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The insufficient level of atomization of the fuel drops in direct-injection engines is a major cause of pollutant emissions because of the incomplete combustion process. The fuel injection is a critical part of the homogeneous air-fuel mixture. It is well known that higher injection pressure enhances the atomization of the fuel; however, there are physical and technological limits to go further in this regard. Previous work was focused mainly on the swirl created by the spray flow, and on the avoidance of fuel drops coalescences and their impingement on the cylinder walls. This current paper proposes a new approach to reduce the diameter of the atomized fuel drops by colliding the fuel sprays in a cylinder arranged with 4 opposed injectors, in order to increase the breakup of the atomized fuel drops and therefore, to improve the homogeneity of the air-fuel mixture.

A higher level of atomization of the fuel leads to a more homogeneous mixture with the air in internal combustion engines, whether they are equipped with direct injection or port fuel injected systems. The further break-up of the atomized fuel drops by the interaction of two fuel sprays is described in this paper. In the present research, a simulation of the collision and swirl of two fuel sprays in a double-injector engine concept is carried out through a qualitative comparison with the images obtained from the recorded video of the sprays and the results of the simulation. Previous work simulated and tested the spray interaction of fuel injectors on the top of the combustion chamber; while this research proposes a new approach to reduce the diameter of the atomized fuel drops through the direct collision of the sprays with injectors located oppositely and fully horizontally to get advantage of the flow’s momentum.