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An integrated theoretical and experimental investigation was carried out in order to evaluate the effects that the pump delivery-valve assembly can produce on the performance of a pump-line-nozzle fuel-injection system with a distributor-type pump for automotive diesel engines. Four distinct delivery valves, one constant-pressure valve, one reflux-hole and two relief-volume valves, were separately fitted to the pump and for each configuration of the delivery assembly the system behavior was analyzed under full-load steady-state operations in a wide pump angular-speed range. Fuel injection-rate as well as local pressure time-histories were investigated, paying specific attention to the occurrence and temporal evolution of cavitation phenomena in the pressure pipe and injector nozzle, after the valve closure. The flow across the delivery-valve assembly was theoretically examined in order to ascertain any instability sources as possible causes of cyclic fluctuations.

Temperature variations due to compressibility effects of the liquid fuel were evaluated, for the first time in high-pressure injection system simulation, by employing the energy conservation equation, in addition to the mass-continuity and momentum-balance equations, as well as the constitutive state equation of the liquid. To that end, the physical properties (bulk elasticity modulus, thermal expansivity, kinematic viscosity) of the fluid were used as analytic functions of pressure and temperature obtained by interpolating carefully determined experimental data. Consistent with negligible thermal effects of heat transfer and viscous power losses involved in the flow process, the equation of energy was reduced to a state relation among the fluid thermodynamic properties, leading to a barotropic flow model.