Effects of fuel quality on two strokes slow speed diesel engines

Correct management of fuel supply involves commercial, technical and safety implications. This paper deals with malfunctions of two strokes slow speed Diesel engines and related wearing effects on cylinder liners caused by inappropriate fuel quality. Combustion process of fuels has been examined, highlighting parameters giving malfunctioning and wearing effects. Relationship between characteristics of fuels and damages are quite complex and malfunctions explanations are seldom clear and unique. However, the present work sets an interpretation key of involved phenomena. A sequence of events, linked by cause-effect relationships, is proposed, which is able to explain how the fuel viscosity and some related parameters could wear the engine cylinder liners and cause malfunctions. Such general scheme is supported by numerical simulations and applied to a case study. Mathematical models relevant to single steps of the process, available in literature, have been calibrated in order to obtain results in agreement with experimental data. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group.