Example Question 1 (Diesel fuel injector sizing)

The specifications for a 12-cylinder four-stroke diesel engine being designed are that it operate at a speed of 𝑁 =
1200 rpm and produce 𝑊ሶ 𝑏 = 500 kW of power, with a brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) of 0.25 kg/kWh. The
cylinder pressure at the start of injection is 30 bar, and the maximum cylinder pressure during combustion is 60 bar.
The injection duration is nominally 10 degrees of crank angle. The unit pump injector nozzle is set to open at 200 bar,
with a maximum injector pressure of 600 bar. The injector has eight holes and a coefficient of discharge 𝐶𝑑 = 0.60.
Assume the light diesel fuel is incompressible with a density 𝜌𝑙 = 775 kg/m3 at 373 K.
(a) What is the mass of fuel injected by the injector per cylinder per cycle?
(b) What total orifice area 𝐴𝑛 for each injector should be selected?
(c) What is the injector hole diameter 𝑑𝑛 ? The brake-specific fuel consumption
(bsfc) is the fuel flowrate, divided by
the brake power
Solution:
(a) The cycle average fuel consumption rate per cylinder is

𝑊ሶ 𝑏 500 𝑘𝑊 0.174 𝑘𝑔
ഥሶ𝑓 = 𝑏𝑠𝑓𝑐 ∙
𝑚 = 0.25 kg/kWh ∙ = = 2.90 × 10−3 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
𝑛𝑐 12 ∙ 60 𝑚𝑖𝑛 Two-stroke engines need only two
strokes of the piston or one revolution
to complete a cycle. There is a power
stroke every revolution for 2-stroke
so the mass of fuel injected per cylinder per cycle of the four-stroke engine is engine, and every two revolution for 4-
stroke engines.
𝑚ഥሶ𝑓 0.174 𝑘𝑔/𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑚𝑓 = = = 2.89 × 10−4 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
𝑁 1200
2 2
(b) The pressure difference at the beginning of injection is 200 – 30 = 170 bar, and at the end of injection is 600 –
60 = 540 bar. For this preliminary design, let’s estimate an average pressure difference of (540 + 170) / 2 = 355
bar between the fuel injector and the cylinder. The total orifice area is

𝑚𝑓 2𝜌𝑙 Δ𝑃 −1/2 2.89 × 10−4 2 ∙ 775 ∙ 355 × 105 −1/2

𝐴𝑛 = = = 1.48 × 10−6 𝑚2
Δ𝜃 60 10
𝐶𝑑 ∙ 0.60 ∙ 60/1200
360 𝑁 360

(c) The injector hole diameter is

1/2 1/2
𝐴𝑛 4 1.48 × 10−6 4
𝑑𝑛 = = = 0.48 𝑚𝑚
𝑛ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝜋 8 𝜋 open duration period

Engine frequency,
crankshaft ration rate

Ref: Section 1.4 of the reference book “Internal Combustion Engines: Applied Thermosciences”
Example Question 2 (Fuel spray droplet size and velocity)

(a) What is the outlet velocity, the breakup time, and the Reynolds and Weber numbers of the fuel jet from the diesel
engine injector of Example Question 1?
(b) What is the Sauter mean diameter 𝑑𝑠𝑚 of the fuel spray droplets?
(c) What is an estimate of a droplet’s initial velocity and Reynolds number?

From Example Question 1 above, the average cylinder pressure is 45 bar, the average pressure injector-cylinder
pressure difference is 355 × 105 Pa, and the injector nozzle hole diameter 𝑑𝑛 = 0.48 × 10−3 m.

Assume a critical droplet Weber number for breakup is 𝑊𝑒𝑔 = 12, average cylinder gas density 𝜌𝑔 = 25 kg/m3, fuel
dynamic viscosity 𝜇𝑙 = 2.17 × 10−3 Pa-s, and surface tension 𝜎 = 3.0 × 10−2 N/m.

Solution:

(a) The outlet velocity of the fuel jet is

1
1/2 5
2Δ𝑃 2 × 355 × 10 2
𝑢𝑓 = 𝐶𝑑 = 0.06 ∙ = 181.6 𝑚/𝑠
𝜌𝑙 775
 This is just an estimated value for
breakup time, derived from
theoretical analysis and
The breakup time 𝑡𝑏 of the liquid jet is confirmed by experimental data.

𝜌𝑙 𝑑𝑛 775∙0.48×10−3
𝑡𝑏 = 4.35 1/2 = 4.35 0.62 = 0.15 𝑚𝑠
𝐶𝑑2 𝜌𝑔 Δ𝑃 25×355×105 1/2

The cylinder air dynamic viscosity 𝜇𝑔 = 3.15 × 10−5 Pa-s at a cylinder air temperature of 𝑇𝑐 = 627 K. The Reynolds
and Weber numbers of the fuel jet are

𝜌𝑙 𝑢𝑓 𝑑𝑛 775 ∙ 181.6 ∙ 0.48 × 10−3

𝑅𝑒𝑙 = = = 31331
𝜇𝑙 2.17 × 10−3

𝜌𝑙 𝑢𝑓2 𝑑𝑛 775 ∙ 181.62 ∙ 0.48 × 10−3 5

𝑊𝑒𝑙 = = = 4.09 × 10
𝜎 3.0 × 10−2
(b) The Sauter mean diameter 𝑑𝑠𝑚 is calculated as follows:

𝑘 0.12 −0.75 𝜇𝑙 0.54 𝜌𝑙 0.18

𝑑𝑠𝑚 = 4.12𝑑𝑛 𝑅𝑒𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑙 ( ) ( ) =
𝜇𝑔 𝜌𝑔
0.54 0.18
2.17 × 10−3 775
4.12 0.48 × 10−3 31131 0.12
4.09 × 105 −0.75
= 7.71𝜇𝑚
3.15 × 10−5 25

𝜇 𝜌
ℎ = 0.38𝑑 𝑅𝑒 0.25 𝑊𝑒 −0.32 ( 𝑙 )0.37 ( 𝑙 )−0.47 =
𝑑𝑠𝑚 𝑛 𝑙 𝑙
𝜇𝑔 𝜌𝑔
0.37 −0.47
2.17 × 10−3 775
0.38 0.48 × 10−3 31131 0.25
4.09 × 105 −0.32
= 36.8𝜇𝑚
3.15 × 10−5 25

𝑘 , 𝑑ℎ
𝑑𝑠𝑚 = max 𝑑𝑠𝑚 𝑠𝑚 = 36.8𝜇𝑚
(c) For a critical gas Weber number 𝑊𝑒𝑔 = 12, the droplet velocity is

1/2 1/2
𝜎𝑊𝑒𝑔 3.0 × 10−2 ∙ 12
𝑢𝑑 = = = 19.8 𝑚/𝑠
𝜌𝑔 𝑑𝑠𝑚 25 ∙ 36.8 × 10−6

The initial droplet Reynolds number is

𝜌𝑔 𝑢𝑑 𝑑 25 ∙ 19.8 ∙ 36.8 × 10−6

𝑅𝑒𝑔 = = = 578
𝜇𝑔 3.15 × 10−5