Combustion In Spark Ignition Engine Research Articles

Comprehensive Review on Technical Developments of Methanol-Fuel-Based Spark Ignition Engines to Improve the Performance, Combustion, and Emissions

Abstract Methanol (CH3OH) is emerging as a viable alternative to fossil-based fuels, addressing the increasing global energy demand while promoting sustainability. The spark ignition (SI) engines are widely used to run the automobile sector. Methanol as a widely available and cheap source of energy can be strongly replaced with expensive and limited fossil-based fuels to power the SI engines. The prime objective of this study is to evaluate the advancements made in improving the fuel blends, performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of methanol-fueled SI engines. The investigation commences by examining the various technical improvements implemented in methanol-fueled SI engines to optimize their overall performance. These developments include advancements in fuel blends, engine design, combustion strategies, fuel injection systems, ignition systems, engine load, etc. The impacts of these developments on the performance parameters including brake thermal efficiency, power output, torque, fuel efficiency, thermal efficiency, etc., combustion parameters including ignition delay, combustion duration, heat release rate, in-cylinder pressure and temperature, etc., emission parameters including hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, formaldehyde, unburned methanol, etc., is reviewed comprehensively. The effectiveness of emission control techniques and the potential for meeting stringent environmental regulations are explored. The review paper then considers the wider implications of methanol-fueled SI engines by examining their technical, environmental, economic, and renewable applications. The technical aspects cover the compatibility of methanol-fueled SI engines with existing infrastructure and the associated challenges and opportunities. The environmental considerations delve into the potential reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the overall sustainability of methanol as a renewable fuel. Finally, the research direction of methanol SI engines is discussed, highlighting the emerging trends and prospects in this field. The review paper concludes with recommendations for further research and development, addressing the key areas that require attention to unlock the full potential of methanol as an efficient and sustainable fuel for SI engines.

Effects of injection timing on mixture formation, combustion, and emission characteristics in a n-butanol direct injection spark ignition engine

The impact of injection timings on the in-cylinder flow field intensity, mixture formation process, combustion, and emission characteristics are analyzed. The range of injection timing is set between −320°CA and −260°CA. The research results indicate: Delaying the injection timing causes the spray plumes increasingly align with the tumble direction, consequently enhancing the in-cylinder tumble intensity and the turbulence near the spark timing. The mixture homogeneity is influenced by both the formation time and the in-cylinder flow field intensity. Moreover, combustion performance is linked to the homogeneity of the mixture and turbulence intensity near the spark timing. Despite the fact that postponed injection may augment both turbulence intensity and the equivalent ratio around the spark plug at the moment of spark, achieving higher explosion pressure, but the higher viscosity of n-butanol impedes droplet break-up, and its low volatility decelerates the evaporation rate, leading to poorer mixture homogeneity, reduced BMEP, and increased CO and soot emissions. However, at −300°CA start of injection, the extended mixing time optimizes the fuel-air mixture homogeneity, thus improving combustion quality and reducing CO, soot, and HC emissions, albeit leading to increased NOx emissions.

Skeletal CH3OH/NOx Kinetic Model for Simulating Spark-Ignition and Turbulent Jet Ignition Engines.

Methanol is a promising renewable fuel for achieving a better engine combustion efficiency and lower exhaust emissions. Under exhaust gas recirculation conditions, trace amounts of nitrogen oxides have been shown to participate in fuel oxidation and impact the ignition characteristics significantly. Despite numerous studies that analyzed the methanol/NOx interaction, no reliable skeletal kinetic mechanism is available for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. This work focuses on developing a skeletal CH3OH/NOx kinetic model consisting of 25 species and 55 irreversible and 27 reversible reactions, used for full-cycle engine combustion simulations. New experiments of methanol with the presence of 200 ppmv NO/NO2 were conducted in a rapid compression machine (RCM) at engine-relevant conditions (20-30 bar, 850-950 K). Experimental results indicate notable enhancement effects of the presence of NO/NO2 on methanol ignition under the conditions tested, which highlights the importance of including the CH3OH/NOx interactions in predicting combustion performance. The proposed skeletal mechanism was validated against the literature and new methanol and methanol/NOx experiments over a wide range of operating conditions. Furthermore, the skeletal mechanism was applied in three-dimensional (3D) CFD full-cycle simulations of spark-ignition (SI) and turbulent jet ignition (TJI) engine combustion using methanol. Simulation results demonstrate good agreement with experimental measurements of pressure traces and engine metrics, proving that the proposed skeletal mechanism is suitable and sufficient for CFD simulations.

