Combustion Modeling in SI Engines with a Peninsula-Fractal Combustion Model

Abstract

In premixed turbulent combustion models, two mechanisms have been used to explain the increase in the flame speed due to the turbulence. The newer explanation considers the full range of turbulence scales which wrinkle the flame front so as to increase the flame front area and, thus, the flame propagation speed. The fractal combustion model is an example of this concept. The older mechanism assumes that turbulence enables the penetration of unburned mixtures across the flame front via entrainment into the burned mixture zone. The entrainment combustion or eddy burning model is an example of this mechanism. The results of experimental studies of combustion regimes and the flame structures in SI engines has confirmed that most combustion takes place at the wrinkled flame front with additional combustion taking place in the form of flame fingers or peninsulas. As the ratio of the turbulence intensity to the laminar flame speed increases, the importance of the flame peninsulas should become increasingly important. While it has been shown that fractal geometry can be used to account for flame wrinkling, it may be difficult to extend this concept to account for the additional surface area resulting from the flame peninsulas. However, the flame frontmore » convolution that results in flame peninsulas can be envisioned as entrainment combustion. In the present research an effort was made to combine the fractal combustion model and the entrainment combustion model to generate the peninsula-fractal combustion model, so as to improve burn rate predictions of SI engine codes.« less