Transient Turbulent Gaseous Fuel Jets for Diesel Engines

Existing data on transient turbulent jet injection into large chambers demonstrates self-similar behavior under a wide range of conditions including compressibilit) thermal and species diffusion, and nozzle under expansion. The jet penetration distance well downstream of the virtual origin is proportional lo the square root of the time and the fourth root of the ratio of nozzle exit momentum flow rate lo chamber density. The constant of proportionality has been evaluated by invoking the concept of Turner that the flow can be modeled as a steady jet headed by a spherical vortex. Using incompressible transient jet observations to determine the asymptotically constant ratio of maximum jet width to penetration distance, and the steady jet entrainment results of Ricou and Spalding, it is shown that the penetration constant is 3 ± 0.1. This value is shown to hold for compressible flows also, with substantial thermal and species diffusion, and even with transient jets from highly under-expanded nozzles. Observations of transient jet injection have been made in a chamber in which, as in diesel engine chambers with gaseous fuel injection, the jet is directed at a small angle to one wall of the chamber. In these tests, with under-expanded nozzles it was found that at high nozzle pressure ratios, depending on the jet injection angle, the jet penetration can be consistent with a penetration constant of 3. At low pressure ratios the presence of the wall noticeably retards the penetration of the jet.