Effects of chamber temperature and pressure on the characteristics of high speed diesel jets

This study is an investigation into the effects of temperature and pressure within a test chamber on the dynamic characteristics of injected supersonic diesel fuel jets. These jets were generated by the impact of a projectile driven by a horizontal single stage powder gun. A high speed video camera and a shadowgraph optical system were used to capture their dynamic characteristics. The test chamber had controlled air conditions of temperature and pressure up to 150 °C and 8.2 bar, respectively. It was found experimentally that, at the highest temperature, a maximum jet velocity of around 1,500 m/s was obtained. At this temperature, a narrow pointed jet appeared while at the highest pressure, a thick, blunt headed jet was obtained. Strong shock waves were generated in both cases at the jet head. For analytical prediction, equations of jet tip velocity and penetration from the work of Dent and of Hiroyasu were employed to describe the dynamic characteristics of the experiments at a standard condition of 1 bar, 30 °C. These analytical predictions show reasonable agreement to the experimental results, the experimental trend differing in slope because of the effect of the pressure, density fluctuation of the injection and the shock wave phenomena occurring during the jet generation process.