Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on

the engine performance and exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine

Zehra Sahin
a,
, Mustafa Tuti
b
, Orhan Durgun
a
a
Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Engineering, Mechanical Eng. Dep., Trabzon, Turkey
b
Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Marine Science, Naval Architecture and Marine Eng., Trabzon, Turkey
h i g h l i g h t s
" The effects of water injection into intake air on the engine performance and exhaust emissions were investigated.
" A turbocharged automotive diesel engine was used.
" The water was injected into intake air by a carburetor.
" Water ratios of (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) % (by vol.) were selected.
" The water injection improves somewhat the engine performance and decreases NO
x
and smoke emissions.
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 23 August 2012
Received in revised form 10 October 2012
Accepted 23 October 2012
Available online 11 November 2012
Keywords:
NO
x
emission
Smoke index K
Engine characteristics
Water injection into intake air
a b s t r a c t
In the present study, the effects of water injection (WI) into intake air on the performance and exhaust
emissions were experimentally investigated in a Renault K9K 700 type turbocharged common-rail DI
automotive diesel engine. Experiments were performed at different loads and engine speeds, with vari-
ous water ratios (WRs). The water was injected into intake air by a carburetor, which main nozzle section
is adjustable, at approximately 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% (by vol.) water ratios. It was determined that, WI
into intake air at specied ratios decreases signicantly smoke index K and NO
x
emission and improves
somewhat the engine performance. Smoke index K decreases by increasing of WRs at 2000, 2500 and
3000 rpm. Its maximum reduction ratio was obtained as 41.75% for 11.71% WR at 3000 rpm. At chosen
loads and engine speeds, as WRs increases, NO
x
emission decreases. More signicant reduction of NO
x
has been obtained after 6% WR. For full load (149 N m) at 2500 rpm, maximum decrement of NO
x
emis-
sion was attained as 12.489% for 9.400% WR. Water addition results insignicant effect on brake specic
fuel consumption (bsfc) at 2000, 2500 and 3000 rpm. At these engine speeds bsfc takes values close to the
neat diesel fuel (NDF) or increases slightly. However, bsfc decreases approximately 4% with water addi-
tion for selected loads at 3500 rpm. WI does not show any signicant change in-cylinder pressure and
indicated power.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The protection and conservation of both the environment and
energy sources has recently become important issues in the indus-
trial and transportation sectors. In response to these social de-
mands, many automotive companies and research centers have
attempted to develop new engine technologies in order to meet
strengthened exhaust emissions regulations. While a diesel engine
with a high thermal efciency has the advantage of conserving en-
ergy, it has some drawbacks with regard to exhaust emissions be-
cause a diesel engine exhausts higher NO
x
and soot emissions than
does a spark ignition gasoline engine [1]. It is determined that pro-
longed exposure to diesel engines emissions above a specic level
should be harmful to human health [2], so stringent emission
norms have been impose to reduce these pollutants. Hence there
is a need to improve performance of diesel engine together with
reduction in tail pipe emissions.
Several methods have been tried and reported to control suc-
cessfully these emissions from diesel engine; some of these are ex-
haust gas recirculation (EGR), catalytic converter (post combustion
0016-2361/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
Abbreviations: aTDC, after top dead center; bTDC, before top dead center; be,
bsfc, brake specic fuel consumption (kg/kW h); CA, h crank angle (degree); DI,
direct injection; DWI, direct water injection; NDF, neat diesel fuel; N
e
, brake
effective power (kW); NO
x
, oxides of nitrogen; LHV, lower heating value (kJ/kg);
ppm, parts per millions; WDE, waterdiesel fuel emulsion; WI, water injection; WR,
water ratio; g
e
, effective efciency, brake thermal efciency.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 462 3773610; fax: +90 462 3252805.
E-mail addresses: zsahin@ktu.edu.tr, mak3zehra@hotmail.com (Z. Sahin).
Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx
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Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
method) and adding water to diesel fuel [3]. EGR technique can re-
duce NO
x
emission signicantly but it would increase particulate
emissions [4,5]. Also, decreasing of NO
x
emission with EGR is at-
tained with a series of complex and sometimes opposite phenom-
ena which takes place during combustion [5]. The other method to
reduce NO
x
emission is using a catalytic converter. It is well known
that the catalytic converters works best at a stoichiometric airfuel
ratio about 14.1:1. Most of the diesel engines tend to run on leaner
mixture which makes the catalytic converter less effective in
reducing NO
x
emission. Running lean also produces more over all
NO
x
emission [3]. For this reason catalytic converters are conve-
nient for using in spark ignition engines. Furthermore as catalytic
converter includes valuable metals, this solution is expensive.
The third available method to reduce local combustion tempera-
ture and consequently to decrease NO
x
emission is to apply of
water adding method in diesel engines [3]. In the literature there
are three main methods used for adding water in diesel engines
[3,5,68]. These are direct water injection (DWI) into the cylinder
using a separate injector, injecting waterdiesel fuel emulsion
(WDE) and spraying/injecting water into the intake manifold [3].
It is known from the literature that generally NO
x
and smoke emis-
sions reduce simultaneously without fuel penalty by using one of
the above three water adding methods [4,6,9]. The obtained results
of applying these methods given in the relevant literature and
advantages and disadvantages of these methods are summarized
in the following paragraphs.
2. Waterdiesel fuel emulsion (WDE) method
The emulsion fuel is dened as an emulsion of water in standard
diesel fuel with specic additives, surfactants, to stabilize the sys-
tem [10]. In most of the previous studies WDE method has been
shown to have positive effects on engine performance parameters
and exhaust emissions. In this method NO
x
reduction is accompa-
nied with a large reduction of particulate matter (PM) and soot
emissions. Whereas some decrease in emissions of NO
x
and PM
are obtained, there is an increase in the emissions of hydrocarbons
and carbon monoxide with increasing water content of the emul-
sion [10]. It has been shown that adding water to the fuel may help
to improve atomization and mixing characteristics, which is attrib-
uted to water droplet micro-explosions. The micro-explosions phe-
nomena are induced by volatility differences between the water
and the fuel [3]. Micro-explosions of the emulsion fuels seemto en-
hance the mixing of the fuel with the surrounding air for faster and
more efcient combustion. Thus, the smoke reduction may be due
to improvement in mixing rate of fuel with air by this micro-
explosion phenomenon [4]. NO
x
emission decreased drastically
due to thermal, dilution and chemical effects (enhancement of OH
radicals) of water [4]. It has been reported that 15% water adding
into the diesel fuel can give a reduction in nitrogen oxide (NO
x
)
emission up to 35% under regular conditions [10].
On the other hand, these techniques have some drawbacks:
Firstly, the water emulsions needs more advanced and well devel-
oped infrastructure for the implementation of complex on-board
water-in-diesel emulsion preparing systems integrated with the
engine, which may increase the cost [3]. To produce smaller and
well scattered water droplets, the engine operating parameters
need to be controlled at very high accuracy. Secondly, the physical
properties such as viscosity, density and bulk module of the emul-
sion fuel may change. It is observed that the viscosity and density
of the water emulsied fuel is higher than NDF. Change in these
parameters can signicantly affect the performance of the fuel
injection system [3]. Another signicant drawback of this method
is that, the remaining of percentage of water constant and cannot
being changed for cold start or other transient operating condi-
tions. In other words, a particular blend of fuel and water may be
optimal for one operating condition but it may degrade perfor-
mance for other situations in the design envelope [8].
Abu-Zaid [11] studied the effects of WDE at different ratios such
as 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% on performance and exhaust temper-
ature of a single cylinder diesel engine and they determined that
the average increase in the brake thermal efciency for 20% WDE
is approximately 3.5% [11]. Kegl and Pehan [6] found that NO
x
and PM emissions could be reduced signicantly without worsen-
ing specic fuel consumption under several operating regimes by