Statistical analysis of flow field variations via independent component analysis

The link between in-cylinder flow and subsequent combustion in a single-cylinder gasoline spark-ignition engine is analyzed via independent component analysis (ICA). Experimentally, the two in-plane components of the velocity are measured in the central cylinder plane by high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) with the engine running slightly lean at 1500 rpm in skip-fired mode. In 213 cycles, measurements are made during the late compression stroke before ignition with approximately 1° crank-angle temporal resolution. ICA then decomposes the set of 213 flow fields at each time step, yielding a set of “source” flow patterns—the independent components (IC). The temporal coherence between the ICs is then examined in a persistence analysis, comparing each IC with the one from the previous time step starting at ignition timing and going backwards in time. The results show which ICs persist how long throughout the compression stroke. To investigate the link between the ICs and combustion, the crank angle at which 10% of the fuel are burned (CA10) in each cycle is correlated with the extent to which a given IC can be found in each flow field. The most persistent IC can be traced over more than half of the 70 degrees crank angle over which images were acquired. The IC that correlates best with CA10 visually more resembles some of the flow features found in conditional averaging of fast-burning versus slow-burning cycles.

A CFD ignition model to predict average-cycle combustion in SI engines with extreme EGR levels

Control of the combustion process in Spark-Ignition (SI) engines operated with extreme dilution from exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR) represents one of the major limitations in the industrial design of such technology. Numerical approaches able to describe in detail the formation of the early flame kernel become essential to face such an ambitious task. This work presents a RANS-based multi-dimensional model of the combustion process, including an advanced description of the ignition stage to consider its stochastic re-ignitions within the average cycle prediction. The spark-channel is described as a column of Lagrangian parcels that represent early flame kernels, whose growth is controlled by the laminar flame speed and energy input from the electrical circuit. The spatial evolution of each parcel is computed according to a scaled value of the average-flow speed, to mimic the smooth but short elongation of the mean-cycle channel produced by stochastic restrikes affecting the single-cycle arcs. To clarify this phenomenon and assess the proposed CFD method, a series of experiments are performed in a single cylinder SI engine with optical access, running at a low-load cruise-speed operating condition. Increasing EGR levels are tested up to the onset of misfire, with measurements of the secondary-circuit features and of the flame evolution through high-speed imaging. Satisfactory results are achieved in terms of numerical-experimental comparison of the cycle-averaged in-cylinder pressure, discharge parameters, and spatial flame distribution, demonstrating the reliability of the proposed numerical approach.

Influence of high compression ratio on the performance of ethanol-gasoline fuelled lean burn spark ignition engine at part throttle condition

As a viable solution to meet rising energy costs and reduce greenhouse gases, alcohol fuels are considered the most promising renewable fuel and ethanol is a potential fuel for spark ignition engines. In the present study, experiments were conducted on a spark ignition engine modified from a diesel engine that uses an ethanol-gasoline mixture as fuel under lean operating conditions. The engine was operated at 1500 rpm at a high compression ratio of 10.5:1. The different proportions of ethanol namely 5 %, 10 %, 20 %, and 30 % with gasoline, were studied and compared. The throttle was set to 25 % to operate the engine at various equivalence ratios to study the performance and emissions. Experimental outcomes reveal that 10 % ethanol with gasoline enhances the brake thermal efficiency and brake power by 7 % and 4.5 % respectively, due to an enhanced compression ratio. Further, the gasoline lean limit is also extended from 0.74 to 0.70 equivalence ratios. In addition, ethanol blending with gasoline enhances the combustion characteristics and heat release rates. The influence of ethanol greatly decreases cycle-by-cycle variations and hydrocarbon emissions. Adopting a high compression ratio and lean-burn operation can effectively improve performance and decrease emissions in an ethanol-gasoline-fuelled spark ignition engine.

