The effect of using different Biodiesel fuels on jet development in a Diesel engine

The fuel properties and the injection rate-shape play an important role in the improvement of the combustion process of Diesel engines. In this work, the influences of using the forthcoming renewable biodiesel fuels on fuel jet development utilizing a computer simulation model created with the AVL Hydsim software were studied. Biodiesel fuels B20, B30 and B100 were considered and compared with the original pure Diesel fuel D100. The injection system behaviour under research was that one existing on a tractor engine equipped with Delphi DP200 pump and Delphi injectors. Two engine speeds of 1400 rpm and 2400 rpm were considered representative for the engine operation. For these speeds, the fuel jet characteristics as penetration, spray cone angle and Sauter mean diameter were analyzed. It can emphasize that in similar conditions of needle lift and injection rate-shape variation the usage of biodiesel fuels does not significantly alter the injection pressure and the Sauter mean diameter. However, the specific physical properties of biodiesel fuels affect substantially the spray penetration and its cone angle.

Reduced ice number concentrations in contrails from low-aromatic biofuel blends

Sustainable aviation fuels can reduce contrail ice numbers and radiative forcing by contrail cirrus. We measured apparent ice emission indices for fuels with varying aromatic content at altitude ranges of 9.1–9.8 and 11.4–11.6 km. Measurement data were collected during the ECLIF II/NDMAX flight experiment in January 2018. The fuels varied in both aromatic quantity and type. Between a sustainable aviation fuel blend and a reference fuel Jet A-1, a maximum reduction in apparent ice emission indices of 40 % was found. We show vertical ice number and extinction distributions for three different fuels and calculate representative contrail optical depths. Optical depths of contrails (0.5–3 min in age) were reduced by 40 % to 52 % for a sustainable aviation fuel compared to the reference fuel. Our measurements suggest that sustainable aviation fuels result in reduced ice particle numbers, extinction coefficients, optical depth and climate impact from contrails.

Modal Analysis of Breakup Mechanisms for a Liquid Jet in Crossflow

Liquid fuel jet in Crossflow (LJIC) is a vital atomization technique significant to the aviation industry. The hydrodynamic instability mechanisms that drive a primary breakup of a transverse jet are investigated using modal and traveling wavelength analysis. This study highlights the primary breakup mechanisms for aviation fuel Jet-A, utilizing a method that could be applied to any liquid fuel. Mathematical decomposition techniques known as POD (Proper Orthogonal Decomposition) and Robust MrDMD (Multi-Resolution Dynamic Mode Decomposition) are used together to identify dominant instability flow dynamics associated with the primary breakup mechanism. Implementation of the Robust MrDMD method deconstructs the nonlinear dynamical systems into multiresolution time-scaled components to capture the intermittent coherent structures. The Robust MrDMD, in conjunction with the POD method, is applied to data points taken across the entire spray breakup regimes: enhanced capillary breakup, bag breakup, multimode breakup, and shear breakup. The dominant frequencies of breakup mechanisms are extracted and identified. These coherent structures are classified with an associated time scale and Strouhal number. Three primary breakup mechanisms, namely ligament shedding, bag breakup, and shear breakup, were identified and associated with the four breakup regimes outlined above. Further investigation portrays these breakup mechanisms to occur in conjunction with each other in each breakup regime, excluding the low Weber number Enhanced Capillary Breakup regime. Spectral analysis of the Robust MrDMD modes' entire temporal window reveals that while multiple breakup mechanisms are convolved, there is a dominant breakup route for each breakup regime. An associated particular traveling wavelength analysis further investigates each breakup mechanism. Lastly, this study explores the effects of an increased momentum flux ratio on each breakup mechanism associated with a breakup regime.

Control of a Lifted H2/N2 Flame by Axial and Flapping Forcing: A Numerical Study

The large eddy simulation (LES) method combined with the Eulerian stochastic field approach has been used to study excited lifted hydrogen flames in a stream of hot co-flow air in a configuration closely corresponding to the so-called Cabra flame. The excitation is obtained by adding to an inlet velocity profile three types of forcing ((i) axial; (ii) flapping; (iii) combination of both) with amplitude of 15% of the fuel jet velocity and frequency corresponding to the Strouhal numbers St=0.30, 0.45, 0.60 and 0.75. It is shown that such a type of forcing significantly changes the lift-off height Lh of the flame and its global shape, resulting in a flame occupying large volume or the flame, which downstream the nozzle transforms from the circular one into a quasi-planar flame. Both the Lh and their spreading angles of the flames were found to be a function of the type of the forcing and its frequency. The minimum value of Lh has been found for the case with the combination of axial and flapping forcing at the frequency close to the preferred one in the unexcited configuration. The impact of the flapping forcing manifested through a widening of the flame in the flapping direction. It was shown that the excitation can significantly increase the level of the velocity and temperature fluctuations intensifying the mixing process. The computational results are validated based on the solutions obtained for a non-excited flame for which experimental data are available.

Improvement of the Combustion Completeness of Hydrogen Jet Flames within a Mesoscale Tube under Zero Gravity

Microjet hydrogen flames can be directly used as micro heat sources or can be applied in micro propulsion systems. In our previous study, under zero gravity and without an active air supply, the combustion completeness of hydrogen jet flames within a mesoscale tube with an inner diameter of 5 mm was very low. In this study, we were dedicated to improving the combustion efficiency by using a convergent nozzle (tilt angle was around 68°) instead of the previous straight one, and the exit diameter was 0.8 or 0.4 mm. The numerical results demonstrate that the maximum combustion efficiency in the case of d= 0.8 mm was only around 15%; however, the peak value for the case of d = 0.4 mm was around 36%. This happened because with d = 0.4 mm, the fuel jet velocity was around four times that of the d = 0.8 mm case. Hence, the negative pressure in the combustor of d = 0.4 mm decreased to a much lower level compared to that of d = 0.8 mm, which led to an enhancement of the air entrainment ratio. However, the highest combustion efficiency of d = 0.4 mm was still below 36%; therefore, a slightly larger tube or an even smaller nozzle exit diameter will be necessary for further improvements to the combustion efficiency.

Reduced ice number concentrations in contrails from low aromatic biofuel blends

Sustainable aviation fuels can reduce contrail ice numbers and radiative forcing by contrail cirrus. We measured apparent ice emission indices for fuels with varying aromatic content at altitude ranges of 9.1–9.8 km and 11.4–11.6 km. Measurement data were collected during the ECLIF II/NDMAX flight experiment in January 2018. The fuels varied in both aromatic quantity and type. Between a sustainable aviation fuel blend and a reference fuel Jet A-1, a maximum reduction in apparent ice emission indices of 40 % was found. We show vertical ice number and extinction distributions for three different fuels and calculate representative contrail optical depths. Optical depths of contrails (0.5–3 minutes in age) were reduced by 40 to 52 % for a sustainable aviation fuel compared to the reference fuel. Our measurements suggest that sustainable aviation fuels result in reduced ice particle numbers, extinction coefficients, optical depth and climate impact from contrails.