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Characteristics of pressure wave in common rail fuel injection system of high-

speed direct injection diesel engines

Article  in  Advances in Mechanical Engineering · May 2016

DOI: 10.1177/1687814016648246

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Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2016, Vol. 8(5) 1–8
Ó The Author(s) 2016
Characteristics of pressure wave in DOI: 10.1177/1687814016648246
aime.sagepub.com
common rail fuel injection system of
high-speed direct injection diesel
engines

Mohammad Reza Herfatmanesh1, Zhijun Peng1, Alexis Ihracska1,

Yuzhen Lin2, Lipeng Lu2 and Chi Zhang2

Abstract
The latest generation of high-pressure common rail equipment now provides diesel engines possibility to apply as many
as eight separate injection pulses within the engine cycle for reducing emissions and for smoothing combustion. With
these complicated injection arrangements, optimizations of operating parameters for various driving conditions are con-
siderably difficult, particularly when integrating fuel injection parameters with other operating parameters such as
exhaust gas recirculation rate and boost pressure together for evaluating calibration results. Understanding the detailed
effects of fuel injection parameters upon combustion characteristics and emission formation is therefore particularly crit-
ical. In this article, the results and discussion of experimental investigations on a high-speed direct injection light-duty
diesel engine test bed are presented for evaluating and analyzing the effects of main adjustable parameters of the fuel
injection system on all regulated emission gases and torque performance. Main injection timing, rail pressure, pilot
amount, and particularly pilot timing have been examined. The results show that optimization of each of those adjustable
parameters is beneficial for emission reduction and torque improvement under different operating conditions. By explor-
ing the variation in the interval between the pilot injection and the main injection, it is found that the pressure wave in
the common rail has a significant influence on the subsequent injection. This suggests that special attentions must be paid
for adjusting pilot timing or any injection interval when multi-injection is used. With analyzing the fuel amount oscillation
of the subsequent injections to pilot separation, it demonstrates that the frequency of regular oscillations of the actual
fuel amount or the injection pulse width with the variation in pilot separation is always the same for a specified fuel injec-
tion system, regardless of engine speed, fuel amount, injection pulse, and injection pressure.

Keywords
Diesel engine, common rail fuel injection, high pressure, pressure wave, multiple injections

Date received: 27 January 2016; accepted: 8 April 2016

Academic Editor: Jose Ramon Serrano

Introduction 1
School of Engineering and Technology, University of Hertfordshire,
Hatfield, UK
With the contributions of high-pressure common rail 2
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing,
(HPCR) injection system, variable geometry turbochar- China
ger (VGT), exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), and diesel
Corresponding author:
particulate filter (DPF) for improving drivability and Zhijun Peng, School of Engineering and Technology, University of
emissions, high-speed direct injection (HSDI) diesel Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK.
engines have shared about 50% in European passenger Email: z.peng2@herts.ac.uk

