Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023

SAE TECHNICAL
PAPER SERIES 960774

Characterization of D.I. Diesel Sprays

in High Density Conditions

F. Payri, J. M. Desantes, and J. Arrégle

CMT - Universidad Politécnica de Valencia

Reprinted from: Fuel Spray Technology and Applications

(SP-1132)

SAE
The Engineering Society
For Advancing Mobility International Congress & Exposition
Land Sea Air and Space Detroit, Michigan
®
I N T E R N A T I O N A L February 26-29, 1996

400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 U.S.A. Tel: (412)776-4841 Fax:(412)776-5760

 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023

The appearance of the ISSN code at the bottom of this page indicates SAE's consent
that copies of the paper may be made for personal or internal use of specific clients.
This consent is given on the condition however, that the copier pay a $7.00 per article
copy fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. Operations Center, 222
Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 for copying beyond that permitted by Sections
107 or 108 of U.S. Copyright Law. This consent does not extend to other kinds of
copying such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional
purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale.

SAE routinely stocks printed papers for a period of three years following date of
publication. Direct your orders to SAE Customer Sales and Satisfaction Department.

Quantity reprint rates can be obtained from the Customer Sales and Satisfaction
Department.

To request permission to reprint a technical paper or permission to use copyrighted

SAE publications in other works, contact the SAE Publications Group.

GLOBAL MOBILITY DATABASE

All SAE papers, standards, and selected
books are abstracted and indexed in the
SAE Global Mobility Database.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval

system or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISSN 0148-7191
Copyright 1996 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those of the author(s) and not
necessarily those of SAE. The author is solely responsible for the content of the
paper. A process is available by which discussions will be printed with the paper if
it is published in SAE Transactions. For permission to publish this paper in full or in
part, contact the SAE Publications Group.

Persons wishing to submit papers to be considered for presentation or publication

through SAE should send the manuscript or a 300 word abstract of a proposed
manuscript to: Secretary, Engineering Meetings Board, SAE.

Printed In USA 96-0049

 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023
Characterization of D.I. Diesel Sprays
in High Density Conditions
Copyright 1996 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
ABSTRACT
The characteristic parameters and the evolution of
continuous Diesel sprays injected against a high density gas
have been investigated using high speed photography and
phase Doppler anemometry. The injector used for these tests
was a two-spring one providing different injection
conditions. Three test sections were analyzed at 10, 20 and
30 mm from the injector with several radial measurements
for each one. The obtained results provided qualitative and
quantitative information about the macroscopic evolution of
the spray, but also about the drop velocity distribution and
drop size evolution.
INTRODUCTION
The effort to improve the efficiency of small
automotive engines has led in the last years to the
development of the high speed direct injection (HSDI)
Diesel engines. These engines, with single cylinder
displacements of 0.5 - 0.65 liters, will be highly
supercharged and will use flexible injection systems to
achieve low emission levels with the required efficiency.
Experimental data about the spray behaviour and
the combustion development are needed to better
understand the processes and to isolate the controlling
parameters, and also to provide initial data and comparative
values for the actual spray models.
Diesel sprays have been studied during decades by
many researchers with different measurement techniques
and for different injection conditions but usually very far
from engine-like conditions, either because the injection
conditions themselves were not a continuous non steady
process or because the atmosphere in which the fuel was
injected was very different from that of the engine.
The atomization process is known to be very
different at atmospheric density and at high density [1] [2].
51
960774
F. Payri, J. M. Desantes, and J. Arrégle
CMT - Universidad Politécnica de Valencia
On the other hand, the behaviour and experimental results
of single shot injections are known to be different from the
case of continuous Diesel injection [3].
To overcome some of these limitations, a test rig
was designed and constructed, that allows continuous Diesel
injection, with actual injection systems, against gas
densities up to 30 kg/m3, usual values at TDC for highly
supercharged HSDI Diesel engines. At the stage of the work
reported in this paper, the temperature of the gas was the
room temperature, so that no vaporization is present.
EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES
In order to analyze the influence of the non-steady
character of a spray on the penetration of the droplets and
the atomization and coalescence processes, the experimental
work carried out was based in three main points.
• The generation of Diesel sprays with an actual injection
system operating in actual conditions with a double spring
injector. The spray will develop in a chamber with a high
density gas (any way the conditions are isothermal and no
evaporation is present).
• A close control of the hydrodynamic conditions at the
injector exit.
• The sprays were characterized by means of high speed
visualization and PDA.
HIGH DENSITY GAS INJECTION RIG - This test rig
was developed attending to three main objectives: To
reproduce the same air density of the engine at the end of
compression, to allow optical access compatible with both
PDA measurements and visualization and to allow the use
of standard Diesel injection systems.
The most important parameters to ensure the
similarity between test rig and engine from the point of
view of the gas are the density and the viscosity [4][5][6].
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023

