A correlation for turbulent combustion speed accounting for instabilities and expansion speed in a hydrogen-natural gas spark ignition engine

Abstract

An analysis of the turbulent premixed combustion speed in an internal combustion engine using natural gas, hydrogen and intermediate mixtures as fuels is carried out, with different air-fuel ratios and engine speeds. The combustion speed has been calculated by means of a two-zone diagnosis thermodynamic model combined with a geometric model using a spherical flame front hypothesis. 48 operating conditions have been analyzed. At each test point, the pressure record of 200 cycles has been processed to calculate the cycle averaged turbulent combustion speed for each flame front radius. An expression of turbulent combustion speed has been established as a function of two parameters: the ratio between turbulence intensity and laminar combustion speed and the second parameter, the ratio between the integral spatial scale and the thickness of the laminar flame front increased by instabilities. The conclusion of this initial study is that the position of the flame front has a great influence on the expression to calculate the combustion speed. A unified correlation for all positions of the flame front has been obtained by adding one correction term based on the expansion speed as a turbulence source. This unified correlation is thus valid for all experimental conditions of fuel types, air–fuel ratios, engine speeds, and flame front positions. The correlation can be used in quasi-dimensional predictive models to determine the heat released in an ICE.