Macroscopic and microscopic spray characterisation of Low-Octane blends for gasoline compression ignition engines

Abstract

Gasoline compression ignition is an advanced combustion technology that controls harmful emissions from low-octane fuels used in compression ignition engines. Fuel’s physical properties and injection strategy influence the fuel–air mixture formation and combustion. High volatile fuel and fuel injection pressure improve the spray atomisation and fuel–air mixture formation. Gasoline-diesel blends are widely investigated for gasoline compression ignition engine applications. This study investigated microscopic and macroscopic spray characteristics of 70 % v/v gasoline and 30 % v/v diesel blend (G70), 80 % v/v gasoline and 20 % v/v diesel blend (G80), and baseline diesel injected at different fuel injection pressures. Parameters such as liquid fuel spray penetration length, spray cone angle, and droplet size and velocity distributions were assessed. The results of these parameters help determine the effect of the fuel injection parameters on combustion. It was found that though the liquid spray penetration length was not significantly different for the three test fuels, G70 exhibited a slightly lower liquid spray penetration length than the other two test fuels. Increasing the diesel fraction in the test blend reduced the spray cone angle and improved the axial dispersion of the fuel spray. The spray droplet diameter reduced with increasing gasoline fraction in the test blend and the fuel injection pressure. Sauter mean diameter decreased by up to 20 % for G80 than baseline diesel and up to 36 % with an increased fuel injection pressure from 300 to 700 bar. This study addressed a significant research gap in the spray characteristics of gasoline-diesel blends and provided a benchmark for simulation based model validation.