Abstract
Transient natures of diesel sprays are often characterized with spray visualization, since it is a non-intrusive and straightforward technique to be applied. However, as injection pressure is increased higher than a thousand bar in a modern direct injection diesel engine, very fine temporal and spatial resolutions in the spray visualization are required while sprays become optically denser. Discussed in this paper are macroscopic and microscopic spray visualization techniques and an example of image processing process for efficient and consistent measurement of spray parameters. The injection rate measurement method based on hydraulic pulse principle was suggested as a way of estimating injection velocity for transient diesel sprays. The spray visualization and injection rate measurement techniques were applied to analyze transient diesel sprays from a common-rail injection system and found to be practically effective.