using WDE method in a truck diesel engine. Maiboom and Tauzia
[7] studied WDE for a volumetric water-to-fuel ratio of 25.6% in
a modern automotive 1.5 L HSDI diesel engine and investigated
four injection strategies with and without pilot injection, for two
different injection pressure and found that depending on the
WDE fuelling rate and injection strategy (with or without a pilot
injection before main injection), NO
x
emission are most often re-
duced at the levels of up to 50%, and PM emission is most often de-
creased as well (the maximum relative reduction being 94%). In
this study the use of WDE in parallel with EGR for various EGR ra-
tios were also tested aiming to improve the NO
x
PM trade-off; that
is reduction of NO
x
emission at a given PM emission level or reduc-
tion of PM emission at a given NO
x
emission level. They concluded
that this method is an effective way for reduction of NO
x
and PM
emissions in this automotive diesel engine. The effects of WDE
on the engine performance and on the main pollutant emissions;
such as NO
x
, total hydrocarbons, soot and particulate matter in a
turbocharged indirect injection diesel engine were also studied
by Armas et al. [12]. It is shown in this study that the water emul-
sion has a potential to slightly improve the brake efciency and to
signicantly reduce the formation of thermal NO, soot, hydrocar-
bons and particulate matter in this engine.
3. Direct water injection (DWI) method
In this method, water is supplied directly into the combustion
chamber by using a separate injector. This method provides an op-
tion of controlling water and fuel ratio [3]. Owing to this direct
water injection strategy, the ignition delay can be maintained at
low levels even if a large quantity of water is injected and great
NO
x
reduction is obtained [4]. The system is integrated with an
electronic control unit which controls the pump that delivers me-
tered volumes of water to an electronic injector forming diesel fuel
and water mixture at the injector tip. Unlike WDE method, DWI al-
lows the fuelwater percentage to be changed for cold start or dif-
ferent operating conditions [8]. The drawbacks of this method are;
the complexity involved in integrating additional components to
the existing engine system and further requirements of a redesign
of the fuel supply system integrated with the engine [3].
Sarvi et al. [13] studied the effects of using of DWI with common
rail system on the emissions in a large-scale medium-speed turbo-
charged diesel engine. When operating with common rail system
and direct water injection, NO
x
emission drops signicantly, by ca
50%. On the other hand, somewhat higher (yet not problematic)
smoke and COemissions levels have been determined. For HC emis-
sions, the effect is insignicant. In this study, it was reported that
common rail system decreases the fuel consumption, while for
common rail system and direct water injection, fuel consumption
slightly increases [13]. Betford et al. [8] also studied numerically
the effects of DWI in a direct injection diesel engine using a compu-
tational uid dynamics (CFD) program based on the Kiva-3v code.
In this study engine calculations were compared to experimental
results and showed very good agreement for pressure, ignition de-
lay and fuel consumption. They found that for 44% loads, SFC, PM
and NO
x
emissions decreased, while for 86% loads only NO
x
2 Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
emission decreased. They concluded that, advancing the injection
timing provides signicant decrease in sfc, PM and NO
x
for 44%
loads, and large decrease in PM and NO
x
but with a small increase
in fuel consumption for 86% loads [8].
4. Inlet water injection (WI) method
The probably easier way to supply water to the engine is injec-
tion of the water into inlet air. Various strategies to inject water
into the inlet air are presented in the literature: multipoint water
injection in the intake pipes close to the inlet valves, single point
water injection upstream the compressor or downstream the com-
pressor. In all of these methods, the water-to-fuel ratio was in-
creased up to maximum value of 50%. The advantages of the
water injection are versatile; uniform on-line variation of water
quantity, increase of volumetric efciency due to cooling effect,
nearly or homogeneous water distribution in combustion chamber,
etc. The main drawback of inlet WI is that a water mass of about
6065% of the fuel is needed for achieving a 50% NO
x
reduction,
and it is very high (up to four times the amount of fuel mass) if
aiming to drastically reduction in NO
x
emission [3,5].
Tauzia et al. [5] studied the effects of water injection on ignition
delay, rate of heat release and emissions of a modern high speed
common-rail automotive diesel engine. The engine used was a
2.0 L turbocharged diesel engine equipped with low-pressure ex-
haust gas recirculation (EGR) loop. In this study water injection
system was installed after the intercooler just before the inlet
manifold. They concluded that higher water ow rate contributed
toward longer ignition delay, higher peak heat release, lowered
NO
x
emission but it results in deteriorated production of CO and
HC [5,14]. Comparison of waterdiesel emulsion and timed intake
manifold water injection in a diesel engine was investigated by
Subramanian. Water-to-diesel fuel ratio for emulsion and water
injection methods was xed as 0.4:1 (by mass). All tests were done
at constant speed of 1500 rpm. He concluded that both methods
were capable of reducing NO emission drastically in this diesel en-
gine. However, CO and HC levels were higher for water emulsion
than that of water injection. Peak pressure, ignition delay and max-
imum rate of pressure rise were lesser for water injection com-
pared to emulsion method [4,14]. Tesfa et al. [3] investigated the
effect of inlet WI in a biodiesel engine. They conducted their exper-
imental study in a four-cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection (DI)
turbocharged diesel engine. In this investigation, biodiesel, pro-
duced from rapeseed oil by transesterication process, was used.
They reported that water injection at a rate of 3 kg/h resulted in
the reduction of NO
x
emission by about 50% without causing any
signicant change in the bsfc. Also, this study showed that the
water injection in the intake manifold under different operating
conditions had little effect on the in-cylinder pressure and heat re-
lease rate of the diesel engine.
It can be clearly seen from the above literature survey that;
water addition, WDE, DWI and inlet WI consist of some examples
of various engine emission control strategies that allow reducing of
NO
x
and smoke, and in some cases also PM, with a very small fuel
economy penalty. Though there are many works related to the
WDE [4,7,1012,1518], a few works related to the DWI
[8,13,19,20] and inlet WI [46,9,20,21] in diesel engines have been
done. In the relevant literature; for applying of the inlet WI meth-
od, generally water injection system was used and tests were per-
formed at limited operating conditions. For example a few number
of different loads were selected for one engine speed and one or
two water ratios.
In the present work the effect of water introduction into the in-
let air manifold of a modern four cylinder, turbocharged, water
cooled, common rail direct injection automotive diesel engine,
which is been using on Renault Kangoo and Clio automobiles,
was studied with respect to the engine performance, combustion
and exhaust emissions. Here, water was injected into intake air
by a carburetor, which main nozzle section can be adjusted. The ef-
fects of six different water ratios on engine performance and ex-
haust emissions were investigated at four different engine
speeds. Also, six different loads were chosen for every engine
speeds and water ratios.
5. Experimental apparatus and procedure
5.1. Engine and experimental set up
The experimental work was carried out in a four cylinder, 4-
stroke, turbocharged, common-rail injection, 1.461 L Renault DI
automotive diesel engine (model K9K 700). The specications of
the test engine are given in Table 1. Also, the photograph of this en-
gine, as being mounted on the experimental system, was presented
in Fig. 1. Test system used in the experiments was produced by
Cussons and its technical drawing was given in Fig. 2. Here; loading
of the engine was done by a water brake, the brake moment was
determined electronically, the fuel consumption was measured
by mass. In the experimental setup; ambient air, lubrication oil,
fuel, exhaust temperatures and inlet and outlet temperatures of
cooling water, exhaust gases and cooling water in and out to ex-
haust calorimeter temperatures were measured by using of type
K thermocouples. Also, an exhaust calorimeter produced by Cus-
sons was mounted onto the test system.
Nitrogen oxide (NO
x
) concentration and oxygen (O
2
) percentage
in the exhaust gases were determined by MEXA-720 NO
x
gas ana-
lyzer produced by Horiba. It is a direct-installation gas analyzer
using a zirconia ceramic sensor and it can measure NO
x
emission
and fuel air ratio in the exhaust gases. The main specications of
this MEXA-720 NO
x
gas analyzer are given in Table 2. Smoke index
Table 1
