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Transient behavior of the engine is one of the most crucial factors for motorcycle features. Characterization of the fuel film with port fuel injection (PFI) is necessary to enhance this feature with keeping others, such as high output, low emissions and good fuel consumption. In order to resolve the complicated phenomena in real engine condition into simple physical issues, a simulated intake port was used in our research with Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) technique to allow accurate measurement of the fuel film thickness, complemented by visualization of the film development and spray behavior using high-speed video imaging. Useful results have been conducted from the parametric studies with various sets of conditions, such as injection quantity, air velocity and port backpressure.

Measurements of flow, spray, combustion and performance characteristics are reported for a Hydra direct-injection diesel, based on the Ford 2.5 L, engine and equipped with a variable-swirl port, a unit fuel injector and optical access through the liner and piston. The results provide links between the pre-combustion and combustion flow and, at the same time, between purpose-built single-cylinder optical engines and multi-cylinder production engines of nearly identical combustion chamber geometry. In particular, the spray penetration was found to depend on engine speed, rather than load, with velocities up to around 260 m/s at atmospheric pressure and temperature which are reduced by a factor of 2.5 under operating conditions and seem to be unaffected by swirl. The duration of combustion was reduced with increasing swirl and ignition delay increased linearly with engine speed.

Local measurements of the mean and rms velocities have been obtained by laser Doppler velocimetry in the coolant passages of a transparent model of a Ford 2.5L diesel cylinder head and block at a steady flowrate of 6.83 × 10-4 M3/s. The simulation of the coolant fluid by a mixture of hydrocarbon fluids at a predetermined constant temperature allowed accurate matching of the refractive index to that of the acrylic model, thus providing optical access for LDV measurements of the internal flow in sensitive areas where cooling is essential to prevent metal-fatigue failure. The results were obtained in sufficient detail to allow further validation of CFD coolant flow models.

Direct flame imaging and pressure analysis were applied to the combustion of gasoline and compressed natural gas (CNG) in a single-cylinder, four-valve spark-ignition engine equipped with optical access via quartz windows in the cylinder liner and piston crown. Tests were performed at three engine speed/load conditions and at equivalence ratios of 1.0, 0.9 and 0.8. The four-valve head incorporated two different port geometries, with and without metal sleeves to deflect the intake air flow, in order to investigate the effect of tumble strength on combustion and engine-out emissions of unburned hydrocarbons and NOx. The results showed that sleeving of the intake ports produced a significant increase in IMEP and a reduction in CoV IMEP for both CNG and gasoline, due to the greatly reduced bum duration.

The spatial and temporal characteristics of a diesel spray injected into the atmosphere through a multi-hole nozzle used in small DI Diesel engines have been investigated by laser techniques as a function of pump speed and load. The results showed that spray tip penetration and velocity depend on injection frequency rather than injected volume and the spray is asymmetric during the early and main part of the injection period. In the time/space domain different structures have been identified within the injection period, with the early injection period characterized by a well atomized cloud of droplets, the main period by the spray head and a dense core and the late injection period by the disintegrating dense core and the spray tail. IN DIRECT-INJECTION DIESEL ENGINES for passenger cars, fuel is injected through multi-hole nozzles at high pressure to promote mixing with the rapidly swirling air inside the combustion chamber.

The predictive capability of Lagrangian and Eulerian multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models accounting for the onset and development of cavitation inside Diesel nozzle holes is assessed against experimental data. These include cavitation images available from a real-size six-hole mini-sac nozzle incorporating a transparent window as well as high-speed/CCD images and LDV measurements of the liquid velocity inside an identical large-scale fully transparent nozzle replica. Results are available for different cavitation numbers, which correspond to different cavitation regimes forming inside the injection hole. Discharge coefficient measurements for various real-size nozzles operating under realistic injection pressures are also compared and match well with models' predictions.

The performance of multi-hole injectors designed for use in second-generation direct-injection gasoline engines has been characterised in a constant-volume chamber. Two types of multi-hole injector have been used: the first has 11 holes, with one hole on the axis of the injector and the rest around the axis at 30 degrees apart, and the second has 6 asymmetric holes located around the nozzle axis. Measurements of droplet axial and radial velocity components and their diameter were obtained using a 2-D phase Doppler anemometer (PDA) at injection pressures up to 120 bar, chamber pressures from atmospheric to 8 bar, and ambient temperatures. Complementary spray visualisation made use of a pulsed light and a CCD camera synchronised with the injection process.