Several gases have been used and are reported in the

literature being common CO2 [7], N2 [2][8][10] and SF6[9].
The last one has the advantage of its high molecular weight
while its viscosity is very similar to that of the air at room
temperature. The relevant characteristics of SF6 and air are
summarized in the following table.

SF6 Air
Dynamic viscosity 1.5*10-5Ns/m2 1.8*10-5 Ns/m2
(3000K)
Density at atm. 6.2 kg/M3 1. 17 kg/M3
Conditions
Density in engine - 15 - 35 kg/m3
Conditions

Table 1 - Characteristics of SF6

At room temperature, SF6 allows to perform

experiments at a density of 30 kg/m3 with a relatively low
pressure of less than 0.5 MPa. In addition, SF6 is an inert
gas, avoiding corrosive effects on the rig and its optical
properties are very similar to those of the air.
Figure 1 shows a drawing of the experimental
facility. The injection chamber has three optical accesses for
visualization and measurement. Two opposite windows
allow shadowgraphy visualization while a third one placed
at 90° allows PDA measurements (110° between emitting
and receiving optics).
An important requirement of the rig is to ensure
the scavenging of all the atomized fuel between two
consecutive injections and to avoid as much as possible the
fuel deposition on the windows. Some works reported in the
literature [2][3][7][10] were performed in closed vessels
with strong limitations in the possible injection events
before removing the charge of the vessel. In order to
perform the experiments with actual injection systems and
to make easier measurement, a closed system with SF6
circulation was designed and built. The gas velocity in the
test chamber, of about 4 m/s, is low enough to assume that
the fuel is injected in stagnant conditions but high enough
to scavenge the test chamber during the time between two
consecutive injections. Just upstream of the place where the
fuel is injected, a flow straightener of the honeycomb type
has been used to force a coaxial velocity of gas and fuel and
to avoid recirculation zones in the chamber. A Roots
compressor ensures a controlled gas velocity inside the test
rig while the gas temperature is kept constant by means of a
heat exchanger placed at the exit of the compressor and
controlled by a temperature sensor and a PID system. The
design of the system is very flexible allowing different
geometries of the test chamber, different relative positions of
the spray with respect to the gas stream and the control of
gas velocities from 0 to 80 m/s to study spray-gas
interactions.
1 – Injection chamber. 7 – Heat exchanger
2 – Centrifugal droplets filter. 8 – Laser.
3 – Ceramic droplets filter. 9 – Emitting optics.
4 – Roots compressor. 10 – Valves.
5 – PDA optics. 11 – Flow straightener.
6 – 3D displacement table. 12 – Injector.
Figure 1 - High density gas injection rig. a) Layout of the
experimental facility. b) Injection chamber.
HIGH-SPEED SHADOWGRAPHY - For the acquisition
of spray images, a conventional photographic camera with
Macro objective and 60 mm lens has been used with films
of sensitivity ISO 100/21. The camera is manually operated
and the exposition time is fixed by an EG&G Microflash
device allowing 0.5 µs light pulses. The flash is located in
front of the camera while a set of light diffusers ensures
homogeneous illumination.
The flash is synchronized by means of a TTL
signal generated each revolution of the injection pump. This
signal is time-delayed to freeze the spray at different
instants. A photodiode allows the temporal location of the
flash pulse with an uncertainty of less than 2.5 µs. Images
were taken each 200 µs along the entire injection process
showing a very high repetitivity and very low cyclic
dispersion. That makes this simple technique very suitable
to follow the development of the macroscopic parameters of
the spray, such as spray angle and tip penetration.
PHASE DOPPLER ANEMOMETRY - The emitting
optic of the PDA system includes a 4 W water cooled Ar+
Laser source operated at 400 mW, a 40 MHz Bragg cell as
frequency shifter and a TSI 15 mm Laser probe linked by