Main technical specications of the test engine.
Engine Renault K9K 700 turbocharged
automotive diesel engine
Displacement 1.461 L
Number of cylinder 4
Bore and stroke 76 & 80.5 MM
Compression ratio 18.25: 1
Maximum power 48 kW @ 4000 rpm
Maximum torque 160 N m @ 1750 rpm
Distance between connecting road
axes (c.r.length)
130 mm
Renault K9K 700
Fig. 1. Renault K9K 700 turbocharged diesel engine mounted on the experimental
system.
Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx 3
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
K, which is a measure of the black smoke, is measured by Sun mod-
el MGA-1500 detector.
Cylinder gas pressure was measured by using of an AVL GH12P
type quartz pressure sensor without cooling. The pressure sensor
was mounted on the head of the rst cylinder of the engine instead
of the hot plug. The signal outputs of the pressure sensor were
amplied by P4411 type Cussons electronic indicating system. This
system consists of a processing rack and an oscilloscope and it
incorporates microprocessor controlled circuitry to monitor the
angular position of the crankshaft to provide an accurate and ver-
satile measurement of either time or angle against which the cyl-
inder gas pressure and diesel fuel injection parameters can be
analyzed using a variety of display or data acquisition equipment.
Here a computer and NI PCI-6221 data acquisition card which has
16-bit resolution and 250 (ksample/s) sampling were used in order
to convert signals from analog to digital and to record the obtained
data. Charge amplier output of Cussons electronic indicating sys-
tem, which is proportional to cylinder gas pressure and angles
determined by using top dead center (TDC) signal taken from a
magnetic pick-up, were stored for one cycle with a sampling time
25 (ls). Cylinder gas pressure was acquired using pressure trans-
ducer at averagely 0.5 of crank angle (CA) resolution. In each test,
pressure values for about 100 consecutive cycles were collected
and averaged. Moving average ltering method was applied to
the measured cylinder gas pressure data to reduce noise effects.
5.2. Water adding system
In the present study, an elementary carburetor was mounted on
the inlet manifold, before turbocharging unit, and it was employed
to introduce water into inlet air. The air and gas throttles of the
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 14 15
16
18
19
20
21
23
22
17
17
17
17
25
26
27
28
24
air
intake channel
( air-water mixture)
air
water
main jet
venturi
pipe
(diffuser)
needle
water
adjustment
screw
Water
adding
system
The view of the
carburator and the
adjusment screw
Fig. 2. Schematic view of the test system. 1 fuel measurement unit, 2 digital display for temperatures, 3 speed, 4 force, 5 and 6 loading unit, 7 start switch, 8
inclined manometer, 9 coolant ow meter, 10 oil temperature, 11 inlet manifold pressure, 12 gas throttle, 13 hydraulic dynamometer, 14 engine, 15 cooling
package, 16 inference unit for gas pressure, fuel line pressure and crank angle pick-up sensors, 17 thermocouples, 18 exhaust gas calorimeter, 19 NO
x
gas analyzer, 20
ossiloscope, 21 electronic indicating system, 22 data acquisition card, 23 computer, 24 smoke index K analyzer, 25 water tank, 26 scaled glass bulb, 27 exible
hose, 28 carburator.
Table 2
Target components, ranges and accuracy of measurement of the MEGA-720 NO
x
gas
analyzer.
Nitrogen
oxides (NO
x
)
0 ppm
3000 ppm
Accuracy of NO
x
; within (35)% of NO
x
concentration output
Airfuel ratio
(A/F)
(9.5
2000) A/F
Accuracy of A/F; within (0.150.4) A/F
Excess air ratio
(k)
(0.6513.7)
k
Oxygen (O
2
) (025) vol.% Accuracy of O
2
; 0 vol.% to 25 vol.% 0.5% O
2
4 Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
carburetor were dismantled and the other auxiliary equipments of
the carburetor were left out of order. The carburetor air inlet was
connected to the air consumption measuring box by a exible
hose. Water ow rate was adjusted and thus water ratios (WRs)
were varied by a ne threaded screw which can change the main
jet section. This screw was designed by authors and it was manu-
factured in Trabzon industry. Technical drawing of the used carbu-
retor and this main jet adjustment screw used in the experiments
was presented in Fig. 2. During WI tests, six different carburetor
main jet openings were chosen to obtain 6 different water ratios
of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 12%, by vol.
5.3. Operating conditions
The effects of water addition on engine performance, combus-
tion and exhaust emissions were experimentally studied for vari-
ous operating conditions; that is, for different loads and speeds.
In the present study, experiments were conducted at four different
engine speeds of 2000, 2500, 3000 and 3500 rpm for six WRs
approximately 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10% 12%, by vol. Experiments were
performed at six different loads of 149, 135, 120, 106, 92 and
77 N m at 2000 and 2500 rpm, 132, 117, 103, 89, 75 and 60 N m
at 3000 rpm and 120, 106, 92, 77, 63 and 49 N m at 3500 rpm.
Experiments were rstly carried out with NDF to obtain a database
for comparison with those obtained for each WR. Commercially
available diesel fuel was used in the experiments. After NDF tests
have been completed, the adapted carburetor, which main features
are given above, was mounted through the intake manifold of the
engine. Also, as shown in Fig. 2, a small water tank, a scaled glass
bulb and a exible pipe were used to introduce water into intake
air and to measure it. Any other adaptation on the engine and on
the experimental system was not done. Also, the engine mainly
operates due to diesel principle. Experimental procedure applied
in the present study is given briey in the following paragraphs.
At the beginning, all of the experiments were started after run-
ning the engine during approximately 30 min until it reached stea-
dy state conditions and cooling water temperature became
70 C 5 for warming. At 2000 rpm, rstly the load of the engine
was adjusted as 149 N m (525 N loading force). Then, carburetor
mean jet opening was adjusted to the 1st opening and it was xed.
This opening gives approximately 2% water ratio. Then, tests with
approximately 2% WR were performed for loading moments be-
tween 14977 N m; by reducing the engine load at 15 N m (50 N)
steps and simultaneously adjusting gas throttle levels suitably to
obtained constant 2000 rpm engine speed. Thus, tests for 2% water
ratio at 2000 rpm were carried out at six different engine loads.
After that, carburetor main jet opening was adjusted to the 2nd
opening and it was again retained xed at the same 2000 rpm en-
gine speed. This opening gives approximately 4% WR and tests for
this WR was performed at above given six different engine loads.
Then, tests for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th main jet openings (for approx-
imately 6%, 8%, 10% and 12% WRs) carried out by applying the same
procedure and doing above explained adjustments. Similar exper-
iments were repeated at engine speeds of 2500, 3000 and
3500 rpm. Thus, the performance and emission characteristics also,
cylinder gas pressure values were determined at different WRs and
the results were compared with NDF.
For every main jet adjustment position and constant engine
speed, while water ow rate remained unchanged, naturally as a
result of the principle of elementary carburetor, instead of engine
load and gas throttle position (diesel fuel delivery rate) being chan-
ged, water-diesel fuel ratio varied. That is; for example the 1st
opening at 2000 rpm, in spite of being WR 2.33% at 149 N m, it be-
comes 3.45% at 77 N m. This peculiarity clearly can be observed in
the presented gures in which variations of NO
x
, bsfc and effective
efciency for various WRs were shown.
In the present study, the engine load was reduced at steps of
15 N m (50 N) for NDF and various WRs in the experiments. While
load was reduced, gas throttle position was also changed (diesel
fuel delivery rate was decreased). For the same loads, gas throttle
positions should be at the same level in all of the experiments.
To ensure the same gas level, an avometer was used and voltage
values are calibrated via gas throttle positions. Thus, full throttle
position was calibrated to 2.34 V. As subsequent load values were
reduced at 15 N m steps, various gas throttle positions were ob-
tained for 2.78, 2.86, 2.93, 3.02 and 3.15 V. Thus, these gas throttle
positions for same loads were retained at the same levels during all
of the experiments.
Also, for applying error analysis to the experimental results, for
all of the tests every value was measured three times. Thus for four
engine speeds, six water ratios and six engine loads totally 144
water adding tests were performed. Also, for NDF at four engine
speeds, and six engine loads 24 tests were done. Consequently, in
the present study for water adding and NDF, totally 168 tests were
realized.
5.4. Calculation of engine characteristics
For evaluation of the experimental results of NDF and water
adding tests the calculation method, which details given by Dur-
gun [22], was used. Here only the principle of the calculation pro-
cedure is summarized. Effective power output from the engine
crankshaft being converted to the standard conditions and
S
m
o
k
e

