Computational Investigation of Porous Media Combustion Technology in Spark Ignition Engine

Abstract

In the present work, computational fluid dynamics approach is adopted to study the possibility of using porous media in combustion and emission in a single-cylinder four-stroke spark ignition engine. The combustion behavior inside the engine without and with application of porous media is studied. The analysis with application of PM signifies enhanced combustion behavior. The compression ratio is kept at 7. Two different types of fluid computational domains are considered, namely, without and with PM. The three-dimensional modeling, meshing and simulations of the combustion chambers are performed with the ANSYS 17.1-FLUENT software. The k–e turbulence model, the premixed combustion model and the spark ignition model are used in the study. The parameters to be analyzed are the variation of cylinder pressure, temperature and turbulence at different crank angles. The results of the computational work without PM are validated with the experimental work, which is executed on the research engine setup operated in SI mode. The work is performed at different engine loads by varying the engine torque, viz. 6 Nm (25%), 12 Nm (50%), 18 Nm (75%) and 24 Nm (100%) along with the no-load condition. The analyses of the results indicate that the peak value of total pressure (1,986,868.99 Pa) and average value of total temperature (632.63 K) with PM at 100% load are lower than without PM (1,992,314.50 Pa and 604.81 K). The concentrations of NOX emissions are significantly reduced by the use of PM for all the loads. The percentage reductions in NOX emissions at no load, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, are found to be 2.5%, 11.1%, 9.4%, 9% and 2.12%, respectively.