Experimental investigation of spray characteristics of alternative aviation fuels

Kumaran Kannaiyan, Reza Sadr*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

Synthetic fuels derived from non-oil feedstock are gaining importance due to their cleaner combustion characteristics. This work investigates spray characteristics of two Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) synthetic jet fuels from a pilot-scale pressure swirl nozzle and compares them with those of the conventional Jet A-1 fuel. The microscopic spray parameters are measured at 0.3 and 0.9 MPa injection pressures at several points in the spray using phase Doppler anemometry. The results show that the effect of fuel physical properties on the spray characteristics is predominantly evident in the regions close to the nozzle exit at the higher injection pressure. The lower viscosity and surface tension of GTL fuel seems to lead to faster disintegration and dispersion of the droplets when compared to those of Jet A-1 fuel under atmospheric conditions. Although the global characteristics of the fuels are similar, the effects of fuel properties are evident on the local spray characteristics at the higher injection pressure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1060-1069
Number of pages10
JournalEnergy Conversion and Management
Volume88
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Alternate jet fuels
  • Gas-to-liquid
  • Phase Doppler anemometry
  • Spray characteristics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Experimental investigation of spray characteristics of alternative aviation fuels'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this