Large-Eddy Simulation on the Effects of Fuel Injection Pressure on the Gasoline Spray Characteristics

Increasing the injection pressure in gasoline direct injection engines has a substantial potential to reduce emissions while maintaining a high efficiency in spark ignition engines. Present gasoline injectors are operating in the range of 20 MPa to 25 MPa. Now there is an interest in higher fuel injection pressures, for instance, around 40 MPa, 60 MPa and even higher pressures, because of its potential for further emission reduction and fuel efficiency improvements. In order to fully utilize the high-pressure fuel injection technology, a fundamental understanding of gasoline spray characteristics is vital to gain insight into spray behavior under such high injection pressures. The understanding achieved may also be beneficial to improve further model development and facilitate the integration of such advanced injection systems into future gasoline engines. In the present study, a gasoline fuel spray has been investigated over a range of fuel injection pressures from 40 to 150 MPa through a numerical simulation study. The numerical calculations have been performed in a constant volume chamber under non-vaporizing conditions to best match the experimental setup. The numerical model utilized a large-eddy simulation (LES) approach for the gas flow and a standard Lagrangian spray model for the liquid phase. The spray atomization has been modeled using the Kelvin Helmholtz - Rayleigh Taylor (KH-RT) atomization model with a droplet size distribution from the injector assumed to follow a Rosin-Rammler distribution function. Simulation results for the spray liquid penetration length are validated with experimental findings under different fuel injection pressures. Afterwards, an arithmetic mean droplet diameter (D10) and a Sauter mean droplet diameter (D32) as a function of pressure are compared against the measured droplet diameters. Simulated drop size distributions are presented and compared with measured droplet sizes. The results indicate that a high fuel injection pressure increases the liquid penetration length and significantly reduces droplet sizes. The results also exhibit that the SMD decreases from 13.4 μm to 7.5 μm, when injection pressure changes from 40 MPa to 150 MPa and that probability of finding the 5-9 μm droplet diameter decreases from 72% to 40% for the injection pressure drops from 150 MPa to 40 MPa.