Creative Commons CC-BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

car market in recent years. In the mean time, technol- injector is closed very quickly. Then, a so-called water
ogy innovation is continuously necessary, particularly hammer is formed in the injector pipe.10 Considering
to meet the next-generation emission regulations which the valve in the injector to be open and a flow in the
are forecasted to reduce the expansion speed of the die- injector pipe, there is an initial pressure P and an initial
sel territory. Diesel hybrid and homogeneous charge velocity V in the pipe, as shown in Figure 1. Suddenly
compression ignition (HCCI) combustion are the two after the valve is closed, a pressure wave that travels
examples of those technologies being developed. For toward the main rail is created. The fluid between the
HPCR fuel injection, after piezo-injector and 2500 bar wave and the valve will be at rest, but the fluid between
injection pressure, 3000 bar injection pressure is being the wave and the rail will still have the initial velocity V,
developed by those main suppliers and will come to as shown in Figure 1(b). When the wave reaches the
market in the next several years for meeting the next- main rail, the whole pipe will have the pressure
stage emission regulations.1,2 P + dP, although the pressure in the rail will still be P.
Common rail fuel injection allows to adjust injection This imbalance of the pressure makes the fuel flow from
pressure, fuel injection amount, and injection timing the pipe back to the rail with the velocity V and a new
very flexibly. It can also use multiple injections for opti- pressure wave is created and it travels toward the valve
mizing combustion and emissions.3–5 Currently, it is end of the pipe, as shown in Figure 1(c). When the wave
possible to have up to eight injection pulses—two pilot, reaches the end, the fluid is still flowing. The pressure at
four main, and two post-injection pulses. Noise can be this point will be less than the initial value, P 2 dP. This
controlled by pilot injection, and the particulate/soot leads to a rarefied wave of the pressure in the other
and gaseous emissions can be minimized by post- direction (Figure 1(d)). When this wave reaches the rail,
injection after the main injection. The efficiency of the the pipe will have a pressure less than that in the rail.
catalytic converter is increased as unburned hydrocar- There is an imbalance in the pressure again and the pro-
bon (HC) is destroyed by the hot exhaust. cess repeats itself in a periodic manner. The result is an
However, when using multiple injections with a very oscillation which is damped.
short interval between injection pulses, the effect of
pressure wave in fuel pipe on the subsequent fuel injec-
tions must be paid attention. Due to the fast opening Experimental arrangement
and closing of injector needle, the injection pressure
Test engine
waves are generated in the duct of common rail, injec-
tors, and connecting high-pressure pipe and the injec- The research reported in this article has been underta-
tion pressure will no longer remain constant during the ken on a 2.2-L four-cylinder four-valve turbocharged
whole injection event.6–8 These pressure waves then DI diesel engine which is typical of passenger car engine
push up or down the subsequent injection amount sig- with a bore of 86 mm and a stroke 94.6 mm. The turbo-
nificantly and this makes the calibration of the subse- charger is VGT type and the VGT actuator is operated
quent injection fuel amount very difficult. Under pneumatically. The EGR valve also has a pneumatic
different operating conditions, these influences may
become much more serious.9 Therefore, it is essential
to have a full understanding of this phenomenon.
In the study presented in this article, the operating
characteristics of the common rail fuel injection system
of high-speed light-duty diesel engine have been
explored on a 2.2-L four-cylinder four-valve turbo-
charged passenger car direct injection (DI) diesel
engine. The effects of main injection timing, injection
pressure, pilot amount, and particularly pilot timing on
emissions and torque performance have been experi-
mental investigated. The pressure waves in the common
rail and its influences on the subsequent injection were
examined with two different test methods (fixed injec-
tion pulse width and fixed actual fuel delivery amount)
under different engine speeds and fuel delivery amount.

Pressure wave in high-pressure pipe

As a pilot injection or a main injection is completed in a Figure 1. Pressure wave in common rail injection system. Prail -
common rail fuel injection system, the valve in the pressure in rail; V - flow velocity; P - pressure in fuel pipe.

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Herfatmanesh et al. 3

Figure 2. Test engine and measurement equipments.

Table 1. Specification of the experimental engine. Measurement equipment

Engine type 2.2-L turbocharged The test bed is fully equipped with various instrumenta-
DI diesel engine tions which can meet the requirement for a series of
Bore 86 mm engine performance experiments. In addition to the
Stroke 94.6 mm dynamometer, various pressure sensors, and tempera-
Number of cylinder 4
ture sensors for intake gas, exhaust gas, coolant, lubri-
Displacement 2.2 L
Number of valve 4 cant, and so on, a set of SignalÒ gas analyzer is
per cylinder connected with the exhaust pipe for measuring nitrogen
Compression ratio 18 oxides (NOx), CO2, CO, HC emissions, and oxygen
Max. torque 360 N m at 1500 r/min concentration in the exhaust gas.
Max. power 155 kW at 3800 r/min
Turbocharger VGT with pneumatic actuator An AVL smoke meter is also connected with the
EGR valve Pneumatic control exhaust pipe for smoke measurement and a LabcellÒ
Fuel injection system High-pressure common rail laminar air flow meter is fitted upstream of the air filter
Max. rail pressure 1600 bar (in Figure 2). The air flow meter provides a possibility
The orifice diameter 0.12 mm for estimating intake gas flow rate and also for calcu-
of injectors
lating those emission masses from the parts per million
DI: direct injection; VGT: variable geometry turbocharger; EGR: exhaust output of the gas analyzer. The in-cylinder pressure is
gas recirculation. measured with a Kistler-type 6535Q piezoelectric pres-
sure transducer which is fitted through glow plug adap-
actuator. Although the objective of the project is to tor. The pressure data are saved and analyzed by a
investigate the effects of the injection system operating purpose-built data acquisition system based on
parameters on engine performance and emissions, the National Instrument LabVIEWÒ program.
engine is fitted on a fully instrumented test bed. The Most fuel injection relevant operating parameters
schematic of the relevant experimental setup is shown are acquired through the engine control unit (ECU)
in Figure 2 and the engine specifications are listed in with a control computer. The computer can control the
Table 1 fuel injection by adjusting those control parameters and
The fuel injection system is Delphi HPCR fuel injec- also can read out those data for analysis. Those possible
tion which has a 1600-bar maximum fuel injection pres- parameters include the total fuel amount injected in per
sure. The orifice diameter of the nozzles is 0.12 mm and cycle, the main fuel injection timing, the pressure in the
there are six holes in each injector. In Figure 3, the sche- rail, the pilot injection amount, and the interval
matic of the injection system is presented. between the main injection and pilot injection. It is

