Visual experimental investigations of string cavitation and residual bubbles in the diesel nozzle and effects on initial spray structures

Abstract

In this article, optical experiments on string cavitation and residual bubbles inside the real-size transparent tapered diesel nozzle and near-nozzle spray structures were performed based on a high-pressure common rail fuel injection system with a high-speed camera. The tapered nozzle which has high flow efficiency with weak or even no geometric cavitation has been widely used in commercial injectors, while there still exists string cavitation which may also influence the in-nozzle flow and subsequent spray. This article put focus on the tapered nozzle and the result indicated that the in-nozzle string cavitation provided a reasonable explanation for the two bumps of spray cone angles during the opening and closing stages of needle of real diesel engine injection processes. The suction and compression of air bubbles at the start and end stages of injection processes, and the various shot-to-shot near-nozzle spray patterns were captured and analyzed. These different near-nozzle spray patterns were attributed to the distribution of residual bubbles inside the nozzle orifice. The residual bubbles were survived from the last injection or sucked into the nozzle during needle opening stages. Stagnant bubbles were compressed and then accelerated the residual fuel which was close to the injector tip, leading to the formation of mushrooms. This study confirmed that the initial mushroom and the tail were generated by the interactions between the residual/sucked bubbles and the residual/initial fuel, and the leading mushroom was incurred by the combination of the transverse expansion of the jet and the laminar layer theory. This work pointed out and analyzed the new sources of the cycle-to-cycle variation of air/fuel mixture and spray.