ABSTRACT The core of the present work consists of the phase-Doppler anemometry non-intrusive measurements performed at various points of diesel direct injection sprays in order to obtain the local speed of fuel droplets. The main objective was to perform extensive sets of measurements on convergent nozzles with various orifices diameters, observe and justify the differences and compare the experimental data with a theoretical approach derived by the authors in a previous work which takes into account the spray momentum flux. Experimental axial velocity profiles in different sections of the spray showed a radial distribution that was fitted with a high level of agreement to a Gaussian profile and so proving that this type of profile is a reasonable approach for the type of sprays within the scope of the present work. The experimental results showed that the velocity in the spray’s axis inversely depends on axial position and that for a given axial position; higher axial velocity has been measured for the nozzles with higher spray momentum.