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4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 3. Common rail fuel injection system.

Figure 4. Effects of pilot separation on actual fuel delivery
amount with fixed inject pulse width (1500 r/min, 10 mg
needed to be noted that the actual fuel amount con- requested fuel amount).
sumed is measured by a fuel flow meter (in Figure 3).
The return fuel is cooled and joined into the feeding line
after the flow meter. This means the fuel amount mea- injection rate, and the pilot injection amount are
sured by the fuel flow meter was actually consumed by demonstrated and discussed below.
the engine.

Pilot separation (interval between pilot and main

Measurement process injections)
All measurements presented in this article were carried The driving motivation behind common rail diesel tech-
out under steady-state running conditions. This means nology is the adherence to ever-increasing emission reg-
when the experiment is moved to a new engine running ulations while maintaining the drivability and low
condition, a certain time must be waited for all the combustion noise characteristics of petrol-powered
requested parameters to become stable. engines and the superior fuel economy of the diesel
Some typical engine running conditions which lie on engine. With common rail fuel injection systems, com-
the New European Driving Cycle were selected for this bustion noise can be controlled with a pilot injection of
research. For example, the tests for examining the small quantity of fuel prior to main injection, so that
effects of the main injection timing, the injection pres- the pressure rise during combustion is not steep, result-
sure, and the pilot injection amount were operated ing in low noise. However, as the interval between the
under 1800 r/min and 10 mg total fuel amount (about pilot injection and main injection (normally less than
30–35 N m torque and 2.0 bar brake mean effective 1 ms) is so short, the pressure wave induced by pilot
pressure (BMEP)). The experiments for exploring pilot injection or previous injection inevitably causes the sub-
time influence covered a 1000–3000 r/min engine speed sequent injection difficult to be controlled. Therefore,
and 9–32 mg fuel amount (30–160 N m torque). there is not only the optimal pilot-main interval for
When those experiments for investigating the effects noise reduction to be considered for the adjustment and
of fuel injection on engine performance and emissions choice of pilot timing but also the effect of the interval
were undertaken, VGT and EGR were kept at constant on the stabilities of main injection and combustion.
position. For each series test, engine speed and the total In the following section, the influence of the pilot-
fuel amount were also fixed except for the some pilot main interval on fuel injection is presented and
timing test for which the actual fuel amount is changed discussed.
by the pressure wave in the rail, although with a fixed
injection pulse width.
For constant requested fuel amount. At first, with fixed
engine speed, fixed fuel pressure in the common rail,
fixed pilot amount, and fixed pulse width of the total
Results and discussion
injection control signal (requested fuel amount), the
The investigations presented in this article are mainly interval between pilot injection and main injection is
focused on the effects of fuel injection parameters on adjusted to find the variations in fuel injection. In
engine combustion performance and emissions. The Figure 4, the effect of the interval on the total fuel
results relating injection timings of the main injection amount under 1500 r/min engine speed and 10 mg
and the pilot injection, the injection pressure or requested fuel amount is shown. Changing the interval

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Herfatmanesh et al. 5

Figure 5. Effects of pilot separation on NOx emissions and Figure 7. Effects of pilot separation on actual fuel delivery
smoke with fixed inject pulse width (1500 r/min, 10 mg amount with fixed inject pulse width (1500 r/min, 30 mg
requested fuel amount). requested fuel amount).