i
n
d
e
x

K
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Water ratio [%]
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
2.2
2.4
2.6
n=2000 rpm, 146 Nm
n=2500 rpm, 143 Nm
n=3000 rpm, 132 Nm
Fig. 3. Variations of smoke index K at different engine speeds versus to WR.
Table 3
Variation ratios of smoke index K compared to NDF at 2000, 2500 and 3000 rpm for
various WRs. Bold values are the percentages of water which added to intake air in
diesel engine.
n = 2000 rpm, 146 N m
WR (%) 2.14 4.94 6.40 8.28 10.53
(DK/K) (%) 8.75 14.58 18.75 20.21 20.00
n = 2500 rpm, 143 N m
3.05 3.94 6.40 7.59 12.98
(DK/K) (%) 11.90 21.62 29.73 35.14 39.46
n = 3000 rpm, 132 N m
2.79 3.56 6.64 8.05 11.71
(DK/K) (%) 11.65 21.36 29.61 36.41 41.75
Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx 5
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
corrected for ambient air humidity was calculated by using the fol-
lowing relation
N
e
kW 0:1013
T
b
x
p
0

T
0
=293
p
X
hum
1
where x is angular velocity of the crankshaft, T
b
(N m) is brake tor-
que, T
0
(K) and p
0
(MPa) are ambient air temperature and pressure
respectively. X
hum
is the humidity correction factor and it is deter-
mined depending on dry and wet thermometer temperatures. Here,
the fuel consumption of the engine was determined by mass and
consumption duration of 30 g of diesel fuel was measured. The
amount of the water consumed during this time interval was
determined by using a scaled glass bulb. By this way, brake specic
fuel consumption (bsfc) was calculated as follows:
b
e
kg=kW h
m3600
1000 Dt N
e
2
Here, m is the mass of consumed diesel fuel during Dt(s), and here it
was taken as 30 g that is Dt(s) is the duration of consumption of
30 g of diesel fuel. Variation ratios of bsfc and other engine charac-
teristics were calculated in the similar way, for example, as follows:
Db
e
b
e
100% b
e;WI
b
e;d
=b
e;d
100 3
N
O
x

(
p
p
m
)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000 rpm
120 Nm
77 Nm
135 Nm
92 Nm
149 Nm
106 Nm
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2500 rpm
120 Nm
77 Nm
135 Nm
92 Nm
149 Nm
106 Nm
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
3000 rpm
103 Nm
60 Nm
117 Nm
75 Nm
132 Nm
89Nm
Water ratio [%]
(a)
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
3500 rpm
92 Nm
49 Nm
106 Nm
63 Nm
120 Nm
77Nm
Water ratio [%]
(b)
Water ratio [%]
(c)
Water ratio [%]
(d)
N
O
x

