<p><i>It is well known that cavitation erosion in fuel injectors can prevent reliable engine performance after only several thousand hours of operation. However, current simulation tools lack the ability to link flow predictions within the fuel injector to both the efficacy of combustion strategies and lifetime of the injector. Multiphase flow simulation predictions were studied and compared between an informed baseline injector geometry and an x-ray scanned eroded injector geometry. Overall, erosion was found to decrease the fuel mass delivery and injection velocities and result in wider spray spreading. A two-stage static coupling approach was employed to link the predicted injection conditions from non-eroded and eroded injectors with the external spray simulations under reacting conditions. Combustion modeling in this coupled approach was carried out using the Unsteady Flamelet Progress Variable approach with a detailed chemical mechanism for n-dodecane, comprising of 2,755 species and 11,173 reactions. Erosion in the injectors led to lower rates of spray penetration in comparison to the baseline configurations. Analysis of the reacting spray simulations revealed an insensitivity of ignition to erosion,&nbsp;yet shorter lift off lengths in the eroded injector. Additionally, the simulation predictions note&nbsp;higher levels of the soot precursor acetylene from the eroded injector, suggesting that erosion can lead to a higher sooting tendency.</i></p>

A Comparison of Injection, Spray, and Combustion Characteristics for Non-Eroded and Eroded Multi-Hole Fuel Injectors

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICEF/ICEF2021/volume/85512

ASME 2021 Internal Combustion Engine Division Fall Technical Conference (ICEF2021)

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