Figure 6. Effects of pilot separation on HC and CO emissions Figure 8. Effects of pilot separation on actual fuel delivery
with fixed inject pulse width (1500 r/min, 10 mg requested fuel amount with fixed inject pulse width (3000 r/min, 10 mg
amount). requested fuel amount).

from 4 to 36 crank angle degree (CAD), the total fuel

amount can be changed from 7.5 to 13.5 mg, and this
change has a few oscillations from 4 to 36 CAD.
From Figure 4, another characteristic is that short
interval has a greater impact on the total fuel amount
than long interval. This suggests that more attention
should be paid when short interval is selected between
two adjacent injections. From Figures 5–7, the results
for two different engine speeds and two different pulse
widths are displayed. From those results, it suggests
that pressure wave induced by previous injection in
common rail can always give serious impact to the total
fuel amount (or injection rate) and injection stability,
although rail pressure and injection pulse width are
fixed for each test condition. Figure 9. Effects of pilot separation on actual fuel delivery
amount with fixed inject pulse width (3000 r/min, 30 mg
As shown in Figure 5 for NOx emissions and smoke,
requested fuel amount).
it can be found that NOx emissions and smoke keep

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6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 10. Oscillation of actual fuel amount with the variation Figure 13. Injection pulse width variation for keeping same
in pilot separation under different injection pulse widths with fuel delivery amount with different pilot separations (1000 r/min,
the same engine speed (1500 r/min). 19.5 mg actual fuel amount).

variation in actual fuel quantity, although pilot timing

should have more or less impact. As shown in Figure 6
for HC and CO emissions, they have similar trends.
Owing to this reason, the emission results for other test
conditions are not presented.
In Figures 4 and 7–9, it can be seen that the varia-
tions in fuel amount with different pilot separations
have similar trend for the same engine speed. In Figure
10, those results of the same engine speed but different
pulse widths are plotted together for comparing their
variation trend. It is noted that for the same engine
speed, the oscillation of total fuel delivery amount for
different pulse widths has the same frequency relative
to time and crank angle (same engine speed).
Figure 11. Oscillation of actual fuel amount with the variation
in pilot separation under different engine speeds with the same In Figures 4 and 7–9, for different engine speeds, the
injection pulse width (30 mg requested fuel amount). oscillation of the total fuel amount with the variation
in pilot separation has different frequencies based on
crank angle. But if those results are plotted based on
time (in Figure 11), it can be seen that there is a same
oscillation frequency for different engine speeds. From
Figures 10 and 11, it can be concluded that the effect of
pilot separation on the total fuel amount (or fuel injec-
tion rate) has an inherent frequency, even under differ-
ent engine speeds and injection control pulse widths.

For constant actual fuel amount. For practical engine oper-

ations, under a certain engine speed and power output,
the total fuel amount is calibrated for meeting emission
and drivability requirements. After the requested fuel
amount is fixed, for different pilot timings, the pulse
width of the injection control signal should be adjusted
Figure 12. Injection pulse width variation for keeping same so as to meet the requirement of the total fuel amount.
fuel delivery amount with different pilot separations (1000 r/min, For a fixed actual fuel delivery amount, the varia-
9 mg actual fuel amount). tion in the pulse width with pilot separation is shown
in Figures 12 and 13 for different engine speeds and
similar fluctuation as the variation in actual quantity. actual fuel amount.
This suggests the influence of pilot separation on NOx In Figures 12 and 13, the results for the same engine
emissions and smoke is mainly dominated by the speed 1000 r/min but different fuel delivery amounts are

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Herfatmanesh et al. 7

Figure 14. Injection pulse width variation for keeping same Figure 16. Effects of pressure wave in common rail on fuel
fuel delivery amount with different pilot separations (2000 r/min, injection under different injection test methods (fixed pulse
16.5 mg actual fuel amount). width—1500 r/min, 30 mg requested fuel amount; fixed actual
fuel amount—1000 r/min engine speed, 19.5 mg actual fuel
amount).

