Vaporization modeling of petroleum-biofuel drops using a hybrid multi-component approach

Numerical modeling of the vaporization characteristics of multi-component fuel mixtures is performed in this study. The fuel mixtures studied include those of binary components, biodiesel, diesel-biodiesel, and gasoline-ethanol. The use of biofuels has become increasingly important for reasons of environmental sustainability. Biofuels are often blended with petroleum fuels, and the detailed understanding of the vaporization process is essential to designing a clean and efficient combustion system. In this study, a hybrid vaporization model is developed that uses continuous thermodynamics to describe petroleum fuels and discrete components to represent biofuels. The model is validated using the experimental data of n-heptane, n-heptane-n-decane mixture, and biodiesel. Since biodiesel properties are not universal due to the variation in feedstock, methods for predicting biodiesel properties based on the five dominant fatty acid components are introduced. Good levels of agreement in the predicted and measured drop size histories are obtained. Furthermore, in modeling the diesel-biodiesel drop, results show that the drop lifetime increases with the biodiesel concentration in the blend. During vaporization, only the lighter components of diesel fuel vaporize at the beginning. Biodiesel components do not vaporize until some time during the vaporization process. On the other hand, results of gasoline-ethanol drops indicate that both fuels start to vaporize once the process begins. At the beginning, the lighter components of gasoline have a slightly higher vaporization rate than ethanol. After a certain time, ethanol vaporizes faster than the remaining gasoline components. At the end, the drop reduces to a regular gasoline drop with heavier components. Overall, the drop lifetime increases as the concentration of ethanol increases in the drop due to the higher latent heat.     

A model for high-pressure vaporization of droplets of complex liquid mixtures using continuous thermodynamics

This paper presents a comprehensive model for the transient high-pressure vaporization process of droplets of complex liquid mixtures with large number of components in which the mixture composition, the mixture properties, and the vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) are described by using the theory of continuous thermodynamics. Transport equations, which are general for the moments and independent of the distribution functions, are derived for the semi-continuous systems of both gas and liquid phases. A general treatment of the VLE is conducted which can be applied with any cubic equation of state (EOS). Relations for the properties of the continuous species are formulated. The model was further applied to calculate the sub- and super-critical vaporization processes of droplets of a representative petroleum fuel mixture - diesel fuel. The results show that the liquid mixture droplet exhibits an intrinsic transient vaporization behavior regardless of whether the pressure is sub- or super-critical. The regression rate of the liquid mixture droplet is reduced significantly during the late vaporization period. The comparison with the results of a single-component substitute fuel case emphasizes the importance of considering the multi-component nature of practical mixture fuel and the critical vaporization effects in practical applications. This paper provides a practical means for more realistically describing the high-pressure vaporization processes of practical fuels.     

柴油机燃用二甲醚/柴油混合燃料时的特性研究

开展了直喷式柴油机燃用二甲醚/柴油混合燃料时燃料互溶性、喷雾特性及发动机动力性、经济性和排放研究。结果表明:混合燃料的饱和蒸气压低于纯二甲醚的饱和蒸气压,有助于消除燃油系统的气阻;D20(含20%二甲醚)的油束与柴油相比较,贯穿度缩短,喷雾锥角增大,有利于燃油与空气的充分混合;柴油机燃用二甲醚/柴油混合燃料时,通过适当调整循环燃料量,动力性超过原机,最低当量油耗率下降了4.5%,烟度下降70%以上,NOx降低30%~50%。     

二甲醚液滴高压蒸发的数值模拟

在分析燃油液滴高压蒸发规律的基础上,考虑液滴内部的热传导过程、内部环流和非理想气体效应,建立了高压蒸发模型,并利用该模型对二甲醚(DME)单液滴的蒸发过程进行了数值模拟分析。采用状态方程法计算了DME-N2体系的气液相平衡。结果表明:高压有利于燃料液滴蒸发;即使环境压力超过燃油的临界压力,其平衡蒸发温度也未必能达到临界温度。     

柴油机缸内环境下碰壁喷雾的蒸发特性研究

在高温高压定容弹内基于紫外/可见光两波长激光吸收与散射法测得的柴油模拟燃料碰壁喷雾的气液两相浓度分布、贯穿距、平均粒径等数据,并由此研究碰壁喷雾蒸发模型的准确性,提出了碰壁喷雾的标定方法,最后用标定好的模型对不同喷油量条件下的喷雾进行预测并用实测数据进行验证。由此揭示了主要标定参数对蒸发特性的影响规律,如回弹韦伯数越大蒸发量及蒸发速率下降越明显等,并提出了蒸发碰壁模型的主要标定参数的确定方法。     

