Spray characteristics of high-pressure swirl injector fueled with alcohol

Abstract

The spray characteristics of methanol and ethanol with high-pressure swirl injector were explored experimentally and numerically. Experimental results show that the spray characteristics of methanol and ethanol had displayed the same trends as that of gasoline. Under the low back-pressure ambient conditions, the spray behavior exhibited a hollow cone with wide spray angle and initial spray slug at the tip, while the spray presented a solid cone in the case of high back-pressure. Vortexes in the opposite direction existed in the rear part of the spray under low back-pressure ambient conditions while the vortexes formed in the middle part under high back-pressure ambient conditions. Experiments also showed that methanol had the largest cone angle, while ethanol and gasoline presented almost the same cone angle. Simulation results indicated that methanol and ethanol had a slightly larger Sauter mean diameter (SMD) than that of gasoline with swirl injector. The SMD profile of methanol coincided well with that of ethanol under low back-pressure ambient conditions, but displayed a slightly larger value under high back-pressure due to fuel evaporation. Numerical simulation could successfully demonstrate the spray characteristics of high-pressure swirl injector for methanol and ethanol fuels.