ILASS Europe 2010, 23rd Annual Conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems, Brno, Czech Republic, September

r 2010

Spatial Droplets Size Distribution in a Diesel Spray Taken by Photography with Super
High Resolution
H. Gen Fujimoto1), H. Adachi1), T. Yano1), N. Marubayashi, T. Hori2) and J. Senda1)
1)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Doshisha University
Tatara, Miyakodani 1-3, Kyotanabe, Kyoto 610-0321 Japan
2)
Department of Artificial Systems Science, Chiba University
Yayoicho1-33, Inage, Chiba 263-8522 Japan
Abstract
It is very much significant for an engineer and a designer relating to diesel combustion to detect spatial droplets
distribution in detail in a diesel spray which strongly affects its combustion processes. The authors developed the
photographing system with super high resolution. The minimum droplet size detected was only 5 [m]. The system was applied to a non-evaporating diesel spray injected into a high pressure chamber by use of a large sized
film. As a result, the large sized vortex which composed of the Christmas tree structure and/or the fish bone
structure is clear by the spatial distribution of droplets size. The result corresponds well to that of simulation by
use of KIVA code and LES. The main experiments were carried out in the case of pilot injection. Only one case
was the main injection.

Introduction
The difficulty of detection of the spatial droplets distribution in a diesel spray is that the number of droplets
existing in its unit volume in a diesel spray is too much and their velocity passing through this volume is too fast.
The previous techniques have been the photography, LDA and PDPA system, and ILIDS (Interferometric Laser
Imaging for droplet size) [1]. The weak point of the first and the second is detect only the spot information and
that of the last is the application to a thin spray, for example, that through a swirl nozzle for a gas turbine not to a
dense diesel spray. Perhaps the most capability of detection of small droplets in a diesel spray is the use of specialized lens system and a large sized film.
One of authors has the success for the first time in the world to measure the spatial distribution of droplets
size in a non-evaporating diesel spray during the injection duration by the system of slit and telescope [2], [3].
However, it was very much unfortunately that data were detected only at the mixing flow region, in other words,
at he spray envelope and it was unable to measure the size in the dens part [3]. One of the other authors took the
photograph by a nano spark light in the case of a pintle nozzle and a throttle nozzle for IDI diesel engine not a
hole nozzle for ID diesel engine [4].
Radial distance from nozzle axis [mm]
-15

15

-15

15

Distance from nozzle outlet [mm]

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

(a) Droplet

(b) Vortex

nd=0.20[mm], pinj=77[MPa], Ta=300[K],

pa=1.5[MPa],a=17.3[kg/m3]

nd=0.20[mm], pinj=72[MPa], Ta=700[K],pa=2.55[MPa],

t=1.12[ms], Z=55-62.5[mm], R=-2.5-2.5[mm]

Figure 1. Structure of non-evaporating

diesel spray Obtained by simulation [5]

Figure 2. One of results of distribution of velocity

vector in an evaporating diesel spray [7]

Corresponding author: hfujimot@mail.doshisha.ac.jp

1

ILASS Europe 2010

Spatial Droplets Size Distribution in a Diesel Spray Taken by Photography with Super High Resolution

