The effect of split injection on the fuel spray and combustion processes in a rapid compression and expansion machine was investigated using the visualization process. A two-dimensional piston cavity, designed with the cross section of a reentrant piston, was installed in the combustion chamber to observe the combustion process from the lateral side. Combustion experiments were conducted with injection pressures of 80 MPa, 120 MPa, and 180 MPa and an O2 concentration of 15%. The spray/wall interaction, mixture distribution, and ignition location were investigated using the shadow method. Along with natural flame luminescence, different spray impinging behaviors on combustion process were studied. Furthermore, the combustion characteristics of in-cylinder pressure, apparent heat release rate, and combustion phase were recorded and analyzed simultaneously. The results showed that both high injection pressure and split injection with a longer interval effectively improved the combustion performance. In addition, when the pilot injection was advanced further, the injection interval had a larger influence in reducing soot generation, while the effect of high injection pressure on heat release decreased. Flame separation was found to occur at high injection pressures. It was observed that the flame separation caused by the strong spray momentum was beneficial for reducing soot generation owing to the greater fuel-air interaction area. The spray and combustion processes were investigated in detail, and the significant effects of different injection pressures and injection intervals on combustion performance with the split injection method were highlighted.
Effect of spray/wall interaction in a rapid compression and expansion machine on mixture formation, ignition location, and soot generation was investigated. A two-dimensional piston cavity designed as the cross section of a reentrant piston was utilized to observe the spray and combustion process from the lateral side. The experiment was conducted at 120 MPa injection pressure under single and split injection strategies with an ambient gas of 15% O2 concentration. A shadow methodology was applied to investigate the interaction between the fuel spray and the piston cavity. Combined with the natural flame luminosity captured by a high-speed color video camera, the behaviors of the impinging spray and the combustion process were studied. The combustion characteristics of the in-cylinder pressure, heat release and combustion phase were recorded and analyzed simultaneously. The results showed that the split injection strategies effectively softened the heat release trace and promoted the onset of the main combustion. The cool-flame phenomenon was captured by using the high-speed color video camera, and the intense ignition was observed when the pilot spray was controlled to impinge on the lower lip of the piston rim. Moreover, results also showed that further extending the mixing process of the pilot spray is inclined to form a homogeneous mixture which was beneficial for the promotion of low-temperature combustion and the reduction of soot generation. This research provides a detailed investigation on the spray and combustion process and it highlights the significant effect of spray/wall interaction on the subsequent combustion process.
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