Evaluation of a pressure sensing glow plug in terms of its application possibility to control the combustion process of a hydrogen-powered spark-ignition engine

The article contains the results of an analysis of the suitability of a pressure sensing glow plug for use in a hydrogen engine control system. Due to the properties of hydrogen, the process of its combustion in spark-ignition engines is significantly different from the classic fuels. It is planned to use the pressure sensor signal to control the combustion process to obtain high power and efficiency, with the lowest possible emission of nitrogen oxides, which is the main harmful component of hydrogen engines. After an initial assessment of suitability, it was decided to use a pressure sensing glow plug. This choice is dictated by the low price, good availability and high durability of these sensors. The preliminary tests were carried out using a low-power single-cylinder SI engine coupled with a 48V generator. The tests were carried out for several values of engine speed and load of the generator and for classic gasoline with a research octane number (RON) of 95. In order to obtain an increased pressure rise rate in the cylinder, as for hydrogen fueling, the engine operation was also tested with unmodified light gasoline used as solvent, which is characterized by a significantly lower RON value. The use of a reference pressure sensor in the cylinder made it possible to determine the behavior of the PSG in various operating conditions. The tests revealed that the differences in the pressure waveforms registered with both sensors can be systematized depending on the engine speed and its load.

Effect of first-stage ignition on the onset of knocking in SI engines

Knocking limits the performance and efficiency of highly compressed, downsized spark ignition combustion engines. In this paper, the effect of the first-stage ignition on knock is analyzed using a quasi-dimensional engine model. The standard coherent flame model is used for turbulent combustion, and five available reduced chemical kinetics mechanisms are applied to thermal ignition of the end-gas. Measurements in a modified CFR engine operating with two PRF mixtures are used to test the predictive ability of the models and to identify the conditions that lead to knocking. Although the chemical kinetics models used predict similar autoignition delay curves, they do not result in the same knock predictions. The results show that the chemistry must correctly capture the NTC range to predict the observed onset of knocking. In addition, the chemistry models are used to determine the first- and second-stage ignition delay times and their dependence on engine speed and compression ratio. Results show that the autoignition stages occur at relatively fixed temperatures, independent of engine speed and compression ratio. A sensitivity analysis shows that only one set of reactions in the low-temperature chemistry contributes to first-stage ignition, which in turn determines the onset of knocking. This suggests that fuel additives that inhibit or delay the inflection in the NTC region from low- to high-temperature could prevent knock in SI engines.

Low Temperature Heat Release and ϕ-Sensitivity Characteristics of Iso-Octane/Air Mixtures

ABSTRACT Chemical energy release from high octane number fuels via low temperature heat release (LTHR) can help develop high-efficiency gasoline engines by promoting ultra-lean combustion in spark ignition engines and improving combustion control in gasoline compression ignition engines. A recently developed experimental technique that permits isolated LTHR investigations in motored engines was used to characterize the LTHR behavior of iso-octane/air mixtures ranging in strength from to at multiple inlet temperature conditions ( to °C). LTHR changes were studied by observing variations in exhaust CO emissions and exhaust temperature increase. Observed heat release results were explained using cylinder mixture pressure-temperature histories alongside supporting chemical kinetics modeling estimates of mixture reactivity in the form of chemical ignition delay (ID) time. The effects of fuel enrichment on iso-octane/air mixture reactivity were found to be non-uniform and dependent on mixtures’ thermal state trajectories in the LTHR ID peninsula. LTHR intensity measurements were used to discuss changes in mixture sensitivity at different engine inlet conditions. It was shown that by appropriately adjusting mixture thermal conditions via charge cooling from direct fuel injection and intake air heating, reactivity enhancements could be exploited maximally; and strong, positive, linear sensitivity of around 10 J per 0.1 increase in could be realized across a wide range of equivalence ratios from 0.05–1.2. It was also found that dominance of charge cooling effects at rich conditions resulted in negative and zero sensitivity regions.