52
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023

10 m length fiber optics. A lens with a focal length of 100

mm was placed after the probe in order to increase the
range of velocities allowed by the system. Collecting optics
and electronics are those of a standard Dantec I-component
system. PDA measurements were performed without
temporal gating. The 1 x cycle signal given by the injection
pump bench was used as a trigger for the system. The PDA
optics were mounted vertically on a X-Y-Z table which
permits measuring at any point of the spray. Measurements
were performed in three sections of the spray at distances of
10, 20 and 30 mm from the injector nozzle. 9 to 15 points
with 20000 samples each were considered for each section.

PRELIMINARY TESTS ON THE INFLUENCE Figure 3 - Tip penetration with different gas densities.
OF THE DENSITY ON THE SPRAY
PENETRATION

A first set of preliminary tests was carried out with

the only objective of validating all the test facilities and
check the influence of the gas density on the spray
development The injection system for these preliminary
tests was different from that used in the main work reported
later. A single hole pintle nozzle injector was used providing
a two step injection rate. Figure 2 shows the spray
tip penetration versus time. Penetration curves show two
different parts.

Figure 4 - Modified tip penetration.

with air and SF6 and modifying the gas density. Figure 4
shows the same results but with modified axes, being now
the horizontal axis t0.5 while the vertical one is S*ρg0-25. All
the four curves are almost superimposed with a linear
behaviour and different slopes for the first injection step and
the main injection, showing a good agreement with
previous reported data [2][4][12][13] and theoretical
considerations [4] [11] according to which:

Figure 2 - Tip penetration with air and SF6. S (t ) = K ⋅ ρ − 0 .25 ⋅ t 0 .5

g

The first one with a lower tip velocity corresponds
to the first injection step with low injection rate. At 0.4 - 0.5
ms after injection beginning, a sudden increase in the tip
velocity can be observed due to the main injection that
overtakes the fuel injected in the first step. The plotted lines
were obtained with air and SF6 at a density of 5.5 kg/m3.
Both curves are nearly super-imposed showing that the
similarity hypothesis previously discussed are correct.
Figure 3 shows results for the same injection conditions
where K is only function of the injection parameters.
INJECTION CONDITIONS
After the preliminary tests, a new injection system
was installed in the test rig whose main components are
summarized in table 3. A double spring injector with open
hole nozzle was used. In conventional DI injectors, the
injection rate is mainly controlled by the injection pressure

53
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023

for a given nozzle bore. Double spring injectors for two step drop across the needle seat, that becomes comparatively
injection behave in a different manner and the injection rate important for low needle lifts. For these reasons, the fuel
is controlled by the needle position. The global effective injection process in double spring injectors can be very
injection section is determined by two serial restrictions, the different when modifying the operating conditions of the
area between the needle cone and its seat in the injector pump and even very different along a single injection when
housing (variable) and the overall nozzle section in multi- the two step injection principle is under operation.
hole injectors (constant).
A B C
r.p.m. (pump) 400 800 500
load Low full fill

pump Bosch VE
nozzle Bosch DSLA-PV - 5 * φ 0.23 mm

Table 2 - Injection operating conditions

Three operating conditions, summarized in the

Table 2, were chosen to have three different behaviours
during injection.

Figure 6 - Needle lift vs time for the three test conditions.

Figure 5 - Effective section area for the tested double
spring injector.