The phenomena of diesel spray shows just 3-D structure, namely, Christmas tree structure and/or the fish
bone structure, Figure 1 is the results of simulation of a diesel spray by use of KIVA code and LES [5]. It expresses this kind of structure. The vortices exist clearly. Figure 2 displays the velocity profile obtained by PIV
technique near and inside this vortex in an evaporating diesel spray [6], [7] as the evidence of the existence of
vortex expressed by the simulation. It is estimated that the vortex generates near the nozzle outlet and it becomes
larger as developing the spray. Also it is estimated that droplets are assorted by the motion of vortex.
The authors designed and made the specialized lens system with super high spatial resolution and with thinner depth of field, and used a large sized film to detect more detailed information of droplets size in an evaporating diesel spray [8], [9]. This paper describes the information in a non-evaporating diesel spray in detail by use
of these systems.
Lens System
Figure 3 is the lens system with super high spatial resolution and with thinner depth of field [9]. The 4 sheets
of lens are the objective lens whose focus length is 511.2 [mm]. The role of an iris diaphragm whose diameter is
50 [mm] is to eliminate the light affecting the aberration at the envelope of the group of objective lens. The light
from the object passes two sets of lens and goes through two sheets of imaging lens whose focus length is
521.9 [mm]. All the lenses are coated corresponding to all the wave lengths to decrease the reflection loss and
the multiple reflection. The length of the lens system is only 204 [mm], thus, it is possible to shorten the whole
length of experimental setup. The spatial resolution is only about 5 [m], the working distance is 400 [mm], the
magnification is ranged from 2.7 to 5.0 and the depth of field is about 100 [m]. Table 1 lists the optical performance of the lens system.
Table 1. Optical performance of lens system
Spatial resolution

[m]

Magnification

Figure 3. Lens system [9]

5
2.7, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0

Depth of field l

[m]

100

Whole Length

[mm]

400

Image Processing
Before the experiments what number of pixels existed in a lattice of 2 [mm] in height and width was examined through the optical setup mentioned after. As a result, the size of pixel was decided 2.0 [m/pixel]. Then,
what a droplet occupied the number of pixel was got and the droplet diameter was obtained.
The location of droplet, its equivalent diameter, D, obtained by equation (1), its equivalent dispersion degree, L/Lo, calculated by equation (2) and its averaged gradient of brightness, AGB, were found on an image
taken.

D 4A /

L / L0

(1),

S2

(2)

where A is the area of droplet, L is the aspect ratio of droplet, L0 is the degree of dispersion of perfect round
droplet and S is the length of circumference of droplet. When L/L0 is equal to 1.0 a droplet shows the perfect
round. L/L0 was set less than and equal to 1.2 at the data processing to each droplet in the experiments.
Figure 4 displays the flow chart of the image processing. An image was taken in a CPU through a film scanner (EXSON: GP-X970) and the equivalent droplet diameter and the others were calculated by the soft wear
owing to the flow chart. The resolution was 0.98 [m/pixel] because the minimum size of a droplet measured
was 5 [m]. A droplet existing out of the depth of field has to be taken off to get more accurate data by use of the
averaged gradient of brightness at the droplet envelope [10]. Before the experiments the calibration of lens system was carried out by use of four pieces of transparent glass bead (JIS Z8901), of 103, 61, 38 and 19 [m], respectively. As a consequence, the droplet processing region was decided in the range -50 [m] to 50 [m] from
the focal plane considering the depth field of about 100 [m] of the lens system shown in Figure 3. Figure 5 is
the minimum averaged gradient of brightness of glass beads (MAGB). The red dashed line corresponds to the
limit of spatial resolution of 5 [m] and the blue line is obtained by the method of least squares expressed by the
following equation:

ILASS Europe 2010

Spatial Droplets Size Distribution in a Diesel Spray Taken by Photography with Super High Resolution

MAGB 0.0007D 0.9397 .

(3)

The blue zone is the range of image processing where droplets exist.
Start

Binarization
Labeling

Calculation
Coordinate of droplet X, Y
Equivalent diameter D
Relative dispersion degree L/L0
Average intensity gradient (AIG)

D 5 m ?
L/L0 ? 1.2 ?
Over MAGB limit ?

