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This study investigates a novel approach towards boosted HCCI operation, which makes use of all engine system components in order to maximize overall efficiency. Four-cylinder boosted HCCI engines have been modeled employing valve strategies and turbomachines that enable high load operation with significant efficiency benefits. A commercially available engine simulation software, coupled to the University of Michigan HCCI combustion and heat transfer correlations, was used to model the HCCI engines with three different boosting configurations: turbocharging, variable geometry turbocharging and combined supercharging with turbocharging. The valve strategy features switching from low-lift Negative Valve Overlap (NVO) to high-lift Positive Valve Overlap (PVO) at medium loads. The new operating approach indicates that heating of the charge from external compression is more efficient than heating by residual gas retention strategies.

The operating range of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines is limited to low and medium loads by high heat release rates. Negative Valve Overlap (NVO) can be used to facilitate ignition of high octane number fuels and control pressure rise rates by diluting the mixture with hot residual gas and introducing some thermal stratification. Controlling the thermal stratification results in sequential autoignition, reduced heat release rates, and operating range extension. Therefore, fundamental understanding of thermal stratification in HCCI combustion with high levels of internal residuals is necessary, along with the development of appropriate models to simulate thermal stratification and its effects on HCCI combustion. A 3-D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of a 2.0 L GM Ecotec engine (LNF type) engine cylinder, modified for HCCI combustion, was developed using CONVERGE CFD.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is a combustion concept with the potential for future clean and efficient automotive powertrains. In HCCI, the thermal stratification has been proven to play an important role in dictating the combustion process, mainly caused by heat transfer to the wall during compression. In this study, a multi-zone, control-mass model with thermal stratification and chemical kinetics was developed to simulate HCCI combustion. In this kind of model, the initial conditions and the zonal heat transfer fraction distribution are critical for the modeling accuracy and usually require case-by-case tuning. Instead, in this study, the Thermal Stratification Analysis (TSA) methodology is used to generate the zonal heat transfer fraction distribution from experimental HCCI data collected on a fired, metal engine.