Visualization of diesel spray and combustion from lateral side of two-dimensional piston cavity in rapid compression and expansion machine

Abstract

Effect of spray/wall interaction in a rapid compression and expansion machine on mixture formation, ignition location, and soot generation was investigated. A two-dimensional piston cavity designed as the cross section of a reentrant piston was utilized to observe the spray and combustion process from the lateral side. The experiment was conducted at 120 MPa injection pressure under single and split injection strategies with an ambient gas of 15% O2 concentration. A shadow methodology was applied to investigate the interaction between the fuel spray and the piston cavity. Combined with the natural flame luminosity captured by a high-speed color video camera, the behaviors of the impinging spray and the combustion process were studied. The combustion characteristics of the in-cylinder pressure, heat release and combustion phase were recorded and analyzed simultaneously. The results showed that the split injection strategies effectively softened the heat release trace and promoted the onset of the main combustion. The cool-flame phenomenon was captured by using the high-speed color video camera, and the intense ignition was observed when the pilot spray was controlled to impinge on the lower lip of the piston rim. Moreover, results also showed that further extending the mixing process of the pilot spray is inclined to form a homogeneous mixture which was beneficial for the promotion of low-temperature combustion and the reduction of soot generation. This research provides a detailed investigation on the spray and combustion process and it highlights the significant effect of spray/wall interaction on the subsequent combustion process.