Figure 5 shows the measured effective section of

the injector used in the experiments. The global effective
section of the nozzle was obtained by means of a Bosch
Injection Rate Meter [25] following the methodology
proposed in [26]. The second spring starts to be compressed
for a needle lift of about 25% of the maximum lift. From the
figure it is clear that, during the first injection step, the
needle seat controls the effective area while the holes area
controls it for high needle lifts in the second step. The exit
Weber number and the exit spray characteristics [1][5] are a
function of the hole geometry and the effective injection
pressure or sack pressure. The relationship between the sack Figure 7 - Injection rate vs time for the three test
pressure and the line pressure is determined by the pressure conditions.

54
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023
Figures 6, 7 and 8 show the needle lift, the
injection rate given by the Bosch method and the pressure
drop across the injection nozzle for the three operating
conditions labeled A, B and C. Condition A corresponds to
idle in real engine operation and only the first spring is
compressed with an injection pressure of the order of 2
MPa. Condition B corresponds to a fall load condition with
almost all the injection process occurring at high needle
lifts, with injection pressures of the order of 20 Mpa.
Finally, test condition C is a two step injection process with
a first step similar to condition A and a main injection
similar to condition B.
Figure 8 - Pressure drop across injection nozzle vs time for
the three test conditions.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
SPRAY CONE ANGLE - Figure 9 shows a digitized
picture obtained from the high speed shadowgraphy for all
the three operating conditions tested. The spray cone is very
similar for the three frames and was evaluated between 14
and 16 degrees and independent from operating conditions
as well as spray penetration. The spray exit Weber number
We (definitions can be found in the list of symbol) changes
from a value of the order of 4*104 to 4*105 when comparing
conditions A and B. The non-dimensional group Ta2ρ1/ ρg
lies between 1 and 0.1 for such injection conditions.
Theoretical considerations [14][15] and experimental data
reported in the literature [1][5][6] show that the spray cone
angle is essentially a function of the density ratio ρ1/ ρg and
the nozzle geometry, showing a very little dependence on
the injection parameters when Ta2 ρ1/ ρg >1. For different
injection conditions and nozzle geometries reported in [5],
an increase of the spray angle proportional to (ρ1/ ρg)0.5 is
expected for gas densities lower than 30 kg/m3. Beyond this
value, a constant spray angle is obtained for given nozzle
geometry. The results obtained in this study are in
agreement with these previous observations, despite the
55
values of Ta2ρ1/ ρg are lower than 1. A nearly constant spray
opening angle was measured for very different injection
conditions, and a reduction of the spray angle proportional
to ρg0.4 was observed, as explained later. It is also note
worthy that the spray opening starts immediately after the
injection nozzle exit. From the previous observations it can
be concluded that in all three operating conditions the spray
is completely developed. The atomization process is very
fast at the exit of the injector nozzle due to the strong
aerodynamical interaction with the high density gas, even
for low pressure drops across the nozzle (case A). Liquid
core outside the injector is very short, typically of the order
of the nozzle diameter [19], with short break-up lengths [1].
Phenomena associated with the primary atomization process
and father spray development seem to be similar for the
three cases tested despite the different injection conditions.
Figure 9 - Spray visualization - Test cases A, B and C
SPRAY TIP PENETRATION - Figure 10 shows the
influence of the exit velocity on the spray tip penetration. In
test condition B the spray decelerates much more than in
test conditions A. For instance, at the end of the injection
(1.75 ms), the tip penetration of spray B has shown be only
about 1.5 times higher than for spray A while the exit
velocity was more than 3 times higher. These values suggest
that the penetration is proportional to ∆PO.22 in agreement
with reference [20] and very close to the values suggested in
[10][12][21]. The penetration pattern in test case C shows a
clear discontinuity when the fuel injected during the main
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023