(
p
p
m
)
N
O
x

(
p
p
m
)
N
O
x

(
p
p
m
)
Fig. 4. (ad) Variations of NO
x
emission versus to WR at different loads and speeds.
6 Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
where b
e
,
WI
and b
e,d
are bsfc for water adding and NDF respectively.
5.5. Error analysis and uncertainties
In the present study each value was measured three times. By
applying Kline and Mc.Clintocks method, given by Holman [23],
error analysis was applied to these measured values and uncertain-
ties were determined. Here, as being measured each value three
times, Students t-distribution must be applied to the experimental
data.
Errors in various terms were determined by applying well
known method of evaluation of experimental data. For example,
uncertainty interval of torque values is determined as 0.10.5%. Er-
ror analysis for derived values such as effective power, bsfc and
effective efciency was also performed. At the end of the error
analysis, it was determined that for example the uncertainty in
effective power values is in the interval of 0.040.5%. By examining
all of the other error analysis results, it was seen that probable er-
rors of the measured main values and also uncertainties in the bsfc
and effective efciency were in the interval of 0.16.5%. From these
results, it can be said that the errors in the measuring of the prin-
ciple values and the probably uncertainties in the derived values
would not affect signicantly the uncertainties of the results.
6. Results and discussion
Obtained experimental performance characteristics of an auto-
motive diesel engine with water injection into intake air were
investigated and compared to NDF results. In the present gures,
the engine parameters such as smoke index K, NO
x
emission, bsfc
and effective efciency were presented versus to WRs for six differ-
ent loads at 2000, 2500, 3000 and 3500 rpm. Also, variation ratios
of these parameters were given in tables at selected four loads and
at 2000, 2500, 3000 and 3500 rpm respectively. Further, in-cylin-
der pressurecrank angle (ph) and in-cylinder pressurevolume
(pV) diagrams, originally called indicator diagrams, were pre-
sented at the full loads for 2500 and 3000 rpm. The indicator dia-
grams for 2000 and 3500 rpm were also obtained [24]. But they
were not presented in this paper for the reason of page restriction.
6.1. Effects of inlet WI on smoke index K and NO
x
emission
The variation of smoke index K is shown in Fig. 3 at three differ-
ent engine speeds for various water substitutions. Smoke index K is
dened as darkness of smoke due to carbon content which blocks
the light. It was determined that smoke index K decreases as water
addition increases at all of the speeds. In this study; as shown in
Table 3, achieved maximum smoke index K reduction is 42% and
it was obtained at 3000 rpm for 12% water ratio. These results
clearly agree with the observations reported in the relevant litera-
ture [4,6]. Subramanian [4] showed that smoke emission decreased
from 3.6 BSU for base diesel fuel to 3.2 BSU for water injection at
full load.
The mechanism of the effect of water adding on smoke forma-
tion is rather difcult to explain. Smoke production in diesel en-
gines is a very complex phenomenon involving a number of
conicting factors. Generally speaking an increase in premixed
combustion would tend to reduce smoke and vice versa [16]. With
water injection gas temperature at the beginning of fuel injection
will be lower than NDF as water injected during the intake stroke
will vaporize and cool the air. This will lead to an increase in the
ignition delay [4]. Long ignition delay promotes the premixed stage
of the combustion process, which decreases the diffusive burning
and hence also contributes to the reduction in smoke index K
and also NO
x
emission. Moreover, water addition probably affects
the combustion process in many ways. The reduction in tempera-
ture due to water evaporation and the increased specic heat of the
charge may reduce the soot oxidation process [16]. Diesel fuel is
injected into homogenous water vaporair mixture and micro-
explosions of water vapor near diesel fuel may help to mix diesel
fuel and air fastly. It is well known that combustion process in a
diesel engine is controlled by fast and homogenous mixing DF with
air [25].
Fig. 4ad present the variation of NO
x
emission as functions of
water ratio at various loads and at 2000, 2500, 3000 and
3500 rpm respectively. Also, variation ratios of NO
x
for various
water percentages at four selected loads and at 2000, 2500, 3000
and 3500 rpm were given in Tables 47 respectively. As can be ob-
served in these gures and tables, NO
x
emission decrease with
increasing water percentages at these engine speeds and loads.
Furthermore, it can also be seen from Tables 47 that NO
x
emission
decreases with the increase of WR. The water injection into the in-
take air reduces NO
x
emission at the levels of approximately
11.88%, 17.66%, 16.01% and 14.74% at 9.46%, 11.49%, 12.95% and
16.18% water adding ratios for four different loads of 132 N m,
103 N m, 89 and 60 N m at 3000 rpm respectively as shown in Ta-
ble 6. Similar reduction ratios of NO
x
emission were obtained at
2000, 2500 and 3500 rpm as shown in Tables 4, 5 and 7.
The formation of NO
x
emission in a diesel engine is strongly
dependent on the combustion temperature, along with the concen-
tration of oxygen presents in the combustion process [25]. In the
present study, water is introduced into the intake air by using an
Table 4
Variation ratios of bsfc, effective efciency, effective power and NO
x
emission compared to NDF at different loads for various WRs at 2000 rpm. Bold italic values are the
percentages of water which added to intake air in diesel engine.
n = 2000 rpm
149 N m 120 N m
WR(%) 2.392 4.225 5.993 8.351 9.720 2.857 4.780 6.553 9.315 10.214
Dbe
be
%
1.798 0.817 0.928 1.087 1.471 1.303 0.216 1.088 0.432 0.815
Dg
e
g
e
%
1.927 0.594 1.289 0.920 1.549 1.148 0.067 1.299 0.348 0.690
DNe
Ne
%
0.159 0.350 0.381 0.286 0 0.512 0.591 0.551 0.472 0.079
DNOx
NOx
%
0.437 6.080 5.546 13.648 7.338 0.447 0.443 1.692 10.761 8.740
106 N m 77 N m
