Thermophysical properties validation for soy methyl ester biodiesel through experimental spray data

ABSTRACT

The scarcity of experimental data for soy biodiesel fuel properties covering the full temperature range from injection to critical temperature reduces the reliability and accuracy of fuel property estimation techniques, and hence engine simulations. This study reviews and validates soy biodiesel fuel property estimation techniques indirectly using experimental spray data utilizing a modified version of KIVA-3V computer code. The effect of each estimation technique on spray penetration was investigated through several runs, and one set of fuel property models capable of predicting accurate liquid length for soy biodiesel is presented. The results showed in some cases a significant difference in estimation techniques available in literature with the highest discrepancy found in enthalpy calculations. The results also showed that a higher average fuel particle temperature will result in smaller spray penetration and that estimation techniques can be compared using their effect on average particle temperature. Comparing calculated spray penetration results with experimental values showed that almost all cases tend to overestimate the liquid length with some extreme cases predicting wall impingement.

KEYWORDS:

• Numerical simulation
• soy biodiesel
• thermophysical properties
• liquid length
• validation
• experimental spray data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.