Spray characteristics of high-pressure swirl injector fueled with methanol and ethanol

The spray characteristics of methanol and ethanol with high-pressure swirl injector are explored experimentally and numerically. Experimental results showed that the spray characteristics of methanol and ethanol gave the same trend as that of gasoline. Under the low back-pressure ambient conditions, the spray behavior exhibits a hollow cone with wide spray angle and initial spray slug at the tip, while the spray presents a solid cone in the case of high back pressure. Vortexes in the opposite direction exist in the rear part of the spray under low back-pressure ambient conditions while the vortexes form in the middle part under high back-pressure ambient conditions. Experiments also showed that methanol gave the largest cone angle, while ethanol and gasoline present almost the same cone angle. Simulation results indicated that methanol and ethanol have a slightly larger SMD than that of gasoline with swirl injector. The SMD profile of methanol coincides well with that of ethanol under low back-pressure ambient conditions, but giving a little larger value under high back pressure due to fuel evaporation. Numerical simulation can successfully demonstrate the spray characteristics of high-pressure swirl injector for methanol and ethanol fuels.