Prediction of spray collapse in multi-hole gasoline direct-injection fuel injectors

A parametric study was conducted to predict the conditions leading to spray collapse in multi-hole gasoline direct-injection fuel injectors using computational fluid dynamics simulations. The computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed using an in-house multi-dimensional code that accounts for thermal non-equilibrium and entrainment of the non-condensable gas and coupled with primary atomization. The simulations were performed for a fixed injection pressure and fuel temperature on nine different six-hole injectors. The parameters were varied to include the effects of the ratio of the ambient pressure to the saturation pressure (Pa/Ps), the drill angle, and the diameters of the nozzle and the counter bore, respectively, on the spray. The findings indicate that spray collapse results from a combination of the nozzle geometry, the thermodynamic conditions of the fuel, and the ambient pressure. Spray collapse was observed in injectors with a narrow arrangement of the nozzle holes under extreme flash-boiling conditions with very low ambient pressures and in the case of non-flash-boiling conditions with very high ambient pressures.