Investigation of the Refractive Index of Combustion Engines Fuels for Applications in Spray Diagnostics

ii In now-a-days the research in new automotive Engine systems as Direct Injection Gasoline is a priority task.Direct Injection Gasoline Engines have revealed as a promising technology to reduce fuel consumption and gas emissions, however its success is dependent on achieving a good fuel distribution in the cylinder. For this purpose, advanced spray diagnostic methods are required, and Phase-Doppler anemometry is one important method that can provide data on drop size and velocity in a spray. For accurate measurements the knowledge of the refractive index and also its dependence on surroundings environmental conditions, as the temperature and pressure, is still required. The purpose of this work is to study the dependence of the refractive index on the major factors influencing its behavior in the typical conditions of an engine, and that means temperature, pressure and composition. To study this parameters a new setup was designed and several experimental works were carried out. The refractive index is determined by measuring the deflection of a beam from an Argon-Ion laser that passes through a refractio