injection pressure, and injection pulse width. Similar

results have also been observed on fuel injection test
bench by Tian et al.11
Under the effects of pressure wave, there exists a
non-linear relationship between electrical separation
and hydraulic separation of injection in a common rail
system. This requires fuel injection equipment (FIE)
manufacturers to use a number of approaches to coun-
ter this, including optimizing rail orifices to dampen
the wave and using algorithms to predict the error and
to adjust for it. In addition, some injectors are espe-
cially designed for the injectors to minimize the wave in
Figure 15. Injection pulse width variation for keeping same
the high-pressure lines.
fuel delivery amount with different pilot separations (2000 r/min,
Although the above discussion is only for the inter-
31 mg actual fuel amount).
val between pilot and main injection, the conclusions
can be applied to all possible intervals between two
presented. Based on CAD unit of pilot timing, the oscil- close injections for those multi-pulse injections of com-
lation frequency of request fuel amount is the same for mon rail injection systems.
different actual fuel delivery amounts. Also, the shorter
the pilot separation, the stronger the influence of pres-
sure wave on the injection. Conclusion
In Figures 12–15, it can be seen that with fixed actual The operating characteristics of the common rail fuel
fuel amount and rail pressure, the injection pulse width injection system of high-speed light-duty diesel engine
has a variation with the variation in pilot timing. The have been explored on a 2.2-L four-cylinder four-valve
oscillation has very similar characteristics with the var- turbocharged passenger car DI diesel engine. The sub-
iation in the actual fuel amount shown in the last sec- sequent conclusions have been derived from the above
tion when the pulse width is fixed. results and discussions:
In Figure 16, the results for two different injection
test methods, fixed injection pulse width and fixed  The effects of pressure wave in the common rail
actual fuel delivery amount, are demonstrated. Two on the main fuel injection were investigated with
results shown in the figure have different engine speeds two different test methods (fixed injection pulse
and different fuel amounts. But the oscillation frequen- width and fixed actual fuel delivery amount)
cies of the vibrating parameters are totally the same. under different engine speeds and fuel delivery
This suggests that for a specified common rail fuel amounts. The results show that the increase or
injection system, the pressure wave in the common rail decrease in the pilot separations (intervals
has an inherent frequency, regardless of engine speed, between pilot and main injections) causes the

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8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

regular oscillation of the actual fuel delivery cylinder research engine. SAE Int J Commer Veh 2015; 8:
amount if the injection pulse is fixed or causes 479–490.
the regular oscillation of the injection pulse 3. Giuffrida A, Carlucci P, Ficarella A, et al. Preliminary
width if the actual fuel delivery amount is fixed. studies on the effects of injection rate modulation on the
 The frequency of regular oscillations of the combustion noise of a common rail diesel engine. SAE
actual fuel amount or the injection pulse width paper 2004-01-1848, 2004.
4. Fuyuto T, Taki M, Ueda R, et al. Noise and emissions
with the variation in pilot separation is always
reduction by second injection in diesel PCCI combustion
the same for a specified fuel injection system, with split injection. SAE Int J Engines 2014; 7:
regardless of engine speed, fuel amount, injec- 1900–1910.
tion pulse, and injection pressure. 5. Dimitriou P, Peng Z, Wang W, et al. Effects of advanced
 As pressure wave causes main injection fuel injection strategies on the in-cylinder air–fuel homogene-
quantity fluctuation, emissions are mainly ity of diesel engines. Proc IMechE, Part D: J Automobile
affected by the variation in fuel quantity, Engineering 2015; 229: 330–341.
although pilot injection timing should also have 6. Baumann J, Kiencke U, Schlegl T, et al. Practical feasi-
influence on emissions. bility of measuring pressure waves in common rail injec-
tion systems by magneto-elastic sensors. SAE paper
2006-01-0891, 2006.
Declaration of conflicting interests 7. Risi AD, Naccarato F and Laforgia D. Experimental
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with analysis of common rail pressure wave effect on engine
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this emissions. SAE paper 2005-01-0373, 2005.
article. 8. Catania AE, Ferrari A and Spessa E. Numerical-experi-
mental study and solutions to reduce the dwell-time
threshold for fusion-free consecutive injections in a mul-
Funding tijet solenoid-type CR system. J Eng Gas Turb Power
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup- 2009; 131: 022804.
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this 9. Beatrice C, Belardini P, Bertoli C, et al. Combustion pro-
article: The financial support from the Royal Academy of cess management in common rail DI diesel engines by
Engineering via the Newton Research Collaboration multiple injection. SAE paper 2001-24-0007, 2001.
Programme (NRCP/1415/230) is gratefully acknowledged. 10. Ubertini S. Injection pressure fluctuations model applied
to a multi-dimensional code for diesel engines simulation.
J Eng Gas Turb Power 2006; 128: 694–701.
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