Novel features of end-gas autoignition revealed by computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Autoignition of the end-gas in the combustion chamber is believed to be a primary cause of knock in spark ignition engines. Fundamental studies of the autoignition of hydrocarbon + air mixtures has been performed successfully in rapid compression machines. There has also been considerable progress towards the numerical modeling of these phenomena, but applications to combustion in a rapid compression machine have been based only on a spatially uniform well-mixed condition. The authors report in this paper the implementation of a fluid dynamics code in conjunction with the Shell generalized (or reduced) kinetic model, which represents the exothermic oxidation of the alkane components of gasoline, to predict the development of autoignition in the combustion chamber. The numerical simulations reported in this paper were matched to the performance of the rapid compression apparatus in use at Leeds. In this system, combustion occurred in a cylindrical chamber, the flat, end faces of which were the piston crown and cylinder head. The reactants were compressed by a piston, which was then brought to rest at the end of its stroke. The geometric configuration of the combustion chamber of the rapid compression machine is fully axisymmetric. This permitted a two-dimensional treatment of spatial conditionsmore » on a plane representing piston displacement and half radius. Reactive gas flows were simulated on a 14 [times] 50 mesh at the start of compression, which was reduced to 14 [times] 10 cells as the piston reached top-dead-center. The resolution within the vicinity of the cylinder wall was enhanced by a nonequidistant grid structure.« less