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Numerical calculations based on large eddy simulation were performed in order to investigate mixture formation, ignition, and combustion processes in a diesel spray formed by fuel injection into a constant-volume vessel under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. Fuel concentration distributions in a spray and local non-homogeneous mixture distributions were compared with experimental results to verify the accuracy of the calculations. In addition, calculations were carried out to examine the effect of injection parameters, namely, injection pressure and nozzle orifice diameter. Ignition and combustion processes were also investigated using Schreiber's model for calculating the progress of oxidation reactions.

The purpose of this study is to determine a pilot injection control strategy for the improvement of dual-fuel combustion with a lean natural gas/air mixture. Experiments were performed using a single cylinder test engine equipped with a common-rail injection system. The injection pressure, timing and quantity were varied at a fixed overall equivalence ratio of 0.5. The results of single-stage-injection experiments show that middle injection timings (−20 to −10 degATDC) produce low emissions of unburned species, because the pilot-fuel vapor spreads into the natural-gas lean mixture and raises the effective equivalence ratio, which leads to fast flame propagation. Early injection (−35degATDC) is advantageous for low NOx emission; however, increased emissions of unburned species are barriers.

Auto-ignition of a non-homogeneous mixture was fundamentally investigated by means of a numerical calculation based on chemical kinetics and the stochastic approach. In the present study, the auto-ignition process of n-heptane is calculated by means of a reduced mechanism developed by Seiser et. al. The non-uniform states of turbulent mixing are statistically described using probability density functions and the stochastic method, which was originally developed from Curl's model. The results show that the starting points of the low-temperature oxidation and ignition delay period are hardly affected by the equivalence-ratio variation; however, combustion duration increases with increasing variance of equivalence ratio. Furthermore, combustion duration is mainly affected by the non-homogeneity at the ignition and not very much affected by the mixing rate.

Formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in direct-injection premixed charge compression ignition (DI-PCCI) combustion simulated in a constant volume vessel was investigated using an ignition-combustion model that combines a stochastic mixing model with a reduced chemical reaction scheme. Several improvements were made to the model in order to predict the combustion processes in DI-PCCI. Calculations were carried out for the injection and ambient conditions equivalent to the measurements using the constant volume vessel. Analysis of the calculated results clarified the effects of mixture heterogeneity on NO concentrations and the mechanisms are discussed. The results show that the model successfully represents the experimental tendency for NO concentration when the injection conditions and ambient oxygen mole fraction are varied.

Diesel combustion model for CFD simulation is established taking account of an auto-ignition process of non-homogeneous mixture. Authors revealed in their previous paper that the non-homogeneity of fuel-air mixture affected more on auto-ignition process such as its ignition delay or combustion duration than the turbulent mixing rate. Based on these results, novel diesel combustion model is proposed in this study. The transport calculation for local variation of fuel-air PDF is introduced and the chemical reaction rate is provided by the local non-homogeneity. Furthermore, this model is applied the RANS based CFD simulation of the spray combustion in a Diesel engine condition. The results show that the combustion process is well described for several engine operations.

The objective of the present study is to elucidate the combustion process of partial premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) combustion using multiple injections in diesel engines. The effects of the ratio of the quantity of fuel used in the first and second injections, and the injection dwell time on heat release rate, soot and nitrogen oxide (NOx) formations are investigated in simulated partial PCCI combustion using a constant-volume vessel. N-heptane is used as fuel. The experiments are carried out under an ambient condition of 2 MPa and 900 K, which simulates a PCCI-like heat release rate with long ignition delays. The oxygen concentration is set to 21 and 15% to simulate conditions without and with exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR), respectively. The fuel quantity in the first injection is varied between 10 to 40% of the total fuel quantity, and the injection dwell is varied between 0.5 to 2.0 ms.

This study aimed to elucidate the ignition processes in transient fuel-sprays over a wide range of ambient conditions corresponding to PCCI combustion, as well as diesel combustion. Ignition of n-heptane sprays was experimentally investigated by using a constant-volume vessel. The well-known temperature dependencies of ignition delays were observed at a high ambient pressure. On the other hand, a negative temperature coefficient (NTC) accompanying a two-stage pressure rise was detected for lower ambient pressures. High-speed shadowgraph images indicated that the temperature rise begins in the highly homogenous mixture along the combustion chamber wall. Enhancement of fuel-air mixing with elevated injection pressure and a reduced nozzle orifice delays the appearance of hot flame in the NTC condition. To better understand these phenomena, ignition processes were predicted using an ignition model including a stochastic turbulent mixing model and a reduced chemical reaction scheme.

