Soot Formation in Diesel Fuel Jets Near the Lift-Off Length

Abstract

Soot formation in the region downstream of the lift-off length of diesel fuel jets was investigated in an optically accessible constant-volume combustion vessel under quiescent-type diesel engine conditions. Planar laser-induced incandescence and line-of-sight laser extinction were used to determine the location of the first soot formation during mixing-controlled combustion. OH chemiluminescence imaging was used to determine the location of high-heat-release reactions relative to the soot-forming region. The primary parameters varied in the experiments were the sooting propensity of the fuel and the amount of fuel-air premixing that occurs upstream of the lift-off length. The fuels considered in order of increasing sooting propensity were: an oxygenated fuel blend (T70), a blend of diesel cetane-number reference fuels (CN80), and a #2 diesel fuel (D2). Fuel-air mixing upstream of the lift-off length was varied by changing ambient gas and injector conditions, which varied either the lift-off length or the air entrainment rate into the fuel jet relative to the fuel injection rate. Results show that soot formation starts at a finite distance downstream of the lift-off length and that the spatial location of soot formation depends on the fuel type and operating conditions. The distance from the lift-off length to the location of the first soot formation increases as the fuel sooting propensity decreases (i.e. in the order D2 < CN80 < T70). At the baseline operating conditions, the most upstream soot formation occurs at the edges of the jet for D2 and CN80, while for T70 the soot formation is confined to the jet central region. When conditions are varied to produce enhanced fuel-air mixing upstream of the lift-off length in D2 fuel jets, the initial soot formation shifts towards the fuel jet centre and eventually no soot is formed. For all experimental conditions, the observed location of soot formation relative to the heat-release location (lift-off) suggests that soot formation occurs in a mixture of combustion products originating from partially premixed reactions and a diffusion flame. The results also imply that soot precursor formation rates depend strongly on fuel type in the region between the lift-off length and the first soot formation.