Prediction of combustion, performance, and emission parameters of ethanol powered spark ignition engine using ensemble Least Squares boosting machine learning algorithms

This research concentrates on the application of machine learning techniques to predict combustion, performance, and emission parameters in a dual-fuel spark ignition (SI) engine powered by neat gasoline and E20 ethanol dual fuel. The goal is to overcome the limitations posed by repeated engine experiments and nonlinear test results. In order to optimise engine parameters, the research seeks to develop efficient machine learning models with high generalizability and employ an optimisation strategy to determine the optimal engine settings. Input for training and evaluating machine learning algorithms, such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and Ensemble LS Boosting was derived from experimental data from a combustion test engine, which includes Neat gasoline, and Ethanol dual fuel blend E20 at various load conditions. The dataset includes engine combustion, performance, and emission indices such as brake thermal efficiency (BTE), Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT), Hydrocarbons (HC), Carbon monoxide (CO), Carbon dioxide (CO2), and Nitrogen oxides (NOx), under various operating conditions. Load and brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) were training input attributes. Using a comprehensive experimental database of input-output engine parameters, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Ensemble LS Boosting were constructed. The training data points were resampled to generate multiple training datasets for training different models. 50 test samples were used to evaluate the generalisation capability of the machine learning models, while BTE, EGT, CO, CO2, HC and NOx, were the primary parameters subject to prediction. The optimal machine learning method was determined by comparing R-squared (R2) values, root mean square error (RMSE), mean square error (MSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). Using multiple hyperparameter tuning iterations, the agreement between actual and predicted values for diverse Ensemble LS Boost algorithms was evaluated. The Ensemble LS Boost model exhibits the maximum level of agreement between predicted and experimental engine parameters across all datasets when compared to the other ANN models. This finding was corroborated by additional research based on test datasets, specifically the test sample interpolation data, which measures generalisation ability. The study also focuses on developing and applying two unique, interactive Simulink models for the Spark Ignition (SI) engine that are tailored for Neat Gasoline and Ethanol E20 test fuels under all loads. The key component of the model-based development technique in MATLAB and Simulink was the incorporation of sophisticated machine learning algorithms, i.e., Ensemble Least-Squares (LS) Boosting, to the model-based development workflow which produced reliable results. Implementing an Ensemble LS Boost machine learning framework is therefore highly recommended as an efficient method for predicting and optimising the combustion, performance, and emission characteristics of dual-fuel gasoline engines utilising Ethanol-based dual-fuel blends.

Evaluation of Spray and Combustion Models for Simulating Dilute Combustion in a Direct-Injection Spark-Ignition Engine

Abstract Dilute combustion in spark-ignition engines has the potential to improve thermal efficiency by mitigating knock and by reducing throttling and wall heat losses. However, ignition and combustion processes can become unstable for dilute operation due to a lowered laminar flame speed, resulting in excessive cycle-to-cycle variability (CCV) of the combustion process. To compensate for the slower combustion in less reactive mixtures, a modified intake port geometry can be employed to generate a strong tumble flow in the cylinder and elevate turbulence levels around the spark plug, thereby promoting a faster transition to turbulent deflagration. Consequently, optimizing combustion chamber geometry and operating strategy is crucial to maximizing the benefits of using dilute combustion with enhanced in-cylinder turbulence across a wide range of operating conditions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations can be utilized for virtual engine optimization tasks, but this would require the models to be truly predictive regarding the impact of changes to the engine design and operational parameters. In this study, multicycle large-eddy simulations (LES) are performed for a direct-injection spark-ignition engine to investigate the model performance in predicting engine combustion characteristics with respect to changes in the intake configuration. A tumble plate that blocks the lower part of the intake port inlet is used to vary the tumble. A set of CFD models that have been recently developed are employed, which takes into account the drag of nonspherical droplets, flash-boiling behavior of liquid sprays, spray-wall interaction, surrogate formulation of a research-grade E10 gasoline, and fast chemical kinetic solvers. Simulation results are compared to experimental engine data in terms of cylinder pressure, apparent heat release rate, mass fraction burned timing, and flame images. It is found that LES employing the state-of-the-art CFD models are capable of properly predicting the spray processes and reproducing the measured mean cylinder pressure for the case with the tumble plate. On the other hand, the LES over-predicts the combustion rate during the early combustion stage and under-estimates the CCV, and these discrepancies become larger when the tumble plate is removed.

