Integrated Modelling of Fuel Influence on Common Rail Injection System Performance

A model for the analysis of diesel engine common rail injection system has been developed and the influence that different fuels have on the injection performances has been investigated. Diesel fuel, biodiesel and kerosene have been used and the differences of injection flow rate, injection pressure time trace, nozzle flow features and break up mechanism have been highlighted. The coupling of two different codes has been used in the simulations: the former one, AMESim code, has been adopted to model the common rail system and to investigate the fuel flow rate and the injection pressure dependence on the fuel type. The latter computational tool, FIRE code, has been initialized by means of the results obtained from the injection system simulation and has been used to perform the 3D investigation of the internal nozzle flow and of the spray formation phenomena, aimed at evaluating the effect of physical fuel features on local flow characteristics and their influence on the system performances. Details of the adopted modeling strategy are described and results of each simulation step are presented.