Sustainable means of transport require the innovation
or development
of propulsive systems more respectful of the environment. Despite
current criticism, modern compression-ignition engines are efficient
alternatives also in light aviation and surveillance drones (such
as small helicopters), as means of air transport. Currently, the improvement
of the injection, air-fuel mixture formation, and combustion processes
using sustainable synthetic fuels, produced from renewable raw materials
or by carbon dioxide capture, is a reality. For improving the air-fuel
mixture formation inside the combustion chamber, one of the key parameters
is knowledge of the spray momentum flux because of its effect on the
air entrainement. To measure this parameter is complex. However, the
experimental determination of the fuel mass flow rate is a common
procedure. The objective of this work is the proposal of a novel but
robust methodology for the momentum flux estimation of fuel sprays
from measurement of the rate of injection. In this work, single-hole
nozzles of 115, 130, and 150 μm in diameter are studied. The
implemented methodology is applied to three fuels: a diesel fuel without
biodiesel, used as reference, and two sustainable synthetic fuels:
a gas to liquid fuel and a hydrotreated vegetable oil. With the fuel
injection rates and the simple model proposed, the spray momentum
flux is estimated under different operating conditions of a common-rail
injection system. The results of the spray momentum flux show a very
good precision compared with those experimentally and previously obtained
with similar fuels but with multihole nozzle. With the method proposed
in this work, an adequate forecast of spray momentum flux is obtained
in the case of not having an experimental setup that allows direct
measurement of the momentum flux. This study can help investigators
for fuel spray modeling with novel and renewable fuels in modern propulsive
systems.