Comparison of Fuel Spray Penetration correlations for a Biodiesel Fuel Spray under different Fuel Injection and Ambient Temperature conditions

The study of fuel spray penetration in internal combustion engines is important. Over-penetration can lead to fuel spray collisions with the combustion chamber walls whilst under-penetration might lead to poor air-fuel mixture. In each case, the resultant fuel consumption and exhaust emission levels might be unsatisfactory. Hence, several fuel spray penetration correlations have been developed over the decades and these have been found to be applicable, to various degrees, to internal combustion engines of various types. As concerns over engine emissions levels grow, research into improving the efficiency of diesel and gasoline engines has intensified and this has included work on the use of bio fuels. Therefore, existing fuel spray penetration correlations have to be assessed for use in the design of engines using bio fuels. The application of correlations for fuel spray penetration for soybean oil methyl ester (SME) fuel under varying injection pressure and ambient temperature conditions are presented. The conditions range from 60 to 120 MPa injection pressure and 300 to 450 K ambient temperature values. Analyses of the results indicate that the correlations do not give satisfactory predictions of the fuel spray penetration for SME fuel under these conditions. Recommendations are made given the current and future trends in engine design