A transparent enlarged model of a six-hole injector used in the development of emerging gasoline direct-injection engines was manufactured with full optical access. The working fluid was water circulating through the injector nozzle under steady-state flow conditions at different flow rates, pressures and needle positions. Simultaneous matching of the Reynolds and cavitation numbers has allowed direct comparison between the cavitation regimes present in real-size and enlarged nozzles. The experimental results from the model injector, as part of a research programme into second-generation direct-injection spark-ignition engines, are presented and discussed. The main objective of this investigation was to characterise the cavitation process in the sac volume and nozzle holes under different operating conditions. This has been achieved by visualizing the nozzle cavitation structures in two planes simultaneously using two synchronised high-speed cameras.

The near nozzle exit flow and spray structure generated by an enlarged model of a second generation pintle type outwards opening injector have been investigated under steady flow conditions as a function of flow-rate and needle lift. A high resolution CCD camera and high-speed video camera have been employed in this study to obtain high-magnification images of the internal nozzle exit flow in order to identify the origin of string ligaments/droplets formation at the nozzle exit. The images of the flow around the nozzle seat area showed clearly that air was entrained from outside into the nozzle seat area under certain flow operating conditions (low cavitation number, CN); the formed air pockets inside the annular nozzle proved to be the main cause of the breaking of the fuel liquid film into strings as it emerged from the nozzle with a structure consisting of alternating thin and thick liquid filaments.

The in-cylinder flow, mixture distribution, combustion and exhaust emissions in a research, five-valve purpose-built gasoline engine are discussed on the basis of measurements obtained using laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV), fast spark-plug hydrocarbon sampling, flame imaging and NOx/HC emissions using fast chemiluminescent and flame ionisation detectors/analysers. These measurements have been complemented by steady flow testing of various cylinder head configurations, involving single- and three-valve operation, in terms of flow capacity and in-cylinder tumble strength.

The health threat from sub-100 nm particulates, emitted in significant numbers from gasoline vehicles, and anticipated changes in legislation to address this, have prompted investigation of techniques capable of trapping and oxidizing particulates from gasoline engines. Numerical studies have indicated that cooling to encourage particle capture by thermophoresis is less effective than use of electrostatic fields. A laboratory wire-cylinder electrostatic trap is under development, showing promising initial results. As an alternative trapping technique, the effectiveness of a cordierite wall-flow filter has been demonstrated, in simulation experiments and on a GDI-engined vehicle. Catalysts have been identified for particulate oxidation at typical exhaust temperatures, using water vapour and carbon dioxide as the oxygen source and retaining activity after short-term high-temperature aging.

Motivated by the possibility of future emission regulations based on particle number as well as mass, after-treatment of ultrafine particles by a cordierite wallflow filter has been investigated. In a laboratory simulation, synthetic carbon particles of known size and concentration in air were captured with number-based efficiency exceeding 70% in the 20–100 nm size range. Effects of temperature, up to 400°C, filter loading time and ambient-temperature sample dilution have been quantified. Steady-speed and European drive cycle results for the same filter fitted to a passenger car with gasoline direct-injection engine have shown promising reductions in emissions, except at the highest speed of the cycle.

An investigation into the spray structure generated by two swirl pressure atomisers under various operating conditions in a constant-volume chamber and the in-cylinder flow pattern in an optical research direct-injection gasoline engine has been performed using CCD camera and laser Doppler velocimetry, respectively. The results provided detailed information about the effect of back pressure on the spray structure generated by the two injectors and the in-cylinder flow field which the sprays encounter following fuel injection into the cylinder during the induction and compression strokes.

The numerical methodology used to predict the flow inside pressure-swirl atomizers used with gasoline direct injection engines and the subsequent spray development is presented. Validation of the two-phase CFD models used takes place against film thickness measurements obtained from high resolution CCD-based images taken inside the discharge hole of a pressure swirl atomizer modified to incorporate a transparent hole extension. The transient evolution of the film thickness and its mean axial and swirl velocity components as it emerges from the nozzle hole is then used as input to a spray CFD model predicting the development of both non-evaporating and evaporating sprays under a variety of back pressure and temperature conditions. Model predictions are compared with phase Doppler anemometry measurements of the temporal and spatial variation of the droplet size and velocity as well as CCD spray images.

