Influential factors on pressure characteristics of fuel system for a low-speed marine diesel engine

Maritime transport has made great contributions to the prosperity and development of the world economy. And the low-speed marine diesel engine has played an important role. However, with the aggravation of energy shortage and marine pollution, the development of diesel engines is facing unprecedented pressure. It is therefore urgent to improve the performance of fuel system of diesel engine. In this study, a simulation model of fuel system for a low-speed diesel engine was established. And the accuracy of the model was validated because of the good agreement between the experimental data and simulation results of system pressure characteristics. Based on the verified model, the influence of key parameters on system pressure characteristics was examined. The results show that the mass of pressure amplification piston and flow capacity of pressure amplification control valve have slightly influence on the pressure characteristics of the system. And the impact of diameter of big and small end of pressure amplification piston is more obvious than the first two, for they change the pressure amplification ratio. The diameter of high-pressure fuel tube is the most influential factor to system pressure characteristics. The reason is that the pressure accumulative effect is strengthened as it increases, which leads to a dramatical change happened to the movement of pressure amplification piston and the propagation of pressure waves.