City Research Online

Abstract

The operation of a high-pressure, piston-plunger fuel pump, oriented for use in the common rail circuit of modern Diesel engines for providing fuel to the injectors is investigated in the present study from a numerical perspective. Both the suction and pressurization phases of the pump stroke were simulated with the overall flow time be-ing in the order of 12•10-3 s. The topology of the cavitating flow within the pump con-figuration was captured through the use of an Equation of State (EoS) implemented in the framework of a barotropic, homogeneous equilibrium model. Cavitation was found to set in within the pressure chamber as early as 0.2•10-3 s in the operating cycle, while the minimum liquid volume fraction detected was in the order of 60% during the sec-ond period of the valve opening. Increase of the in-cylinder pressure during the final stages of the pumping stroke lead to the collapse of the previously arisen cavitation structures and three layout locations, namely the piston edge, the valve/valve-seat re-gion and the outlet orifice, were identified as vulnerable to cavitation-induced erosion through the use of cavitation-aggressiveness indicators.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Koukouvinis, P., Karathanassis, I. K. & Gavaises, M. (2017). Prediction of cavitation and induced erosion inside a high-pressure fuel pump. International Journal of Engine Research. Copyright © 2017, the authors. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.
Publisher Keywords:	Diesel, common rail system, high pressure, barotropic model, moving valve
Subjects:	T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Departments:	School of Science & Technology > Engineering

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