Measurement and characterization of fully transient diesel fuel jet processes in an optical engine with production injectors

The effects of transient rate-of-injection profiles on high-pressure diesel fuel jets have been studied in an optically accessible internal combustion engine. Highspeed optical imaging measurements were applied over a range of ambient conditions, fuel types, and injection parameters. This paper demonstrates that during the early part of the injection, while the liquid core is disintegrating, the penetration is functionally linked to the inviscid orifice exit velocity up until a downstream distance hypothesized to be the jet breakup length. The jets then transitioned to a mixing dominated penetration behavior afterward. Therefore, for cases that exhibit transient rate-of-injection profiles, quasi-steady penetration analytical solutions for penetration have poor agreement with the empirical data. The development of an adaptive edgefinding algorithm for accurately detecting jets in engines is detailed. These findings indicate that empirical correlations widely used throughout the engine community for estimating jet penetration do not accurately represent actual injection parameters under transient conditions.