An experimental study on the spray characteristics of diesel-dimethyl ether (DME) blended fuels by phase doppler anemometry

This paper presents an experimental study on the spray characteristics of diesel-dimethyl ether (DME) blended fuels by phase doppler anemometry (PDA). Blended fuels with DME mass fractions of 15%, 30% and pure diesel fuel were used to evaluate the effect of the DME concentration on the spray pattern, droplet size and velocity. The data for spray velocity vector and droplet size field were obtained. The experimental results reveal that the micro-explosive function exists in the jet of diesel-dimethyl ether (DME) blended fuels and the radial velocity of the blended fuels spray is larger than that of conventional diesel fuel spray near the nozzle exit. At the downstream part of the spray, the radial velocity and its attenuation rate of blended fuels are much more uniform and smaller than those of pure diesel spray. At the centerline of the spray, the attenuation rates of all spray axial velocities are similar. With the increase of DME concentration in the fuel, the spray angle and the exit velocity increase and the droplet size deceases. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50806046) and the National Basic Research Program of China (“973” Project) (Grant No. 2007CB210007)