Predicting Diesel Injector Nozzle Flow Characteristics

In diesel injector nozzles, the shape of the orifice entrance and the sac-volume play a significant role in determining the orifice internal flow characteristics and the subsequent spray formation process. The sac-volume of the injector nozzle determines injection characteristics like injection rate shape and discharge coefficients. The sac-volume is also important from emissions point of view, in that it controls the amount of Un-Burnt Hydrocarbons (UBHC).

This paper demonstrates the use of commercial dynamic and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) programs in predicting the flow characteristics of various nozzle orifice and sac-volume configurations. Three single orifice nozzle tips with varying sac configurations and orifice entrance shapes are studied. Transient simulations are carried out in order to compare the injection rates, discharge coefficients and internal flow characteristics for the nozzle tips. The simulation results are compared with experimental results.

The injection rate characteristics show a strong dependence on the sac-volume and the orifice entrance shape.