SPRAY PERFORMANCE OF ALTERNATIVE JET FUEL BASED NANOFUELS AT HIGH-AMBIENT CONDITIONS

Dispersion of nanoparticles in pure fuels alters their key fuel physical properties, which could affect their atomization process, and in turn, their combustion and emission characteristics in a combustion chamber. Therefore, it is essential to have a thorough knowledge of the atomization characteristics of nanofuels (nanoparticles dispersed in pure fuels) to better understand their latter processes. This serves as the motivation for the present work, which attempts to gain a good understanding of the atomization process of the alternative, gas-to-liquid (GTL), jet fuel based nanofuels. The macroscopic spray characteristics such as spray cone angle, liquid sheet breakup, and liquid sheet velocity are determined by employing shadowgraph imaging technique. The effect of nanoparticles weight concentration and ambient pressures on the spray characteristics are investigated in a high pressure high temperature constant volume spray rig. To this end, a pressure swirl nozzle with an exit diameter of 0.8 mm is used to atomize the fuels. The macroscopic spray results demonstrate that the nanoparticles dispersion at low concentrations affect the near nozzle region. The spray liquid sheet breakup distance is reduced by the presence of nanoparticle due to the early onset of disruption in the liquid sheet. Consequently, the liquid sheet velocity in that spray region is higher for nanofuels when compared to that of pure fuels. Also, the ambient pressure has a significant effect on the spray features as reported in the literature.