No

Minimum averaged gradient of

Y Axis
glass beads [-]
of Title
brightness

Import

Droplet processing zone

1.0
1.0

0.9
0.9

MAGB=0.0007D+0.9397
0.8
0.8

0.7
0.7

Yes
Output

20
5 20

40
40

60
60

80
80

Title
DiameterXofAxis
glass

End

100
100

beads [m]

Figure 5. Minimum averaged gradient of

brightness of glass beads

Figure 4. Flow chart of image processing

A photograph of spray taken by the optical setup mentioned after was photographed its surface since the
light was not the thin sheet. However, an objective droplet processed was judged whether it showed in forcas or
not by the equation (3). Thus, the droplet diameter was measured in the accuracy mentioned above.
The validation of droplet diameter detected did not conduct because there has been only data of a single droplet
detected by PDPA and no data with such accuracy in the case of a whole diesel spray.
Experimental Setup, Procedure and Condition
Figure 6 illustrates the optical setup for the experiments of pilot injection. The light source is the second
harmonic, that is, the wave length of 532 [nm] of which half width is 8 [ns/pulse] of an Nd:YAG laser (Spectra
Physics: PIV400). The light from the laser passes through a speckle reduction device (Nanophoton: SK-11, diameter 10 [mm]) which is the most important device to get the accurate data, two sheets of plano-convex lens
(f = 200 [mm], 300[mm]) where the laser light is enlarged 100 [mm] and a fresnel lens (f = 1000 [mm]) where
the light is concentrated 50 [mm] in diameter. A diesel spray injected into a constant volume chamber is exposed
to this light. Thereafter, the light goes through the lens system shown in Figure 3 where the diameter of light
becomes 50 [mm] by an iris diaphragm inserting in the system. The image is taken on a large sized film (Kodak:
TMAX100) whose size is 254 [mm] (10 [in]) in height and 202 [mm] (8 [in]) in width and line resolution is from
63 to 200 [line/mm]. A concave lens (F: 1000 [mm] was set between second lens and third one and the laser light
was enlarged 100 [mm] to apply the lens system to the main injection.
The gas charged in the chamber was carbon dioxide considering the super charging of ID diesel engine, thus,
the ambient density is very large. The ambient temperature is the room temperature, namely, the experiments
were carried out in the non-evaporating atmosphere.
Table 2. Experimental condition
Fuel oil
Ambient gas
Ambient temperature
Ambient pressure
Ambient density
Injection pressure
Injection duration
Injection fuel amount
Number of nozzle hole
Nozzle hole diameter
Nozzle hole length
Photographing timing

Ta
pa
ra
pinj
tinj
mf
dn

t / tinj

in the case of main injection

Figure 6. Optical setup for pilot injection

[K]
[MPa]
[kg/m3]
[MPa]
[ms]
[mg]
[mm]
[mm]

n-tridecane
CO2
Room temperature
2.0
39.5
87.5
0.46
3.67
1
0.20
0.80
3.0,5.0,7.0

55.0*
1.55*
10.0*

1.0*

ILASS Europe 2010

Spatial Droplets Size Distribution in a Diesel Spray Taken by Photography with Super High Resolution

N-tridecane as the reference of gas oil for DI diesel engine is injected into a constant volume chamber
through an injector whose nozzle diameter is 0.20 [mm] and nozzle length is 0.80 [mm] driven by the common
rail injection system. The injection pressure is 87.5 [MPa] and the time history of injection pressure shows almost the rectangular shape. The main experiments were conducted in the case of pilot injection and the photographing timing was after the injection end. The reason of the experiments was why the characteristics of this
spray even after the injection end are essentially the same as those of the spray of main injection. The experiments of the spray of main injection were only one case that the photographing timing was just at the end of injection. The meaning of those is to confirm the capability of application of the lens system to the spray of main
injection. The experimental condition of both cases was the same other than the injection pressure, the injection
duration and the injection amount. The data were arranged by the ratio of the photographing timing, t, to the injection duration, tinj, namely the dimensionless time, t/tinj. Table 2 lists the experimental condition.

