressure energy increases with the injection period.
4. CONCLUSIONS
An analytical study was conducted that focused on a
reduction in the fuel pressure pulsation of a fuel rail with an
integrated damping effect. This effect allows for the
elimination of an expensive pulsation damper that is
typically used in a fuel rail system for a multi-port injection
(MPI) engine. An appropriate design of the pressure
change period of a fuel rail should maintain the resonant
speed out of the range of the engine speed. The following
points summarize the findings of the study:
(1) The pressure pulsation peak is effectively reduced (by
up to 63.3%) as the aspect ratio of a rectangular cross-
173
section of a fuel rail increases.
(2) In cases featuring the same geometry, decreasing the
wall thickness has the distinct effect of reducing the
pulsations (by up to 77%). In cases where the wall
thicknesses are equal, elastic aluminum is a more
effective material for the fuel rail than low-carbon
steel.
(3) The pressure change period increases as the pressure
pulsation peak decreases.
(4) In multi-injection simulations where four injectors
open and shut repeatedly, the pressure pulsation peak is
its largest at the resonant speed, which can be predicted
from an oil hammer simulation.
(5) The pressure pulsation peak increases as the injection
period increases because the kinetic energy that has
been converted into pressure energy also increases.
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