The effects of sub/supercritical conditions on the spray interface characteristics of alkane fuel

Abstract

ABSTRACT Alkane fuels are widely used in engines. The spray characteristics in supercritical environments are very different than in subcritical environments, and supercritical environments significantly impact the formation of the gas mixture in the engine. In this paper, the spray images of n-heptane and n-tetradecane in subcritical (500K-2MPa) and supercritical (700K-4MPa, 800K-6MPa) environments were obtained on the constant volume spray test platform. The effects of the supercritical environment and carbon chain length of alkane fuel on spray characteristic parameters were investigated. The results showed that the carbon chain length and ambient pressure are the main factors of penetration. The ambient pressure is the main factor of the spray cone angle and the spray non-liquid layer thickness. Compared with n-heptane, in the 500K-2MPa (subcritical) environment, the cone angle of n-tetradecane was reduced by 2°, the penetration was increased by 10 mm, and the spray non-liquid layer thickness was reduced by about 1 mm. In the 800K-6MPa (supercritical) environment, the cone angle of n-tetradecane was increased by 2°, the penetration was increased by 10 mm, and the spray non-liquid layer thickness was increased by about 1.2 mm. In addition, the calculation model of alkane fuel spray penetration in sub/supercritical environments was modified and achieved 95% prediction accuracy.