WR (%) 3.042 5.060 6.923 9.874 10.648 3.386 5.683 7.792 11.333 11.952
Dbe
be
%
0.962 0.268 0.641 0.321 0.533 0.151 2.117 0.907 0.658 0.454
Dg
e
g
e
%
0.971 0.409 0.733 0.294 0.468 0.449 1.475 1.546 0.736 0.309
DNe
Ne
%
0.313 0.491 0.313 0.446 0.089 0.859 0.798 0.613 0.920 0.307
DNOx
NOx
%
5.374 2.986 5.789 17.801 14.783 6.007 9.438 6.660 22.922 14.765
Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx 7
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
adapted carburetor during intake stroke and it partially evaporates
and mixes up with the fresh air. Thus, the presence of water vapor
causes a decrease in the temperature and a rise in the specic heat
of the intake charge. This usually results in lower combustion tem-
peratures and lower NO
x
emission [4,5,9,21]. Furthermore, adding
water into air charge will reduce the concentration of oxygen per
unit volume or mass of charge in the combustion chamber. This
dilution, in general, reduces the NO
x
production [21]. In addition,
we can give the following statement by the aid of the explanations
in Subramanian study [4]. Miyauchi et al. [4] reported that OHrad-
ical concentration increases by water addition, which promotes the
oxidation of the hydrocarbon fragments and leads to reduction in
Table 5
Variation ratios of bsfc, effective efciency, effective power and NO
x
emission compared to NDF at different loads for various WRs at 2500 rpm. Bold italic values are the
percentages of water which added to intake air in diesel engine.
n = 2500 rpm
149 N m 120 N m
WR (%) 2.065 4.013 6.196 8.261 9.400 2.432 5.615 8.806 9.898 11.353
Dbe
be
%
1.088 2.177 1.630 0 2.719 1.639 0.545 0.545 1.639 4.918
Dg
e
g
e
%
1.732 0.649 1.299 0.866 1.515 1.087 0 1.304 0.435 0.652
DNe
Ne
%
2.515 0.117 0.374 0.676 0.392 2.194 0.311 0.924 0.902 0.195
DNOx
NOx
%
6.101 4.295 7.370 12.113 12.489 3.732 2.310 11.725 13.257 13.405
106 N m 77 N m
WR (%) 2.677 6.078 9.642 10.814 12.111 3.16 7.088 11.342 12.717 14.097
Dbe
be
%
1.613 0.536 1.077 1.613 5.375 2.019 0.504 0.504 2.019 4.545
Dg
e
g
e
%
0.833 0.442 0.883 0.221 0.442 0.467 1.402 1.635 0.701 0.467
DNe
Ne
%
2.338 0.460 0.750 0.939 0.146 0.220 0.498 1.113 0.805 0.249
DNOx
NOx
%
1.200 5.158 8.388 13.546 15.845 10.821 8.236 13.225 21.671 25.789
Table 6
Variation ratios of bsfc, effective efciency, effective power and NO
x
emission compared to NDF at different loads for various WRs at 3000 rpm. Bold italic values are the
percentages of water which added to intake air in diesel engine.
n = 3000 rpm
132 N m 103 N m
WR (%) 2.121 4.598 6.543 8.314 9.464 2.835 5.764 7.890 10.245 11.487
Dbe
be
%
0.655 0.481 0.565 0.677 0.677 0.825 1.597 1.504 1.591 0.793
Dg
e
g
e
%
1.081 0.147 0 0.059 1.169 0.669 1.095 1.521 1.792 0.789
DNe
Ne
%
1.001 0.431 1.173 0.696 1.127 0.922 0.322 0.831 0.552 0.874
DNOx
NOx
%)
2.056 0.212 6.380 8.467 11.884 0.327 4.295 10.072 13.865 17.659
89 N m 60 N m
WR (%) 3.104 6.432 8.821 11.217 12.945 3.813 7.802 10.907 13.343 16.184
Dbe
be
%
0.902 0.438 1.079 1.538 0.865 0.119 2.129 1.649 0.588 1.201
Dg
e
g
e
%
1.052 0.559 1.236 1.700 0.771 0.249 2.682 1.629 0.637 1.277
DNe
Ne
%
0.921 0.342 0.860 0.517 0.806 0.952 0.335 0.888 0.544 1.024
DNOx
NOx
%
2.321 5.367 12.925 13.650 16.010 9.160 2.790 9.529 7.949 14.741
Table 7
Variation ratios of bsfc, effective efciency, effective power and NO
x
emission compared to NDF at different loads for various WRs at 3500 rpm. Bold italic values are the
percentages of water which added to intake air in diesel engine.
3500 rpm
120 N m 92 N m
WR (%) 2.321 3.834 6.212 7.997 12.539 2.920 4.970 8.105 10.268 15.245
Dbe
be
%
0.485 3.470 2.500 4.478 2.985 3.470 3.470 3.470 4.974 4.478
Dg
e
g
e
%
1.185 3.555 2.607 3.318 4.739 3.810 3.571 3.810 5.238 5.476
DNe
Ne
%
0.044 0 0.199 0.287 0.375 0.113 0.055 0.212 0.345 0.287
DNOx
NOx
%
2.504 1.252 7.710 8.732 11.203 6.609 0 3.849 8.206 13.145
77 N m 49 N m
WR (%) 3.349 5.620 9.190 11.568 17.023 4.394 7.207 11.973 14.900 21.399
Dbe
be
%
5.250 4.285 5.239 6.189 6.189 4.328 3.464 4.763 4.328 3.464
Dg
e
g
e
%
4.401 3.423 4.156 5.134 5.379 4.658 3.836 5.753 5.205 4.110
DNe
Ne
%
0.051 0.104 0.227 0.158 0.385 0.309 0.024 0.463 0.231 0.514
DNOx
NOx
%
8.056 3.330 0 9.023 16.327 0.864 12.22 0.987 10.370 22.465
8 Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
NO levels. These factors will be responsible for the observed trends.
The results are also conrmed by similar observations reported in
the relevant literature [4,5,9,21]. Subramanian [4] showed that NO
emission decreased drastically from 1034 ppm for base diesel fuel
to 643 ppm for water injection at full load.
6.2. Effects of inlet WI on engine performance characteristics
Fig. 5ad shows the variation of bsfc and brake effective ef-
ciency versus to WR at different loads and engine speeds of
2000, 2500, 3000 and 3500 rpm respectively. Also, at these engine
speeds variation ratios of bsfc and effective efciency were pre-
sented in Tables 47. It can be seen from these gures and tables
that the water injection into intake air does not create any signif-
icant change in the bsfc and brake effective efciency of the engine
at selected loads and speeds. As shown in Fig. 5a and b there is a
small increase in bsfc with the increase of water percentage at se-
lected loads and at 2000 and 2500 rpm. This trend is quite similar
for all of the engine loads. However, a small decrease in bsfc is ob-
served up to 10% WRs at 3000 rpm, for 123 N m, 103 N m and
89 N m loads. But it takes lower values than NDF only at 60 N m
(low load) at this speed. At 3500 rpm for all of the loads, bsfc de-
creases approximately at the levels of 4% with water adding. It
can be said that, as carburetor operates more effectively at
3500 rpm, water and air mixes more effectively at this conditions.
In the present study, water is injected into intake air stream by
using an adapted carburetor and water will nearly homogenously
mixes with air during intake and compression strokes. Thus, this
nearly uniform water and air mixture in the cylinder will lead to
a global temperature drop and oxygen concentration reduction.
Reduced oxygen concentration has a small negative effect on the
combustion rate and consequently on bsfc. Furthermore, energy
b
s
f
c