In order to obtain fundamental data to employ direct injection in gas-fueled engines, an experimental study was carried out using a constant volume vessel. Heat release rates and shadowgraph photos were acquired for natural-gas and hydrogen jets simulating the changes in engine-combustion-control factors. The results show that although a higher temperature is needed for ignition, the temperature dependencies of ignition delay and heat release rate in natural-gas jets are similar to those of diesel sprays. The ignition delay and heat release rate are sensitive to injection and ambient conditions. Hydrogen jets have shorter ignition delays compared with natural gas jets. At sufficiently high ambient temperatures, the heat release pattern shows an entire diffusion combustion. Under such conditions, the ignition delay is not greatly influenced by injection conditions and the heat release rate can be controlled by the injection rate.

The objective of this study is to obtain a strategy for adapting injection and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) conditions to various engine speeds. An experimental study was conducted using a single-cylinder test engine and varying the injection timings of two-stage injection, the injection-quantity ratio, the EGR rate, and the swirl ratio at low (1300 rpm) and high (2300 rpm) engine speeds. When using base injection conditions, the results indicated that problems occurred for the high maximum pressure rise rate at low engine speed and the low thermal efficiency at high engine speed. At low engine speed, retarding the injection timings and increasing the first-injection quantity ratio reduced the maximum pressure rise rate without sacrificing engine performance. At high engine speed, advancing the injection timings improved the thermal efficiency but increased smoke emission.

Numerical calculations were performed to investigate the mixture formation, ignition, and combustion processes in a diesel spray. The spray was formed by injecting n-heptane into a constant volume vessel under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions. The fuel droplets were described by a discrete droplet model (DDM). Numerical calculations for the flow and turbulent diffusion processes were performed on the basis of large eddy simulation (LES) to describe the processes of local non-homogeneous mixture formation and heat release. The oxidation processes in the mixture were calculated by Schreiber's five-step mechanism for n-heptane. Calculations were performed for sprays formed by single-stage injection and pilot/main two-stage injection. The flame structure in a diesel spray and its temporal change were discussed using a flame index proposed by Yamashita et al.

The effects of fuel injection conditions (injection pressure, nozzle orifice diameter and fuel injection quantity) on NOx formation in direct-injection Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (DI-PCCI) combustion were investigated using a constant-volume vessel and a total gas-sampling device. The results show that promotion of fuel-air mixing reduces final NOx mass accompanying a delayed hot flame. In particular, under low oxygen mole fraction conditions, in addition to the hot flame delay, the promotion of fuel-air mixing results in a lower heat release rate. In this case, the final NOx mass is further reduced. For a fixed nozzle orifice diameter, the final NOx mass is reduced with increasing injection pressure. This effect is remarkable for smaller nozzle orifice diameters. Regardless of the oxygen mole fraction, under the low injection fuel quantity condition, enhancement of fuel-air mixing reduces the final NOx mass per released heat.

The aim of this study is to find strategies for fully utilizing the advantage of diesel-ethanol blend fuel in recent diesel engines. For this purpose, experiments were performed using a single-cylinder direct injection diesel engine equipped with a high-pressure common rail injection and a cold EGR system. The results indicate that significant PM reduction at high engine loads can be achieved using 15% ethanol-diesel blend fuel. Increasing injection pressure promotes PM reduction. However, poor ignitability of ethanol blended fuel results in higher rate of pressure rise at high engine loads and unstable and incomplete combustion at lower engine loads. Using pilot injection with proper amount and timing solves above problems. NOx increase due to the high injection pressure can be controlled employing cold EGR. Weak sooting tendency of ethanol-blend fuel enables to use high EGR rates for significant NOx reduction.

The combustion process of natural gas in a premixed charged compression ignition (PCCI) engine is analyzed using computational fluid dynamics via stochastic approach. The nonuniform states of turbulent mixing and the ignition process are statistically described using probability density function (PDF). The results show that the course of in-cylinder pressure is good agreement with experimental data, and the effect of mixture heterogeneity on the ignition delay and the rate of heat release is revealed.

The Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI) natural-gas engine has been investigated extensively as a power source for stationary applications due to its potential for high thermal efficiency and very low NOx emissions. However, methane, which is a major component of natural gas, has a high auto-ignition temperature. Stable ignition of natural gas in PCCI engines can be achieved by high compression ratio, intake air heating, internal EGR and various other techniques. Although each of the above-mentioned methods shows positive effects, to some extent, on engine performance and emissions, the literature indicates that stable operation of the PCCI natural gas engine would require a combination of various techniques, which reveals the need for further investigation. The goal of the present study is to control the PCCI natural gas ignition and combustion by ozone addition into the intake air.

Utilization of ethanol-diesel blend fuels in partial Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI) combustion was attempted to achieve clean diesel engine. The experiment was carried out using a naturally aspirated single cylinder DI diesel engine equipped with common rail injection and cooled EGR systems. PCCI combustion was realized by two stage injection in which part of fuel was injected during the compression stroke and the rest near TDC. The results indicate that under middle to high engine loads, both weak sooting tendency and low cetane number of ethanol blend fuels offer a great improvement in PM and NOx emissions when compared to the diesel combustion with ordinary pilot injection. However, this results in penalties in thermal efficiency, THC and CO emissions.

Ethanol is a bio-based renewable and oxygenated fuel, thereby providing potential to reduce the PM emission in diesel engines and to provide reduction in life cycle CO2. There are several studies which report improvement in the engine performance using ethanol blend fuels. However, most of these studies are carried out using diesel engines with basic combustion control technologies. Therefore, it is doubtful whether a diesel engine fuelled with ethanol blend fuels can compete with the recently developed clean diesel engines. From another point of view, it is important to know whether it is possible to overcome the disadvantages of ethanol blend fuels using modern diesel engines. The aim of this study is to find strategies for fully utilizing the advantages of diesel-ethanol blends in the recent diesel engines. For this purpose, experiments were performed using a single-cylinder DI diesel engine equipped with common rail injection and cold EGR systems.

Aim of this study is to clarify the NOx formation mechanism in diesel combustion under high-supercharged condition. Effects of ambient conditions and fuel injection parameters on diesel combustion were investigated using a constant volume chamber. NOx formation process was investigated using a total gas-sampling device. The results indicate that by using the above experimental setup it is possible to realize entirely diffusion combustion like what seen in the highly supercharged condition. Increasing ambient pressure up to 8MPa with high injection pressure shortens the ignition delay and offers a heat release rate proportional to the fuel injection rate with a short combustion duration. Increasing ambient pressure gives a higher NOx formation rate and final NOx concentration. This is due to enhancement in the fuel-air mixing which promotes the heat release.

To find more effective lean mixture preparation methods for smokeless and low NOx combustion, a numerical study of the effects of in-cylinder flow field before injection on mixture formation in a premixed compression ignition engine was conducted. Premixed compression ignition combustion is a very attractive method to reduce both NOx and soot emissions, but it still has some problems, such as high HC and CO emissions. In case of early direct injection, it is important to avoid wall wetting by spray impingement, which can cause higher HC and CO emissions. Since it is not easy to examine the effects of initial flow and injection parameters on mixture formation over the wide range by practical engine tests, a computer program named “GTT (Generalized Tank and Tube)” code was used to simulate the in-cylinder phenomena before autoignition.

Natural gas/diesel dual fuel engines have potential for a high thermal efficiency and low NOx emissions. However, they have the disadvantages of high unburned species emissions and lower thermal efficiencies at low loads (at low equivalence ratio). A way to solve this problem is to properly distribute the pilot fuel vapor in a natural-gas premixture. The combustion chamber geometry affects the combustion process since it influences the distribution of the pilot fuel vapor. This study investigates the influence of injection conditions and the piston bowl geometry on the performance and emissions of a dual fuel engine. Experiments were carried out using two pistons with different bowl diameters, 52 mm and 58 mm, at single-and two-stage diesel-fuel injection. The results show that the larger bowl provides lower hydrocarbon emissions at a lower equivalence ratio in the case of single-stage injection.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the characteristics of combustion that combine premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI)-based combustion with conventional mixing controlled combustion. In this type of combustion, it is supposed that the combustion duration is shortened due to the synchronization of the timing of two types of combustions. In addition, the cooling loss caused by spray impingement is expected to decrease by the reduction of the proportion of mixing controlled combustion. In this study, the effect of injection pressure, injection timing, and split injection on thermal efficiency and emissions were investigated in order to determine the appropriate injection parameters for PCCI-based combustion to realize the proposed combustion concept.