Propane spray structure in an optically accessible direct injection, spark ignition engine: A post-processing algorithm for planar laser mie-scattering

Abstract

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) coupled with direct-injection (DI) can increase internal combustion (IC) engine efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. However, successful implementation of any DI fuelling system requires a thorough understanding of the fuel’s spray properties. To this end propane, as a surrogate for LPG, is investigated with planar laser Mie-scattering to study the spray structure in an optically accessible version of a modern, production DI engine. This paper presents the processing algorithm developed to extract quantitative information from the Mie-scattering images.