injection overtakes the fuel injected during the first step,
2.25 ms after injection beginning.
During the first 2.25 ms, tip penetration of test
case C is only a little higher due to a higher pressure
injection. After this instant, tip velocity of test case C is
higher than for test case B, in spite of the lower injection
pressure. This observation suggest that, for Diesel spray
conditions, the fuel droplets at the spray tip have a different
behaviour those in the main spray, due to different
aerodynamic interactions with the surrounding gas.
These phenomena, together with the non-steady character of
the injection conditions, make Diesel sprays highly
unsteady, influencing penetration and atomization of fuel as
explained later.
Figure 10 - Tip penetration vs time.
DROP VELOCITIES - Figure 11 shows for test case A the
fuel velocity at the nozzle exit calculated from the injection
rate together with the averaged drop velocity in the spray
axis at a distance of 10 mm from the injector. Time equal to
zero corresponds to injection start for the first curve and
spray arrival to the measuring point for the second one.
Figure 11 - Nozzle exit velocity and droplet velocities on
the spray axis, at 10 mm from the injector (test case A).
56
Compared with the initial injection velocity, the
velocity profile at 10 mm from the injector shows an abrupt
velocity increase up to 35 m/s, a peak velocity of about 40
m/s at 0.1 ms and a slow decrease arriving to the gas
convection velocity at 0.8 ms. The velocity versus time
profile suffers a clear deformation with a concentration of
high velocity droplets just after the spray tip. The leading
droplets are suddenly decelerated due to the aerodynamical
drag of the nearly stagnant air. Droplets behind those in the
spray tip interact with entrained air traveling at nearly
droplet velocity, so the aerodynamic interaction is different.
When these droplets arrive to the front of the spray,
different phenomena may occur. On the one hand, an
overtaking and acceleration of the previous spray tip; this
means that the fuel concentration of the leading edge of the
spray increases when moving away from the injector. On
the other hand, a "pushing" of the previously decelerated
droplets occurs which generates a vortex in the leading edge
of the spray. These displaced droplets are further entrained
together with air by the spray behind its tip [22]. Both
assumptions, which are not mutually exclusive, lead to the
conclusion that high droplet concentration in the leading
edge of the spray must exist when it moves away from the
injector. Atomization phenomena are controlled by the
droplet Weber number (Wed) and so they are very sensitive
to the difference between droplet velocity and surrounding
gas velocity. Coalescence phenomena are mainly controlled
by the droplet concentration. As discussed before, these two
processes are unsteady and variable along the spray due to
different conditions found by the traveling droplets or fuel
portions. The balance between atomization and coalescence
provides the droplet characteristic diameter.
DROP SIZE - PDA measurements become more difficult
with dense spray. In our experiments it was not possible to
take confident measurements at distances from the injector
much lower than 10 mm. Validation rates between 20% and
60% were obtained, depending on the distance and the
injection conditions. With these validation rates, a bias
towards larger droplet sizes is expected. The effect of this
bias will be larger on the average diameter than on the
Sauter mean diameter. Figure 12 shows as an example the
time evolution of the droplet velocities and Sauter mean
diameter (SMD) for test condition A at a distance of 20 min
from the injector nozzle, on the spray axis.
The velocity plot is qualitatively coincident with
that of figure 11, with lower averaged velocities, as
expected. In what concerns the SMD, the smallest values of
22 gm are obtained in the tip of the spray. After that, an
increase of the SMD has been measured up to a value of 30
mm which remains constant for all the spray trailing edge.
This behaviour is qualitatively similar to that found in
references [17][20][23], and differs from measurements
taken at atmospheric density (for instance [18] ) where the
SMD in the leading edge is very similar to the SMD in the
trailing edge, or even higher.
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023

Figure 13 - Evolution of SMD with penetration (Test case

Figure 12 - Droplets velocity and SMD at 20 mm from the A).
injector (test case A).