(
k
g
/
k
W
h
)

[
%
]
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
E
f
f
e
c
t
i
v
e

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
y

[
%
]
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
3000 rpm
effective efficieny
bsfc
132 Nm 177 Nm 103 Nm
89 Nm 75 Nm 60 Nm
b
s
f
c

(
k
g
/
k
W
h
)

[
%
]
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
E
f
f
e
c
t
i
v
e

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
y

[
%
]
26
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
3500 rpm
effective efficieny
bsfc
129 Nm 106 Nm 92 Nm
77 Nm
63 Nm 49 Nm
b
s
f
c

(
k
g
/
k
W
h
)

[
%
]
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
E
f
f
e
c
t
i
v
e

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
y

[
%
]
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
2000 rpm
effective efficieny
bsfc
149 Nm 135 Nm 120 Nm
106 Nm 92 Nm
77 Nm
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
b
s
f
c

(
k
g
/
k
W
h
)

[
%
]
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
E
f
f
e
c
t
i
v
e

e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
y

[
%
]
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
2500 rpm
effective efficieny
bsfc
149 Nm 135 Nm 120 Nm
106 Nm 92 Nm
77 Nm
Water ratio [%]
(a)
Water ratio [%]
(c)
Water ratio [%]
(d)
Water ratio [%]
(b)
Fig. 5. (ad) Variations of bsfc and effective efciency versus to WR at different loads and speeds.
Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx 9
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
is absorbed for water evaporation and specic heat capacity of the
charge increases as well. These results cause a small negative effect
on bsfc [18].
The effect of water adding on the brake effective efciency has
been shown in Fig. 5ad. The brake effective efciency is calculated
by using of bsfc and lower heating value of the diesel fuel as:
g
e