Investigation of boost pressure and spark timing on combustion and NO emissions under lean mixture operation in hydrogen engines

Hydrogen may become a replacement for liquid fossil fuels, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions reductions by improving the thermal efficiency of boosted lean burn spark ignition engines. Single-zone engine combustion models are simple, but can yield useful results as a step in the design process for developing alternative fuel systems. The single-zone thermodynamic model is advanced by implementing a laminar flame speed sub-model to investigate combustion, an extended Zeldovich mechanism for nitric oxide emissions, and incorporating the Livengood-Wu integral model for knock characteristics. The results were validated using published experiments giving satisfactory predictions between simulation and experiment for spark timing variation, manifold air pressure, and equivalence ratios. A detailed analysis of boosted lean burn strategies showed that nitric oxide emissions increased with boosted pressure, hence emissions can be controlled through optimizing the excess air ratio and the start of combustion. Further techniques to achieve high thermal efficiency and to prevent knock for boosted lean burn hydrogen SI engine are discussed.

A novel multiple spark ignition strategy to achieve pure ammonia combustion in an optical spark-ignition engine

Ammonia is an attractive carbon-free fuel that has the potential to reduce the need for conventional hydrocarbons (HC) and reduce emissions of undesirable pollutants such as CO, CO2, particulates, and unburned hydrocarbons. However, ammonia has different combustion characteristics than conventional HC fuel. Ammonia is difficult to ignite and has a low combustion rate, resulting in large cyclic variations. In addition, nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions in the exhaust tract are a major challenge when using ammonia as a fuel directly in engines. In this study, the effect of multiple spark ignition sites on the combustion of pure ammonia in an optical spark ignition engine (SI) was investigated. The experiment was conducted with four spark plugs mounted equidistantly on a special metal liner and one spark plug fitted at the top of the cylinder head. The multiple flames emitted from the different spark ignition sites were captured by natural flame luminosity (NFL) imaging. In the results, the conventional single spark ignition is compared with multiple ignitions. It was found that single spark ignition resulted in lower in-cylinder pressure, longer combustion duration, and higher combustion instability due to the poor ammonia fuel combustion rate. However, firing multiple spark plugs significantly improved combustion stability, increased engine power, and shortened the combustion period under the same operating conditions. In addition, the flame kernels produced by multiple ignition sites resulted in higher NOx emissions in the exhaust tract due to the higher temperatures in the cylinder. In addition, this study also investigated the effect of three different air–fuel equivalence ratios (λ) of 1.0, 1.2, and 1.4 on the combustion characteristics of ammonia fuel. The maximum NOx level was obtained for λ: 1.2 because the excess air in the mixture oxidizes the ammonia and provides abundant oxygen to generate more NOx. Further reducing the ammonia fuel and increasing the excess air to λ: 1.4 dramatically reduced NOx emissions due to the lower pressures and temperatures in the cylinder resulting from the longer combustion period.

High-Energy Synthesis Gases from Waste as Energy Source for Internal Combustion Engine

The aim of the presented article is to analyse the influence of the composition of synthesis gases with mass lower heating values in the range from 12 to 20 MJ/kg on the performance, economic, and internal parameters of an atmospheric two-cylinder spark-ignition combustion engine suitable for a micro-generation unit. The analysed performance parameter was the torque. The economic parameters analysed were the hourly fuel consumption and the engine’s effective efficiency. The analysed internal parameters of the engine were the indicated mean effective pressure, the pressure profiles in the cylinder, the course of the maximum pressure in the cylinder, and the course of the burning-out of the fuel in the cylinder. The analysed synthesis gases were produced by thermo-chemical processes from waste containing combustible components (methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide) as well as inert gases (carbon dioxide and nitrogen). Higher hydrocarbons, which may be present in a synthesis gas, were not considered in this contribution because of their easy liquefaction at higher pressures in pressure bottles. A total of ten gases were analysed, all of which fall into the category of high-energy synthesis gases. The measured data from the operation of the combustion engine running on the examined gases were compared with the reference fuel methane. The measured results show a decrease in the performance parameters and an increase in the hourly fuel consumption for all operating loads. Specifically, at the engine speed of 1500 rpm, the drop in performance parameters was in the range from 9% to 24%. The performance parameters were directly proportional to the lower volumetric heating value of the stoichiometric mixture of gases with air. The rising fuel consumption proportionally matched the increase in the mass proportion of fuel in the stoichiometric mixture with air. The effective efficiency of the engine varied from 27.4% to 31.3% for different gas compositions, compared to 31.6% for methane. The conclusive results indicate that the proportion of hydrogen, methane and inert gases in the stoichiometric mixture of synthesis gases with air has the greatest influence on the course of fuel burning-out. The article points to the potential of energy recovery from waste by transforming waste into high-energy synthesis gases and their use in cogeneration.