Impact of alternative fuel properties on fuel spray behavior and atomization

In order to verify and solve the problem of NOx and PM emissions, it is necessary to directly observe the internal combustion chamber of a diesel engine. Many studies have been performed in recent years to verify the macroscopic and microscopic behavior of the injected fuel spray because observing it is not easy due to the difficulties of the experiment. Researchers have investigated the spray characteristics for various diesel injector nozzles over a wide range of temperatures and pressure, but there is lack of evaluation for the spray characteristics for biodiesel. At a time when rapid rise of fuel prices and depleting hydrocarbon resources of the world have forced us to look for alternative fuels biodiesel produced by transesterification of non-edible vegetable oils is promising to be an important additive/substitute to petro diesel. Biodiesel being an oxygenated and sulfur-free fuel leads to more complete combustion and lower emissions. But, the energy content or net calorific value of biodiesel is less than that of diesel fuel; also it has higher viscosity and density, than diesel fuel. A considerable improvement in these properties can be obtained by mixing diesel and biodiesel and then using the blends. Biodiesel and biodiesel/petro diesel blends, with their higher lubricity levels, are increasingly being utilized as an alternative. Present paper analyzed the correlation of injection parameters that will affect the spray characteristics of biodiesel. Observations for analyzing the effect of injection parameters on spray cone angle, break up length and fuel penetration were made. Finally the performance and emissions tests were studied. Atomization and vaporization of fuel are greatly influenced by viscosity and density of fuel and these properties are temperature dependent. Thus fuel inlet temperature plays a very important role in fuel atomization process. At higher temperature viscosity of fuel decreases which enhances the atomization of biofuels.     

Combustion performance and emission reduction characteristics of automotive DME engine system

This article is a condensed overview of a dimethyl ether (DME) fuel application for a compression ignition diesel engine. In this review article, the spray, atomization, combustion and exhaust emissions characteristics from a DME-fueled engine are described, as well as the fundamental fuel properties including the vapor pressure, kinematic viscosity, cetane number, and the bulk modulus. DME fuel exists as gas phase at atmospheric state and it must be pressurized to supply the liquid DME to fuel injection system. In addition, DME-fueled engine needs the modification of fuel supply and injection system because the low viscosity of DME caused the leakage. Different fuel properties such as low density, viscosity and higher vapor pressure compared to diesel fuel induced the shorter spray tip penetration, wider cone angle, and smaller droplet size than diesel fuel. The ignition of DME fuel in combustion chamber starts in advance compared to diesel or biodiesel fueled compression ignition engine due to higher cetane number than diesel and biodiesel fuels. In addition, DME combustion is soot-free since it has no carbon–carbon bonds, and has lower HC and CO emissions than that of diesel combustion. The NO_x emission from DME-fueled combustion can be reduced by the application of EGR (exhaust gas recirculation). This article also describes various technologies to reduce NO_x emission from DME-fueled engines, such as the multiple injection strategy and premixed combustion. Finally, the development trends of DME-fueled vehicle are described with various experimental results and discussion for fuel properties, spray atomization characteristics, combustion performance, and exhaust emissions characteristics of DME fuel.     

Vaporization and collision modeling of liquid fuel sprays in a co-axial fuel and air pre-mixer

