Combustion characteristics of a two-stroke spark ignition UAV engine fuelled with gasoline and kerosene (RP-3)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the combustion characteristics, including the combustion pressure, heat release rate (HRR), coefficient of variation (COV) of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), flame development period and combustion duration, of aviation kerosene fuel, namely, rocket propellant 3 (RP-3), and gasoline on a two-stoke spark ignition engine. Design/methodology/approach This paper is an experimental investigation using a bench test to reflect the combustion performance of two-stroke spark ignition unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engine on gasoline and RP-3 fuel. Findings Under low load conditions, the combustion performance and HRR of burning RP-3 fuel were shown to be worse than those of gasoline. Under high load conditions, the average IMEP and the COV of IMEP of burning RP-3 fuel were close to those of gasoline. The difference in the flame development period between gasoline and RP-3 fuel was similar. Practical implications Gasoline fuel has a low flash point, high-saturated vapour pressure and relatively high volatility and is a potential hazard near a naked flame at room temperature, which can create significant security risks for its storage, transport and use. Adopting a low volatility single RP-3 fuel of covering all vehicles and equipment to minimize the number of different devices with the use of a various fuels and improve the application safeties. Originality/value Most two-stroke spark ignition UAV engines continue to combust gasoline. A kerosene-based fuel operation can be applied to achieve a single-fuel policy.