EFFECT OF FUEL PROPERTIES ON SPRAY CHARACTERISTICS OF ALTERNATIVE JET FUELS USING GLOBAL SIZING VELOCIMETRY

Abstract

Increasing oil prices and strict emission policies drive the need for cleaner, alternative energy sources. Gas-to-liquid (GTL) jet fuel, a synthetic jet fuel produced from natural gas using Fischer−Tropsch synthesis, has grabbed global attention due to its cleaner combustion aspects when compared to conventional jet fuels. Since the production methodology of GTL and conventional jet fuels are different, their chemical and physical properties are different from each other. Consequently, these differences can affect atomization, mixing, combustion, and pollutant formation in the combustion chamber. Atomization is the precursor to evaporation and mixing processes. Hence, it is important to study atomization in detail in order to gain a better understanding of the other processes that directly affect combustion and emission characteristics. In this work, the microscopic spray characteristics of two GTL fuels and conventional Jet A-1 fuel are investigated and compared with each other. The spray characteristics of these fuels are studied for three injection pressures at different spatial locations downstream of a pressure swirl nozzle exit using a planar-laser diagnostic technique known as global sizing velocimetry. The results demonstrate that the influence of change in the fuel physical properties is insignificant on the spray characteristics at high injection pressures. Furthermore, the spray characteristics of the GTL fuels are found to be similar to those of the conventional Jet A-1 fuel.