The behaviour of the SMD of the fuel droplets at a

measuring point versus time has been analyzed for the three
tests cases at distances of 10, 20 and 30 min from the
injector nozzle, on the spray axis. Figures 13, 14 and 15
show the evolution of the characteristic droplet size at the
leading edge and at the trailing edge for the three test cases.
Dashed lines in the figures are just extrapolated lines
without experimental evidence. For the three cases tested,
the trends shown in the figures for the SMD in the spray tip
are the same. After the primary atomization process, a SMD
of about 22 µm was measured at a distance of 10 mm from
the injector. At 20 mm, despite the deceleration of the spray
tip, the measured SMD is still of about 22µm, while at 30
mm from the injector, an increase of the characteristic
diameter is observed, making the measured SMD different Figure 14 - Evolution of SMD with penetration (Test case
for each case. B)
It is noteworthy that the spray tip velocity was
different for each test condition and for each measuring
distance from the injector. Figure 16 shows the SMD of the
spray leading edge versus the velocity of the spray tip for all
the test cases and measuring points. The characteristic
diameter seems to be insensitive to the velocity of the
leading drops for values in the range of 25 - 50 m/s. For
lower velocity values, an increase of SMD can be noticed
arriving to 40µm for less than 10 m/s.
The experimental results of SMD for tip velocities
in the range of 25 to 50 m/s cannot be explained only with
the usually assumed atomization process, taking into
account that with a velocity ratio of 2, the diameter ratio for
a given critical Weber number should be of the order of 4.
So coalescence is important even in the spray tip and
atomization and coalescence processes are approximately
balanced for different spray conditions and at different
distances from the injector. Only far away from the injector Figure 15 - Evolution of SMD with penetration (Test case
(about 30 mm), and for low tip velocities, coalescence C)
becomes more important, increasing the SMD.

57
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023

a dependence with ρg0-4. In complete atomized sprays, an

increases in the gas density increases the SMD due to the
higher droplets concentration of the shorter sprays as
explained in [2] and [20].

RADIAL VELOCITY AND SMD DISTRIBUTIONS -

Velocity and diameter of the droplets were measured at
distances of 10, 20 and 30 mm downstream of the injector
for the three test cases at different radial distances from the
spray axis. From these data, radial distributions were
calculated.
Figures 18 and 19 show the velocity and diameter
distribution for test case B at a distance of 20 mm and at
different instants, ranging from the spray arrival to the end
Figure 16 - Evolution of SMD as a function of tip droplets of the spray. In Figure 18, the drop averaged velocity has
velocity. been nondimensionalized with the averaged velocity at the
spray axis, Vc, for each instant, while the radial distance is
The spatial evolution of the characteristic diameter divided by the distance from the injector. In figure 19, the
in the trailing edge shows also a similar behaviour for the SMD at any radial distance and any instant is divided by the
three test cases. Lower fuel - gas aerodynamic interaction value measured at the spray axis.
explains the increase in SMD with the lowest values of the
order of 30 µm at 10 mm from the injector and a small
increase for longer distances.
The results obtained in these experiments showed
that the minimal characteristic diameter of the droplets is
very insensitive to the injection conditions for the complete
spray. Experimental results reported by Hiroyasu [3][24]
showed similar trends. SMD is a function of the upstream
conditions for incomplete sprays but it's almost independent
in the case of complete sprays. For this last case, the gas
density is the most important controlling parameter.

Figure 18 - Velocity radial distribution.

Figure 17 - Evolution of SMD with penetration (Test case

B and gas density reduced to 11 kglm3).

Figure 17 shows the experimental results obtained

for test condition B but with a gas density reduced to 11
kg/m3. The trend of the SMD versus penetration is quite
similar to that of figure 16, but smaller characteristic
diameters can be noticed in the tip as well as in the trailing
edge. The reduction of SMD is of the order of 40% showing Figure 19 - SMD radial distribution