3600
bsfc LHV
4
where g
e
is brake effective efciency, bsfc is brake specic fuel con-
sumption (kg/kW h) and LHV is lower heating value (kJ/kg) of the
diesel fuel. Thus, it can be simply noted from this relation that effec-
tive efciency is inversely proportional to bsfc. It can be observed
from Fig. 5a and b that at 2000 and 2500 rpm, for selected loads
and water ratios, thermal efciency is slightly lower than that of
NDF. However, as can be observed from Table 6 that for loads of
132 N m, 103 N m and 89 N m at 3000 rpm effective efciency in-
creases slightly with (410%) water additions compared to NDF.
As previously stated, water injection in the intake air does not show
any signicant change in the bsfc and effective efciency of the en-
gine for selected loads and water ratios at 2000, 2500 and
3000 rpm. Similar tendency has also been reported by earlier re-
searcher [4,18]. As can be seen in Fig. 5d that, for all of the loads
at 3500 rpm, effective efciency increases approximately at the le-
vel of 4% by WI.
Variation ratios of effective power at selected engine speeds and
at loads for various WRs were presented in Tables 47. It can be
seen from these tables that WI does not create any signicant
change in effective power.
6.3. Effects of WI on in-cylinder pressure and indicated power
Figs. 6a and b and 7a and b show the variations of in-cylinder
pressure-crank angle (ph) and in-cylinder pressurecylinder vol-
ume (pV) diagrams for engine speed of 2500 rpm at the load of
148 N m corresponding to different water ratios of 1.9%, 4.2%,
6.2%, 8.6%, 9.7%, by vol. and for engine speed of 3000 rpm at the
load of 133 N m corresponding to different water ratios of 2.1%,
4.7%, 6.4%, 8.1%, 9.4%, by vol. respectively. It can be observed from
Figs. 6a and b and 7a and b) that the water injection into the intake
air does not cause any signicant effect on the peak pressure val-
ues but the (ph) and (pV) diagrams slightly change.
CA (degree),
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
b
a
r
)
-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
148 Nm, 0 % WR
147 Nm, 1.889 % WR
147 Nm, 4.215 % WR
148 Nm, 6.192 % WR
148 Nm, 8.551 % WR
147 Nm, 9.687 % WR
2500 rpm
0 5 10 15
124
128
132
136
140
144
148
152
156
160
164
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
b
a
r
)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Volume (cm
3
)
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
148 Nm, 0 % WR
147 Nm, 1.889 % WR
147 Nm, 4.215 % WR
148 Nm, 6.192 % WR
148 Nm, 8.551 % WR
147 Nm, 9.687 % WR
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
2500 rpm
(a)
(b)
Fig. 6. (a) Cylinder pressure variations versus to crank angle at 2500 rpm for various WRs. (b) Cylinder pressure variations versus to cylinder volume at 2500 rpm for various
WRs.
10 Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
As shown in Fig. 6a; at 2500 rpm, for NDF the peak pressure is
164.08 bar and it occurs at 9.94 CA, while for water adding of
1.9%, 4.2%, 6.2%, 8.6%, 9.7%, by vol. the peak pressures become
163.61, 164.03, 164.99, 164.05 and 163.38 bar and they occur at
9.77, 9.58, 9.77, 9.76 and 9.75 CAs respectively. It can be observed
from Fig. 6a that, in-cylinder pressure values for water adding are
generally slightly lower than that of NDF. Only in-cylinder pressure
values for 6.12% water ratios are higher than that of NDF. It can be
said that, lower in-cylinder pressure values result in lower temper-
atures. Therefore, as stated earlier, NO
x
emission decreases with
water adding.
Similar variations for in-cylinder pressure values were obtained
at 3000 rpm as shown in Fig. 7a. At 3000 rpm, for NDF the peak
pressure is 155.99 bar and it occurs at 8.35 CA, while for water
adding of 2.1%, 4.7%, 6.4%, 8.1% and 9.4%, by vol. the peak pressure
values become 154.45, 157.55, 154.57, 155.11 and 156.92 bar and
they occur at 8.78, 8.35, 8.56, 8.34 and 8.34 CAs respectively. It can
be observed from Fig. 7a that in-cylinder pressure values for water
adding are generally slightly lower than that of NDF. However, in
Figs. 6a and 7a it can be seen that the peak cylinder pressure values
show only minor differences in magnitude for different WRs at gi-
ven operating conditions. Subramanian [4] also reported that
water injection into intake manifold reduced the peak cylinder
pressure.
The work delivered to the piston during compression, combus-
tion and expansion strokes for crank angles between of 180 bTDC
and 180 aTDC is known as gross indicated work. It is also dened
as useful work produced in an engine cylinder [14,25]. Gross indi-
cated work can be determined by calculating of the enclosed area
of the positive part of pV diagram. Figs. 6b and 7b show these
curves correspond to the variations of gross indicated works (in
kJ) for various WRs for 148 N m at 2500 rpm and for 133 N m
at 3000 rpm, respectively. In the present study, to convert the pres-
sure signals measured by using pressure sensor to pressure values
(in bar), a computer code was written in Matlab by a Computer
Engineer and ph and pV diagrams were determined and drawn.
Also, here indicated power values (in kW) were determined by
computing of the enclosed positive areas of these pV diagrams
by using trapezoidal rule. At 2500 rpm, for NDF the gross indicated
power is 45.52 kW, while for water adding the gross indicated
powers become 45.92, 46.32, 45.84, 46.32 and 45.92 kW. At
3000 rpm, for NDF the indicated power is 50.92 kW, while for
water adding the indicated powers become 51.60, 50.80, 52.36,
49.31 and 52.16 kW. These results show that, indicated power is
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
b
a
r
)
-400 -300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
CA (degree),
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
0 5 10 15
138
140
142
144
146
148
150
152
154
156
158
133 Nm 0 % WR
133 Nm, 2.142 % WR
132 Nm, 4.694 % WR
132 Nm, 6.402 % WR
132 Nm, 8.050 % WR
133 Nm, 9.418 % WR
3000 rpm
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7. (a) Cylinder pressure variations versus to crank angle at 3000 rpm for various WRs. (b) Cylinder pressure variations versus to cylinder volume at 3000 rpm for various
WRs.
Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx 11
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080
not signicantly affected by water addition. The indicated power
calculations show that less than 1.5% and 2.5% change in power
output occurred by water addition at 2500 and 3000 rpm
respectively.
7. Conclusions
Inthe present studythe effects of water additionintointakeair on
combustion, performance andemissioncharacteristics were investi-
gated experimentally and compared with NDF in a modern high
speed turbocharged common-rail DI automotive diesel engine in-
stalled at the authors laboratory. Based on the experimental results
the main effects of the water addition are summarized as follows:
1. The smoke index K was signicantly reduced with the use of the
water addition into intake air with respect to those of the NDF.
The maximum reduction ratios of smoke index K were obtained
as 20.21%, 39.49% and 41.75% at 2000, 2500 and 3000 rpm
respectively.
2. NO
x
emission reduced by applying the water adding method
respect to NDF. The decrement ratios till approximately 68%
WRs were lower than that of higher WRs. Similar tendency
was observed at selected engine speeds and loads. Higher
reduction of NO
x
emission was achieved with high WI ratios
at low load as well as high load conditions at selected engine
speeds.
3. The water addition into air did not show any signicant change
in the bsfc and effective efciency of this engine at selected
engine loads and speeds. However, it was observed that bsfc
decreased approximately 4% and effective efciency increased
approximately 4% for selected loads at 3500 rpm.
4. The water addition into intake air did not create any signicant
effect on the peak cylinder pressure values and indicated
power.
5. Based on the above conclusions it can be stated that WI into
intake air can be effectively employed in the existing diesel
engine to reduce NO
x
emission and smoke index K simulta-
neously without loss of power and any negative effect on fuel
consumption. To apply this method, an adapted carburetor
was used to introduce water into intake air and any other mod-
ication on the engine was not required. Thus, this method can
be applied easily and economically.
6. Above results were obtained for Renault K9K type turbocharged
DI diesel engine. Inlet WI method should be investigated by
using different type diesel engines to obtain more general
results. To achieve this aim, theoretical investigation of WI into
intake air by using a diesel cycle model may be used. In the next
studies, we planned to investigate the effect of inlet WI method
in diesel engines by using a multi-zone thermodynamic model.
This multi-zone thermodynamic model were developed for neat
diesel fuel and adapted to the gasoline and ethanol fumigation
by Sahin and Durgun. This model will be adapted to inlet WI
method in the near future. In the present study, an adapted car-
buretor was used to inject water into intake air. However, an
electronic injection system may be used.
Acknowledgment
We would like to present our thanks rstly to Karadeniz Tech-
nical University (KTU), which support our study nancially and
KTU Mechanical Engineering Dep. Internal Comb. Engine Lab. Tech-
nician Senol DBS, Electronic Engineer Dr. Mehmet TURHAL who
has prepared computer code for data acquisition card and Mechan-
ical Engineers Cos kun BAYRAM and Mustafa KURT who helped in
experiments.
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12 Z. Sahin et al. / Fuel xxx (2013) xxxxxx
Please cite this article in press as: Sahin Z et al. Experimental investigation of the effects of water adding to the intake air on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions in a DI automotive diesel engine. Fuel (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2012.10.080