A universally applicable 0D combustion model with a novel analysis of the critical factors affecting combustion in spark-ignition engines

Notwithstanding the continuous technological development of spark-ignition engines, the physics of in-cylinder phenomena has not been explicitly clarified to date. Furthermore, the advent of diverse engine technologies and in-cylinder compositions has increased the difficulty of understanding these phenomena using existing analysis methods. Under those circumstances, the modeling based on the fundamental combustion behaviors is becoming critical for analyzing combustion. Built upon the zero-dimensional flame surface density model, therefore, the models proposed herein attempt to reproduce a vast majority of combustion behaviors revealed to date, such as differential diffusion, thermo-diffusive instability, cutoff scales, distributed reaction, and flame quenching. As a result, we successfully predicted the combustion of numerous operating points of four different SI engines, including the extremely lean operating points of gasoline/air mixture up to [Formula: see text]. Furthermore, the extensive thermodynamic ranges are explored for the validation of the models with the aid of continuously variable valve timing modules; the pressure and the calculated temperature of the unburned mixture at ignition timing are varied from 4.5 to 28.6 bar and 559–794 K, respectively. In this study, we suggest an expression for a fully-developed turbulent flame speed well-fitted with the explored ranges of chemical and thermodynamic states by inspecting the influencing factors for flame wrinkling. Additionally, we analyze combustion using the developed models and identify several distinctive features of both stoichiometric and lean-burn points. Lastly, this study reveals the importance of flame thickness (or inner cutoff), which has a comparable or more severe effect on early flame propagation compared to planar laminar flame speed.

ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF ALTITUDE AND TEMPERATURE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE IGNITION INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE USED FOR LIGHT VEHICLE PROPULSION

This paper presents the impact that altitude has on the performance of a spark ignition combustion engine. In order to obtain the results, ten different models of vehicles widely used in the Andean region of Latin America were analyzed, the same ones that, during three years, were instrumented in such a way that they can be obtained at the rate of one reading per second, data referring to the engine operation, vehicle dynamics and emissions generated into the environment, in a wide altimetric range between 0 and 4500
 m.a.s.l. In addition, data on environmental conditions were collected in such a way that the analysis of the impact of altitude can also be extended to factors such as environmental temperature. Although operating simulators are developed where the pressure and temperature parameters are modified under international regulations, ISA, the results come from real driving conditions, which gives a significant reliability advantage over the data obtained. Furthermore, directives of the European Commission require approval of the emissions generated at different altitude conditions, hence the importance of having a baseline regarding the real effect of altitude on performance and emissions. In particular, there is an apparent increase in vehicle emission readings in high-altitude conditions, which emphasizes the need for strategies to reduce emissions in high-altitude operations.

Coupling an oxygen generation cycle with an oxy-fuel combustion spark ignition engine for zero NOx emissions and carbon capture: A feasibility study

An oxycombustion spark-ignition engine coupled to an O2 production cycle based on a mixed electronic-ionic ceramic-type membrane is studied in this paper. The exhaust gases drive oxygen production through a heat exchanger network and a set of turbochargers. Initially, a study at medium speed is carried out to determine the influence of the oxygen concentration and the engine compression ratio on the system performance. A 16.3% of fuel consumption reduction is reached when 30% of O2 mass fraction and an engine compression ratio of 20 are implemented when compared with conventional engine operation. Then, a full load study in a wide range of engine speeds is performed, where a maximum fuel consumption reduction of 21% is obtained at high speed (5000rpm) comparing with conventional engine operation. The study shows the whole cycle has demonstrated promising performance parameters at different working conditions (O2 mass fraction, compression ratio, engine load and speed).