A dense-particle Eulerian-Lagrangian stochastic methodology, able to resolve the dense spray formed at the nozzle exit has been applied to the simulation of evaporating diesel sprays. Local grid refinement at the area where the spray evolves allows use of cells having sizes from 0.6 down to 0.075mm. Mass, momentum and energy source terms between the two phases are spatially distributed to cells found within a distance from the droplet centre; this has allowed for grid-independent interaction between the Eulerian and the Lagrangian phases to be reached. Additionally, various models simulating the physical processes taking place during the development of sprays are considered. The cavitating nozzle flow is used to estimate the injection velocity of the liquid while its effect on the spray formation is considered through an atomisation model predicting the initial droplet size.

An enlarged transparent model of a six-hole vertical diesel injector has been manufactured in order to allow flow measurements inside the sac volume and the injection holes to be obtained using a combination of laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and the refractive index matching technique under steady state conditions. The measurement points were concentrated in the sac volume close to the entrance of the injection holes as well as inside them on a vertical plane passing through the axis of two injection holes for two different needle lifts. The velocity flow field was characterized in terms of the mean velocity and the turbulent intensity. The results revealed that, under certain conditions, cavitation may occur in the recirculation zone formed at the entrance to the hole since the pressure in this region can reach the value of the vapor pressure of the flowing liquid; this was found to strongly depend on the needle lift and eccentricity.

A visualization study using shadowgraphy was performed in an optically-accessible, cylindrical constant-volume combustion chamber to identify the mechanism of flow/flame interaction in spark-ignited, lean propane-air mixtures. The effect of the flow on flame initiation and propagation was examined by varying the pre-ignition mean flow and turbulence within a range typical of modern four-valve spark-ignition (SI) engines, as well as the spark plug orientation relative to the mean flow. The initial flame development was quantified in terms of 2-D images which provided information about the projected flame area and the displacement of the flame center as a function of flow conditions, time from the spark initiation and spark plug orientation. The results showed that high mean flow velocities and turbulence levels can shorten combustion duration in lean mixtures and that the positioning of the ground electrode can have an important effect on the initial kernel formation.

The continuity and momentum equations for a pump-pipe-nozzle fuel injection system have been solved by a computer simulation program employing both the Runge-Kutta method and the more widely used method of characteristics. This allows the prediction of fluid phenomena and the dynamics of the mechanical components based on the geometry of the FIE system. The simulation includes the effects of possible cavitation, system leakage as well as variations in fuel density and bulk modulus. The computer model has been made as flexible as possible by using a modular format and inputting the system parameters from external files or dialog boxes. Experimentation was done on a Bosch VE type distributor pump supplying a multi-hole type nozzle which allowed preliminary evaluation of the model by comparing the predicted and measured injection rates and line pressures over a range of pump speeds and loads.

The spatial and temporal characteristics of transient diesel sprays impinging on unheated and heated walls were investigated by phase-Doppler anemometry (PDA) and the heat-transfer distribution in the vicinity of the impingement region was determined by fast response thermocouples. The results have provided quantitative evidence about the effect that the presence of the flat wall exerts on the spray characteristics. For example, independent of the thickness of the liquid film, the wall rearranges the droplet size distribution of the free spray with droplet collision and coalescence playing an important role in both the droplet redistribution and in the development of the wall-jet. Droplet sizes were reduced and mean tangential velocities increased with wall temperature at the upstream side and at the front of the wall-jet, respectively.

A constant-volume combustion chamber was used to examine injection of a small quantity of slightly rich fuel/air mixture towards the spark plug around the time of ignition, in an overall very lean mixture rotating at velocities representative of modern spark-ignition engines. The results show that it is possible to achieve 100% ignitability with overall air-fuel ratios in excess of 50 and much faster burn rates than those with initially homogenous mixtures of the same equivalence ratio with high swirl and turbulence. The advantages of this method of local charge stratification have been demonstrated in terms of both pressure measurements and shadowgraphs of the early flame development while the transient characteristics of the injected rich mixture at the spark plug gap were monitored by a fast flame ionization detector.