A Study of the Formation of Particulates in the Cylinder of a Direct Injection Diesel Engine

The paper describes a programme of work carried out on a swirling direct injection diesel combustion system to establish the relative contribution of fuel burning from fully evaporated, droplet and ‘off the wall’ conditions to particulate formation and emissions.

The high speed combustion photography and in-cylinder sampling techniques which were used are described. Results which enabled the formation and subsequent decay of particulate matter during the combustion process to be quantified are presented.