Droplet collision occurs frequently in regions where the droplet number density is high. Even for Lean Premixed and Pre-vaporized (LPP) liquid sprays, the collision effects can be very high on the droplet size distributions, which will in turn affect the droplet vaporization process. Hence, in conjunction with vaporization modeling, collision modeling for such spray systems is also essential. The standard O’Rourke’s collision model, usually implemented in CFD codes, tends to generate unphysical numerical artifact when simulations are performed on Cartesian grid and the results are not grid independent. Thus, a new collision modeling approach based on no-time-counter method (NTC) proposed by Schmidt and Rutland is implemented to replace O’Rourke’s collision algorithm to solve a spray injection problem in a cylindrical coflow premixer. The so called “four-leaf clover” numerical artifacts are eliminated by the new collision algorithm and results from a diesel spray show very good grid independence. Next, the dispersion and vaporization processes for liquid fuel sprays are simulated in a coflow premixer. Two liquid fuels under investigation are jet-A and Rapeseed Methyl Esters (RME). Results show very good grid independence in terms of SMD distribution, droplet number distribution and fuel vapor mass flow rate. A baseline test is first established with a spray cone angle of 90° and injection velocity of 3 m/s and jet-A achieves much better vaporization performance than RME due to its higher vapor pressure. To improve the vaporization performance for both fuels, a series of simulations have been done at several different combinations of spray cone angle and injection velocity. At relatively low spray cone angle and injection velocity, the collision effect on the average droplet size and the vaporization performance are very high due to relatively high coalescence rate induced by droplet collisions. Thus, at higher spray cone angle and injection velocity, the results expectedly show improvement in fuel vaporization performance since smaller droplet has a higher vaporization rate. The vaporization performance and the level of homogeneity of fuel–air mixture can be significantly improved when the dispersion level is high, which can be achieved by increasing the spray cone angle and injection velocity.     

重型柴油机低温环境喷雾及蒸发特性研究

利用定容燃烧弹结合米散射法、阴影法针对喷孔直径(0.12～0.32mm)和环境温度(550～850K)对重型柴油机低温环境下喷雾特性的影响进行可视化测量。结果表明:不同于轻型柴油机,在各个喷射压力和环境压力下提高环境温度到750K时,表征重型柴油机的0.32mm喷孔下的液相燃油依然持续贯穿,无法达到准稳态或达到准稳态时贯穿距离过长而湿壁。随着环境温度增加,0.32mm喷孔下的液相燃油湿壁量减小。只有环境温度增长到850K时,燃油的蒸发作用足够强烈,液相撞壁喷雾的横向扩展长度和浮起高度才能均达到准稳态。     

丙醇-生物柴油斯特林发动机喷雾特性试验研究

斯特林发动机的喷射压力和背压均低于柴油机,一般采用压力涡流和引射耦合的喷雾方式。为研究丙醇-生物柴油混合燃料的在斯特林发动机上的喷雾特性,本文建立了基于斯特林发动机的喷雾可视化试验系统,研究了喷射压差、丙醇含量及喷孔直径对丙醇-生物柴油混合燃料斯特林发动机的喷雾特性的影响。结果表明：与柴油相比,丙醇-生物柴油混合燃料对喷射压差的敏感性较小;在不同喷雾阶段,丙醇含量对喷雾的影响呈现不同规律,在喷雾趋于稳定后,P50BD50、P75BD25和纯生物柴油的喷雾贯穿距明显大于P25BD75和柴油;喷孔直径越大,喷雾锥角越大、喷雾贯穿距越小;引射作用对喷雾形态有质的影响,在可观测范围内,已无明显的雾束结构,引射是低压差下斯特林发动机实现良好雾化的关键。     

利用PLIEF技术对重型柴油机类似环境条件下柴油喷雾特性和浓度场的定量研究

利用复合激光诱导荧光技术在定容弹内定量研究了环境温度、环境密度、氧浓度等对重型柴油机类似环境条件下柴油喷雾特性和浓度场的影响。试验中,环境密度为20～100kg/m3,氧浓度为15%～21%,喷油压力为100～220MPa。研究发现,提高环境密度,最大液核长度显著缩短;减小喷孔直径,液核最大长度呈线性下降。降低环境温度或提高喷油压力可以弥补减小喷孔直径或提高环境密度对贯穿距离的影响。在增加充分发展期气相喷雾稀混区燃油比例方面,减小喷孔直径、降低环境温度、提高环境密度和提高喷油压力具有相互替代性。     

Droplet Combustion Characteristics of Biodiesel–Diesel Blends using High Speed Backlit and Schlieren Imaging

This work investigates the effect of blending biodiesel with diesel on the combustion of an isolated fuel droplet. Biodiesel blends substituting diesel oil in different concentrations on volumetric basis, in addition to neat diesel and biodiesel, were studied. High-speed Schlieren and backlighting imaging techniques have been used to track droplet combustion. The results showed that partial substitution of diesel oil by biodiesel at the test conditions led to increasing secondary atomization from the droplet, compared to neat diesel or biodiesel fuel droplets. This in turn enhances evaporation, mixing, and then combustion. Additionally, the results showed that biodiesel has a higher burning rate compared to diesel, and that increasing biodiesel in the blend increases the burning rate of the blend. Nucleation has also been traced to take place inside the droplets of the blends. Moreover, flame size (height and width) has been reduced by increasing biodiesel concentration in the blend.     

