Phase change in fuel sprays at diesel engine ambient conditions: Impact of fuel physical properties

•Development of a new conceptual model to investigate the Diesel spray phase change at engine relevant conditions.•Experimental investigation of different alkanes at different injection and ambient conditions for model validation.•Extraction of a map for dominant phase change mechanisms for different fuels at different conditions.•Investigation of the impact of fuel properties on Diesel spray phase change at high conditions (up to 10 MPa and 1000 K).