Numerical modeling of knocking combustion in spark ignition engines

At present, around 85% of the 1.1 billion passenger cars in the world are powered by gasoline spark ignition (SI) engines. Engine downsizing coupled with boosted operation and transition to sustainable fuels is considered an attractive strategy to enhance power density and reduce fuel consumption of SI engines. However, these operating conditions result in severe thermodynamic conditions, thereby promoting the likelihood of abnormal combustion phenomena such as knock. The severity of knock can vary significantly, and the efficiency of engines at high loads is limited in practice by heavy knocking phenomena. Since, a thorough analysis of such recurrent but non-cyclic phenomena via experiments alone becomes highly cumbersome, in the present work, a multi-cycle large-eddy simulation study was performed to quantitatively predict cyclic variability in the combustion process and cyclic knock intensity variability in a direct injection spark-ignition engine. For both the mild knock and heavy knock conditions, the numerical results were validated against experimental measurements. Based on the simulation results, a correlation analysis was performed considering combustion phasing, peak cylinder pressure and maximum amplitude of pressure oscillation. Furthermore, a detailed three-dimensional spatial analysis illustrated the evolution of auto-ignition kernel development and propagation of pressure waves during knocking combustion.

Estimation of Wiebe Function Parameters for Syngas and Anode Off-Gas Combustion in Spark-Ignition Engines

Abstract Wiebe functions, analytical equations that estimate the fuel mass fraction burned (MFB) during combustion, have been effective at describing spark-ignition (SI) engine combustion using gasoline fuels. This study explores if the same methodology can be extended for SI combustion with syngas, a gaseous fuel mixture composed of H2, CO, and CO2, and anode-off gas; the latter is an exhaust gas mixture emitted from the anode of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, containing H2, CO, H2O, and CO2. For this study, anode off-gas is treated as a syngas fuel diluted with CO2 and vaporized water. Combustion experiments were run on a single-cylinder, research engine using syngas and anode-off gas as fuels. One single Wiebe function and three double Wiebe functions were fitted and compared with the MFB profile calculated from the experimental data. It was determined that the SI combustion process of both the syngas and the anode-off gas could be estimated using a governing Wiebe function. While the detailed double Wiebe function had the highest accuracy, a reduced double Wiebe function is capable of achieving comparable accuracy. On the other hand, a single Wiebe function is not able to fully capture the combustion process of a SI engine using syngas and anode off-gas.

Effects of knock intensity measurement technique and fuel chemical composition on the research octane number (RON) of FACE gasolines: Part 2 – Effects of spark timing

The Research and Motor Octane Number (RON, MON) characterize a fuel’s knock resistance by rating the knock intensity of a sample fuel relative to that of Primary Reference Fuels (PRF) in a Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) Engine. A fuel’s octane number is regulated to prevent damage from autoignition leading to knocking combustion in spark-ignition engines. The operational differences between the standard RON rating and modern engine operation are explored in a three-part publication series. The previous study focused on the effects of lambda and knock characterization. This second study primarily focuses on the effects of spark timing on RON determination. Following the findings from the first publication, the knock intensity was captured by the knockmeter and by the maximum amplitude of pressure oscillations (MAPO) at the lambda of peak knock intensity and stoichiometry. Knock-limited spark advance tests were conducted for a set of seven Fuels for Advanced Combustion Engines (FACE) from the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) with varying chemical composition, PRFs, and Toluene Standardization Fuels (TSFs). For retarded spark timings, pre-spark low-temperature heat release was found for low RON PRFs. Low RON PRFs also showed knocking characteristics before reaching the center of combustion suggesting that the use of knock-limited spark advance (KLSA) was preferred over the knock-limited combustion phasing. Primarily paraffinic fuels tended towards increased pressure oscillations while dominantly aromatic fuels experienced higher pressure rise rates. A MAPO-based KLSA correlated best to Octane Index at a negative K-factor suggesting beyond RON operation despite being at otherwise RON conditions. At stoichiometry, the MAPO-based KLSA did neither correlate to RON nor Octane Index. Good agreement was found between KLSA-based effective RON from this study to the MAPO-based effective RON from the first study.