58
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023
The velocity radial distributions for the four
consecutive times lie reasonably on the same line, taking
into account the uncertainties and the scatter of this type of
measurements. Half the centerline velocity is obtained at a
radial nondimensionalized value of about 0.1. A further
decay to one quarter of the centerline velocity is obtained at
a distance of about 0.15.
Droplets size and velocity are not correlated [9] as
shown in Figure 19. The characteristic. SMD has a time
dependence as explained before but a very weak radial
dependence. A first approximation to all the cases measured
shows a nearly constant value of the SMD along the spray
radius or a reduction of less than 15% for a radial distance
of 0.15. These results are in agreement with results in
similar conditions obtained by Coghe et al. [9] under non
vaporization conditions.
Droplets concentration distributions were not
estimated in this measurements, but larger droplets
concentrations are expected in the spray axis with a decay
as the radial distance increases. A constant SMD along a
spray radius implies a new balance between the atomization
and the coalescence processes. While aerodynamic forces
decrease for increasing radial distance, coalescence effects
increase near the spray axis due to the higher droplets
concentration.
The behaviour discussed in these paragraphs for
test case B at 20 mm from the injector was also qualitatively
found for test cases A and C and at all the three distances
measured.
CONCLUSIONS
The spray evolution and development was
experimentally studied for three very different injection
conditions, at three distances from the injector of a HSDI
Diesel engine. The experimental setup allows the use of
actual injection systems in actual operating conditions with
maximum gas densities of the order of 30 kg/m3. The
results obtained in this study are summarized as follows.
• With gas density like that of a supercharged HSDI
Diesel engine at the end of compression, the spray
behaves as a "complete atomized spray", even for very
low injection pressures corresponding to that in idle
conditions.
• Spray angle for complete atomized sprays was found
independent on injection conditions and only
dependent on the gas density, in agreement with
previous works reported in the literature.
• Lowest drop sizes were measured at the leading edge of
the spray, showing the capital importance of
aerodynamic forces in the tip. Largest drop sizes were
measured at the trailing edge of the spray. Coalescence
and weaker aerodynamic interaction are responsible for
this behaviour
59
• After the primary atomization process, the measured
values of SMD are very independent on the exit
injection conditions and the distance from the injector.
Only for very low tip velocities, lower than 25 m/s, an
increase of SMD is present. On the other hand, a clear
effect of the gas density on the SMD was detected.
• Radial velocity distributions at fixed distances from the
injector are very similar along time despite the highly
non steady characteristics of the injection process.
• Drop size is very little dependent on the radial distance
to the spray axis. Almost constant SMD values
distributions were obtained for all the cases tested.
• Despite the fact that more measurements are needed to
explain the behaviour and development of engine-like
sprays, the spatial and temporal evolution of the drop
size seems to be mainly dependent on the gas density,
and very little on the injection conditions. Some kind of
balance between atomization and coalescence appears
in the spray leading to nearly constant axial and radial
SMD distributions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge that part of the research
work has been performed in the frame of the Joule project
JOU2-CT93-0330 and wish to thank PSA Peugeot-Citroën
for supporting the experimental work and for permission to
publish this study.
LIST OF SYMBOLS
φ : characteristic diameter.
ρ : density (ρl=820 kg/m3).
σ : surface tension (σl=0.024 kg(s2).
v : viscosity (ν l =2.25 10-6 m2/s).
