Experimental research on flash boiling spray of dimethyl ether

Abstract

The high-speed digital imaging technique is applied to observe the developing process of flash boiling spray of dimethyl ether at low ambient pressure, and the effects of nozzle opening pressure and nozzle hole diameter on the spray shape, spray tip penetration and spray angle during the injection are investigated. The experimental results show that the time when the vortex ring structure of flash boiling spray forms and its developing process are determined by the combined action of the bubble growth and breakup in the spray and the air drag on the leading end of spray; with the enhancement of nozzle opening pressure, the spray tip penetration increases and the spray angle decreases. The influence of nozzle hole diameter on the spray tip penetration is relatively complicated, the spray tip penetration is longer with a smaller nozzle hole diameter at the early stage of injection, while the situation is just opposite at the later stage of injection. This paper establishes that the variation of spray angle is consistent with that of nozzle hole diameter.

Keywords

dimethyl ether / flash boiling spray / high-speed digital imaging / spray tip penetration / spray angle / vortex ring structure