Experiments are conducted to develop an understanding of how split injections can affect the combustion and emission characteristics of a D.I. diesel engine with a common-rail injection system. The ratio of the amount of fuel injected between two injection pulses and the injection interval is varied keeping the injected fuel quantity constant. Results show that under the 70D90-10 injection patt, the engine achieves the lower NOx-smoke emissions and BSFC compared with the single injection patt. The heat release rate and the temperature show that the split injections increase the initial premixed b and retards the diffusion b. With the balance of these two effects, the maximum in-cylinder temperature decreases while the 50% heat release point is held at almost the same crank angle. Therefore, both NOx emission and BSFC are improved while keeping the smoke emission at the same level.