Transient heating effects in high pressure Diesel injector nozzles

•Simulation of friction-induced heating in high pressure Diesel fuel injectors.•Injection pressures up to 3000bar.•Simulations with variable fuel properties significantly affect predictions.•Needle motion affects flow and temperature fields.•Possible heterogeneous boiling as injection pressures increase above 2000bar. The tendency of today’s fuel injection systems to reach injection pressures up to 3000bar in order to meet forthcoming emission regulations may significantly increase liquid temperatures due to friction heating; this paper identifies numerically the importance of fuel pressurization, phase-change due to cavitation, wall heat transfer and needle valve motion on the fluid heating induced in high pressure Diesel fuel injectors. These parameters affect the nozzle discharge coefficient (Cd), fuel exit temperature, cavitation volume fraction and temperature distribution within the nozzle. Variable fuel properties, being a function of the local pressure and temperature are found necessary in order to simulate accurately the effects of depressurization and heating induced by friction forces. Comparison of CFD predictions against a 0-D thermodynamic model, indicates that although the mean exit temperature increase relative to the initial fuel temperature is proportional to (1−Cd2) at fixed needle positions, it can significantly deviate from this value when the motion of the needle valve, controlling the opening and closing of the injection process, is taken into consideration. Increasing the inlet pressure from 2000bar, which is the pressure utilized in today’s fuel systems to 3000bar, results to significantly increased fluid temperatures above the boiling point of the Diesel fuel components and therefore regions of potential heterogeneous fuel boiling are identified.