Axial distance from nozzle outlet Z [mm]

Experimental Result
Figure 7 (a) is the image of whole spray and (b) is the spatial droplets size distribution of the pilot injection
at the timing of t/tinj of 5.0. They are assorted by the range from 5 to 10 [m], that from 10 to 20 [m], that from
20 to 30 [m] and that over 30 [m]. The distribution corresponds well to the vortex structure calculated by the
simulation shown in Figure 1. The coherent structure is found in this figure. The vortex becomes larger as the
distance from the nozzle outlet is farther. And it shows the maximum at the boundary between the penetration
part [2] and the dilution part [2]. Figure 8 displays the enlarged spray image in the rectangular area in Figure 7
(a) and the spatial droplets size distribution assorted in this area. It is estimated that the droplets under 5 [m]
which is the limit of resolution exist or it is too lean to detect droplets in the white area inside the vortex. The
droplets under 20 [m] appear mainly inside the vortex. The droplets over 20 [m] exist mainly at the envelope
of vortex and at the spray tip region. It is capable of explaining the trend mentioned above by the Stokes number,
Stk, which expresses the following characteristics of particle and/or droplet its surroundings. The smaller the
droplet size is, the smaller the Stokes number is. Namely, the smaller droplet whose momentum is smaller follows easily its surroundings. On the other hand, the larger droplet whose momentum is larger follows not easily
its surroundings.

-14
52

-9

Radial distance from nozzle axis R [mm]

-14
-9
-4
52

57

57

62

62
(a) Enlarged image of spray
5-10 m

(t/tinj=5.0, pinj=87.5[MPa],

-4

10-20 m

(b) Enlarged distribution of diameter

20-30 m

30 m -

(t/tinj=5.0, pinj=87.5[MPa],

a=39.5[kg/m3], room temp.)

a=39.5[kg/m3], room temp.)

Figure 7. Spray image of pilot injection and

spatial droplets size distribution

Figure 8. Enlarged spray image and spatial droplets

size distribution in rectangular area of Fig. 7

Figure 9 shows the spray image and the spatial droplets size distribution in the case of dimensionless time,
t/tinj, of, 3.0, 5.0 and 7.0, respectively. The spray is dispersing and the vortex at the dilution part becomes larger
as the time is elapsing. Figure 10 is the distribution of droplets number frequency in the case of the dimensionless time, t/tinj, of 3.0, 5.0 and 7.0, respectively. The symbol of nd is the number of droplets at the given diameter and that of ng is the total number of droplets measured. The frequency of t/tinj, equal to 3.0 shows almost
the same trend as that equal to5.0. When t/tinj, iis 7.0, the frequency of under 15 [m] is smaller than those of the
other cases since the smaller droplets exists out of the focus due to the dispersion of them as elapsing the time.
The trend of frequency over 20 [m] is no different each other. And SMD is almost the same in all the cases.
4

Axial distance from nozzle outlet Z [mm]

ILASS Europe 2010

Spatial Droplets Size Distribution in a Diesel Spray Taken by Photography with Super High Resolution

Radial distance from nozzle axis R [mm]

-16

16 -16

16 -16

16 -16

16 -16

16 -16

16

20

40

60

80

t/tinj= 3.0

t/tinj= 5.0

5-10 m

10-20 m

20-30 m

t/tinj= 7.0
30 m -

(t/tinj=5.0, pinj=87.5[MPa],

(t/tinj=5.0, pinj=87.5[MPa],

a=39.5[kg/m3], room temp.)

a=39.5[kg/m3], room temp.)

Axial distance from nozzle tip [mm]

Figure 10. Distribution of droplets number

Figure 9. Spray image of pilot injection and spatial droplets
frequency
size distribution. as function of time elapsed
Figure 11 shows the spatial distribution of SMD in the case of Figure 7. This diameter was calculated in the
area of whole spray whose length and height were 1 [mm], respectively. The relative large SMD distribute
mainly at the main flow region at the penetration part [2], [3] and the spray tip region. The reason why is that the
larger droplets crowd in the former region and they have larger momentum comparing to the smaller droplets,
thus, they can fly long distance.
Radial distance from nozzle tip [mm]
20
0
20 -20
0

-20
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70

5-10 m

10-20 m

20-30 m

30 m -

(t/tinj=5.0, pinj=87.5[MPa],

(t/tinj=5.0, pinj=87.5[MPa],
a=39.5[kg/m3], room temp.)

a=39.5[kg/m3], room temp.)