利用复合激光诱导荧光法对气相柴油喷雾温度场和浓度场的定量标定

根据复合激光诱导荧光技术(PLIEF)中Lambert-Beer定律的气相荧光强度与环境温度和压力的依赖关系以及能量守恒基本原理,结合使用复合激光诱导荧光技术拍摄得到的气相喷雾荧光图像,对气相柴油喷雾温度场进行定量标定时考虑了空气卷吸率和油滴蒸发率对喷雾温度场的影响;利用Matlab软件编写了标定喷雾温度场和浓度场的迭代计算程序.研究发现,利用本标定方法,可以通过复合激光诱导荧光技术同时完成气相柴油喷雾温度场和浓度场的定量标定,标定得到的气相喷雾温度场和浓度场强烈相关.     

不同大气压力和生物柴油/柴油掺混比对柴油机噪声的影响

使用大气模拟试验台进行了直喷式柴油机在高原环境不同大气压下燃用不同体积掺混比生物柴油/柴油混合燃料的噪声测量对比试验研究。结果表明：噪声声功率随着大气压力和生物柴油掺混比的增加而减小;怠速工况时,在101kPa和81kPa大气压下分别燃用掺混比为70%和80%的混合燃料噪声值最小;在630～2000Hz噪声主要贡献频带上,各个测试点燃用B100油时声压级较B0油小;在高原环境下使用生物柴油可有效地降低柴油机整机噪声。     

二甲基醚（ＤＭＥ）喷雾一般牧场生的试验研究

介绍了在高压环境下对二甲基醚（ＤＭＥ）喷雾一般特性的试验研究结果,并与柴油的喷雾特性进行了比较。试验研究是在定容燃烧弹上进行的,用阴影法通过高速数字摄影机拍摄了二甲基醚和柴油的喷雾发展过程,应用计算机图像处理进行喷雾过程图像再现。研究结果表明：ＤＭＥ的喷雾贯穿蹁距离比柴油小,喷雾锥角比柴油大;在喷雾自由发展过程中,ＤＭＥ的蒸发速度比柴油快;环境密度对ＤＭＥ喷雾特性的影响与柴油相似,即密度增大,锥角增大,贯穿距离减小。在燃烧室壁面附近,柴油的喷雾锥角迅速增大,而ＤＭＥ喷雾锥角几乎没有明显的变化。     

Comparative evaluations of injection and spray characteristics of a diesel engine using karanja biodiesel–diesel blends

The injection and spray characteristics of a diesel engine with 7.4‐kW rated power output for use of different karanja biodiesel blends (B10 and B20) are studied for identifications of further scope of performance improvement and emission reduction. The dynamic injection timing advanced for the biodiesel blends resulting in higher NOx emission, which increased from 2.94 g/kW‐hour with base diesel to 3.40 g/kW‐hour with B20. At the rated load, the dynamic injection timing advanced from 9.2 deg. crank angle before top dead centre (CA BTDC) with base diesel to 9.3 and 9.4 deg. CA BTDC for B10 and B20, respectively. The in‐line injection pressure increased from 460 bar with base diesel to 480 bar with B20, and in‐cylinder injection duration also increased from 9.5 deg. CA with base diesel to 10.2 deg. CA with B20. The penetration distance increased from 33.37 mm with base diesel to 34.80 mm and 34.25 mm with B10 and B20, respectively. Sauter mean diameter (SMD) increased from 11.39 µm with base diesel to 12.71 and 17.09 µm for B10 and B20, respectively, at the rated load. Air entrainment increases for the biodiesel blends, and it enhances the mixing rate of injected fuel with surrounding hot air. Vaporization time of biodiesel droplets increases because of larger SMD. However, increase in over penetration distance, large SMD and high vaporization time for the biodiesel blends would lead to deteriorated performance and emission characteristics of diesel engines. The remedial measures of spray characteristics for further performance improvement and emission reduction also are highlighted in the paper. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theoretical modeling of a compound-drop spray in premixed flames

