Fuel Property Effects on Fuel/Air Mixing in an Experimental Diesel Engine

Fuels of widely varying properties are studied by injection of a single and well defined spray into an experimental diesel engine. Three optical techniques were developed to visualise liquid fuel, fuel vapour, flame, soot and individual droplets and their associated vapour trails. Liquid core length measurements are presented for diesel fuel, toluene, ethanol and sunflower oil. Computer model predictions show that an increase of the fuel mid-boiling point by 40/sup 0/C gives a similar effect on liquid core length to an increase of 0.03mm in the nozzle hole diameter.