Figure 11. Spatial Distribution of SMD

Figure 12. Spatial Distribution of SMD

Figure 12 displays the whole image of spray (a) and droplets size distribution assorted by the range from 5 to
10 [m], that from 10 to 20 [m], from that 20 to 30 [m], and that over 30 [m] in the case of main injection at
the dimensionless time of t/tinj equal to 1.0, just at the end of injection. The trend of distribution is almost the
same as that of pilot injection mentioned above. As a result, it is capable of applying this optical setup to the
main injection during the injection duration because the time history of injection pressure is almost the constant
in the case of common rail injection system.
Conclusion
The following conclusions are drawn from the experiments:
1. It is able to detect the droplets size whose minimum is 5 [m] by the specialized lens system proposed.
2. It is possible for the technique proposed to apply to a spray not only in the case of pilot injection but also
in that of main injection.
3. The experimental results of droplets size distribution are the evidence of vortex structure with large scale
in a diesel spray calculated by KIVA and LES calculation.
5

ILASS Europe 2010

Spatial Droplets Size Distribution in a Diesel Spray Taken by Photography with Super High Resolution

4. The droplets with medium and small size exist in side the vortex.
5. The droplets with large size distribute at the envelope of vortex and they appear at the spray tip region due
to their large momentum.
6. The larger SMD exists at the main flow region and the spray tip region.
7. The characteristics of a spray through main injection are almost the same as those through pilot injection
mentioned above. Consequently, it is possible to apply this lens system to the main injection.
Acknowledgement
The experiments were conducted in the Energy Conversion Center of Doshisha University which has been
supported by Academic Frontier Project for Private Universities: matching fund from the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan. A part of experiments has been supported by Grant-in Aid for
Scientific Research (B), No. 2036015, of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Reference
[1] Maeda, M., Akasaka, Y. and Kawaguchi, T. Experiments in Fluids, 33: 125-134 (2002).
[2] Fujimoto, H., Kuniyoshi, H., Sato, G. T., Ishii, Y. and Endo, H., Proc. 12th CIMAC, Tokyo, May 1979, B23.
[3] Fujimoto, H., Tanabe, H., Sato, G. T. And Kuniyoshi, H., Proc. 13th CIMAC, Vienna, May 1979, D-25.
[4] Takeuchi, K., Senda, J., Shikuya, M., SAE Paper, 830449, Feb. 1983.
[5] Fujimoto, H., Hori, T. And Senda J., SAE Paper, No. 2009-24-0024 , 2009.
[6] Fujimoto, H., Takagishi, S. Takahashi, T., Dan, T. And Senda J., Proc. VSJ-SPIE98, Yokohama, Oct. 1998,
AB-003 (CD-ROM).
[7] Fujimoto, H., Tanaka, T., Ashida, K., Yeom, J.-K. and Senda J., Proc. 10th Symposium on Application of
Laser Technique in Fluid Mechanics, Lisbon, May, 2000, 25-1 (CD-ROM).
[8] Nakagawa, H., Kamata, S., Hori, T., Senda, J. and Fujimoto, H., Proc. 10th ICLASS 2006, July, 2006,
ICLASS2006-119 (CD-ROM).
[9] Fujimoto, H., Hori, T., Katsuta, K., Adachi, H. and Senda, J., Proc. 11th ICLASS 2009, Sept. Vail, 2009,
035 (CD-ROM).
[10] Adam, A., Inukai, N., Kidoguchi, Y. And Miwa., K., SAE Paper, No. 2007-01-1893, 2007.