The influence of internal heat transfer induced by dilute compound-drop sprays on one-dimensional premixed flames is investigated using large activation energy asymptotic analysis. In this study, the compound drop is composed of a single water core encased by a shell of fuel. The gasification zones of the shell fuel and the core water affect the flow and flame characteristics. A critical completely pre-vaporized burning condition, (CPB)_c, is defined as the whole compound drops finishing vaporization right at the flame and a critical shell pre-vaporized burning condition, (SPB)_c, is defined as the shell fuel of compound drops finishing vaporization right at the flame. Under the (CPB)_c and (SPB)_c conditions of lean and rich flames, the flame propagation flux, the critical values of the shell-fuel mass fraction and the initial radius vary with the water-core radius and the liquid loading. For a lean spray flame, compound drops can provide internal heat transfer in the form of heat gain from the shell fuel and heat loss from the core water. The lean spray flame may be strengthened or weakened depending on the net heat transfer. For a rich spray flame, the compound-drop spray always weakens flame propagation. An S-shaped extinction curve occurs for a rich spray flame under the (SPB)_c condition, with a sufficiently heavy liquid loading and a sufficiently large water-core size.     

Clustering effects on liquid oxygen (LOX) droplet vaporization in hydrogen environments at subcritical and supercritical pressures

A droplet-in-bubble approach has been incorporated into a previously developed high-pressure droplet vaporization model to study the clustering effects on a liquid oxygen (LOX) droplet evaporating in hydrogen environments under both sub- and supercritical conditions. A broad range of ambient pressures and temperatures are considered. Results indicate that pressure exerts strong influence on droplet vaporization behaviors in a dense cluster environment. Increasing ambient pressure reduces droplet interactions and significantly decreases the droplet vaporization time. The effect of ambient temperature on droplet interactions is found to be very weak. The present study is intended to illuminate the underlying physics of droplet clustering phenomena in combustion devices.     

Theoretical and experimental study on the performance of a diesel engine fueled with diesel–biodiesel blends

This study reports the effects of engine load and biodiesel percentage on the performance of a diesel engine fueled with diesel–biodiesel blends by experiments and a new theoretical model based on the finite-time thermodynamics (FTT). In recent years, biodiesel utilization in diesel engines has been popular due to depletion of petroleum-based diesel fuel. In this study, performance of a single cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection (DI) diesel engine fueled with diesel–biodiesel mixtures has been experimentally and theoretically investigated. The simulation results agree with the experimental data. After model validation, the effects of engine load and biodiesel percentage on engine performance have been parametrically investigated. The results showed that, effective power increases constantly, effective efficiency increases to a specified value and then starts to decrease with increasing engine load at constant biodiesel percentage and compression ratio. However, effective efficiency increases, effective power decreases to a certain value and then begins to increase with increasing biodiesel percentage at constant equivalence ratio and compression ratio.     

Effects of hydrogen addition on the combustion characteristics of diesel fuel jets under ultra-high injection pressures

Many applications use hydrogen addition and high-pressure fuel injection technology to improve combustion performance. In this study, spray atomization and combustion characteristics of a diesel fuel jet, under the injection pressure of 350 MPa, injecting into a constant volume combustion vessel filled with air-hydrogen mixture at the diesel engine relevant condition are investigated by simulation method. A simplified mechanism of the n-heptane (C₇H₁₆) oxidation chemistry mechanism consisting of 26 reactions and 25 species integrated with the Kéromnès-2013 hydrogen combustion mechanism and EDC combustion model are utilized to predict the diesel fuel spray auto-ignition and combustion. The ambient gas is the mixture of air and hydrogen range in volume fraction from 0% to 10%. The ambient temperature and pressure is set to 1000 K and 3.5 MPa, respectively. The results indicate that as the hydrogen volume fraction is 2%, the minimum overall droplet SMD (Sauter Mean Diameter) is approximately 0.95 μm, which is obviously smaller than that of the case with the conventional high injection pressure. In cases that H₂ v/v% larger than 4%, the maximum gaseous temperature increased significantly up to 2700 K. There are two peaks in the temperature growth rate curves as the hydrogen fraction of 8% and 10%. The high temperature at the outer edge of the spray is clearly seen due to its high value when the hydrogen fraction is larger than 4%. The hot reaction layer is the main location of CO formation. The H, OH radicals are formed at the edge of the spray where the temperature is high. The hydrogen species obviously promotes the oxidation and combustion of diesel fuel.