∆P : pressure drop across injection nozzle.
K : function of the injection conditions.
L : axial distance.
R : radial distance.
S : spray tip penetration.
SMD : Sauter mean diameter.
t : time.
Ta : Taylor number : Ta = σl / (ρ1 ν1 v)
v : velocity.
We : spray Weber number : We = (ρl φn ν2) / σl.
Wed : droplet Weber number : We = (ρg φd ν2) / σl.
Subscript :
c : spray centerline
d : droplet.
g : gas.
l : liquid fuel.
n : nozzle.
 Downloaded from SAE International by RMIT University, Monday, March 13, 2023
REFERENCES
[1] Reitz, R.D., Bracco, F.V., "Mechanism of atomization
of a liquid jet.", Phys. Fluids 25 (10), October 1982.
[2] Hiroyasu, H., Arai, M., "Structures of fuel sprays in
Diesel engines.", SAE Paper 900475, 1990.
[3] Hiroyasu, H., Arai, M., Tabata, M., “Empirical
equations for the Sauter mean diameter of a Diesel
spray.", SAE Paper 890464, 1989.
[4] Dent, J.C., "A basis for the comparison of various
experimental methods for studying spray penetration.",
SAE Paper 710571, 1971.
[5] Reitz, R-D., Bracco, F.V., "On the dependence of spray
angle and other spray parameters on nozzle design and
operating conditions.", SAE Paper 790494, 1979.
[6] Salavert, J.M., Arrègle, J., Reyes, E., "Development of
an experimental method for Diesel spray studies in
engine equivalent condition." (in Spanish), XI
Congreso Nacional de Ingeneria Mecádca, pp 435-
442, Valencia 1994.
[7] Sato, G.T., Tanabe, H., Fujimoto, H., "An investigation
of Diesel sprays.", ICLASS-82, pp 229-235, Madison
V.I., 1982.
[8] Hiroyasu, H., Shimizu, M., Arai, M., "The breakup of
high speed jet in a high pressure gaseous atmosphere.”,
ICLASS-82, pp 69-74, Madison V.I., 1982.
[9] Coghe, A., Cossali, G.E., "Phase Doppler
characterization of a Diesel spray injected into a high
density gas under vaporization regimes.", VII Int.
Symposium of Application of Laser Technology to
Fluid Mechanics, Lisbon 1994.
[10] Varde, S.K., Popa, D.M., "Diesel fuel spray penetration
at high injection pressures.", SAE Paper 830448, 1983.
[11] Rife, J., Heywood, J.B., "Photographic and performance
studies of Diesel combustion with a rapid compression
machine.”, SAE Paper 740948, 1974.
[12] Schweitzer, P.H., "Penetration of oil sprays.",
Pennsylvania State College Bulletin N° 46, 1937.
[13] Kuo, T.W., Bracco, F.V., "On the scaling of transient
larninar, turbulent and spray jets.", SAE Paper 820038,
1982.
[14] Ranz, W.E., "Some experiments on orifice sprays.",
Canad. J. Chem. Engng., Vol 36, p. 175,1958
60
[15]Taylor, G.I., "Generation of ripples by wind blowing
over a viscous fluid.", Collected works of G.I. Taylor,
Vol 3, p. 244, 1940.
[16]Wu, K.J., et al., "Measurements of the spray angle of
atomizing jets.", Journal of Fluids Engineering,
Transaction of ASME, paper 83-WA/FE-10, 1983.
[17]K u n i y o s h i , H . e t a l . , " I n v e s t i g a t i o n o n t h e
characteristics of Diesel Fuel Spray", SAE Paper
8000968, 1980.
[18]Arcoumanis, C., Chang, J.C., Morris, T., "Spray
characteristics of single-and-two-spring Diesel fuel
injectors,", SAE Paper 930922, 1993.
[19]Tsue, M. et al., "Planar fluorescence technique for
visualization of a Diesel spray.", SAE Paper 922205,
1992.
[201Jawad, B., Gulari, E., Henein, N.A., "Characteristics of
intermittent fuel sprays.", Combustion and Flame
88:394-396, 1992.
[21]Chiu, W.S., Shaded, S.M., Lyn, W.T., "A transient spray
mixing model for Diesel combustion.", SAE Paper
760128, 1976.
[22]Cho, I.Y. et al., "Similarity law of entrainment into
Diesel spray and Steady spray.", SAE Paper 900447,
1990.
[23] Quoc, H.X, Brun, M., "Study on atomization and fuel
drop size distribution in direct injection Diesel spray.",
SAE Paper 940191, 1994.
[24] Tabata, M. et al., "Mean drop diameter of a Diesel
spray in a vaporizing process. ", JSME International
Journal. Series 11, Vol. 34, N' 3, pp 369-378, 1881.
[25] Bosch, W., "The fuel rate indicator : a new measuring
instrument for display of the characteristics of
individual injection.", SAE Paper 660749, 1966.
[26]Payri, F., Desantes, J.M., Arr6gle, J., "Measurement of
the injection rate in a IDI Diesel engine." (in French),
Entropie N° 174/175, pp 61-67, 1993.