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Active prechamber combustion systems for SI engines represent a feasible and effective solution in reducing fuel consumption and pollutant emissions for both marine and ground heavy-duty engines. However, reliable and low-cost numerical approaches need to be developed to support and speed-up their industrial design considering their geometry complexity and the involved multiple flow length scales. This work presents a CFD methodology based on the RANS approach for the simulation of active prechamber spark-ignition engines. To reduce the computational time, the gas exchange process is computed only in the prechamber region to correctly describe the flow and mixture distributions, while the whole cylinder geometry is considered only for the power-cycle (compression, combustion and expansion). Outside the prechamber the in-cylinder flow field at IVC is estimated from the measured swirl ratio.

The present work describes the numerical modeling of medium-speed marine engines, operating in a fumigated dual-fuel mode, i.e. with the second fuel injected in the ports. This engine technology allows reducing engine-out emissions while maintaining the engine efficiency and can be fairly easily retrofitted from current diesel engines. The main premixed fuel that is added can be a low-carbon one and can additionally be of a renewable nature, thereby reducing or even completely removing the global warming impact. To fully optimize the operational parameters of such a large marine engine, computational fluid dynamics can be very helpful. Accurately describing the combustion process in such an engine is key, as the prediction of the heat release and the pollutant formation is crucial. Auto-ignition of the diesel fuel needs to be captured, followed by the combustion and flame propagation of the premixed fuel.

Fuel effects on ignition delay and low temperature reactions (LTR) during partially premixed combustion (PPC) were analyzed using Design of Experiments (DoE). The test matrix included seventeen mixtures of n-heptane, isooctane, toluene and ethanol covering a broad range of ignition quality and fuel chemistry. Experiments were performed on a light-duty diesel engine at 8 bar IMEPg, 1500 rpm with a variation in combustion phasing, inlet oxygen concentration and injection pressure. A single injection strategy was used and the start of injection and injection duration were adjusted to achieve the desired load and combustion phasing. The experimental data show that fuels with higher Research Octane Number (RON) values generally produced longer ignition delays. In addition, the alcohol content had significantly stronger effect on ignition delay than the aromatic content.

This article deals with study of ionization current sensing technique's signal characteristics while operating with pre-chamber spark plug to achieve plasma jet ignition in a 6 cylinder 9 liter turbo-charged natural gas engine under EGR and excess air dilution. Unlike the signal with conventional spark plug which can be divided into distinct chemical and thermal ionization peaks, the signal with pre-chamber spark plug shows a much larger first peak and a negligible second peak thereafter. Many studies in past have found the time of second peak coinciding with the time of maximum cylinder pressure and this correlation has been used as an input to combustion control systems but the absence of second peak makes application of this concept difficult with pre-chamber spark plug.

Partially Premixed Combustion, PPC, with 50% Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) at lean combustion conditions λ =1.5, has shown good efficiency and low emissions in a heavy-duty single-cylinder engine. To meet emission requirements in all loads and transient operation, aftertreatment devices are likely needed. Reducing λ to unity, when a three-way catalyst can be applied, extremely low emissions possibility exists for stoichiometric PPC. In this study, the possibility to operate clean PPC from lean condition to stoichiometric equivalence ratio with reasonable efficiency and non-excessive soot emission was investigated. Two EGR rates, 48% and 38% with two fuel rates were determined for 99.5 vol% ethanol in comparison with one gasoline fuel and Swedish diesel fuel (MK1). Engine was operated at 1250 rpm and 1600 bar injection pressure with single injection. Results revealed that efficiency was reduced and soot emission increased from lean PPC to stoichiometric PPC operation.

High EGR rates combined with turbocharging has been identified as a promising way to increase the maximum load and efficiency of heavy duty spark ignition engines. With stoichiometric conditions a three way catalyst can be used which means that regulated emissions can be kept at very low levels. Obtaining reliable spark ignition is difficult however with high pressure and dilution. There will be a limit to the amount of EGR that can be tolerated for each operating point. Open loop operation based on steady state maps is difficult since there is substantial dynamics both from the turbocharger and from the wall heat interaction. The proposed approach applies standard closed loop lambda control for controlling the overall air/fuel ratio. Furthermore, ion-current based dilution limit control is applied on the EGR in order to maximize EGR rate as long as combustion stability is preserved.

High EGR rates combined with turbocharging has been identified as a promising way to increase the maximum load and efficiency of heavy duty spark ignition engines. With stoichiometric conditions a three way catalyst can be used which means that regulated emissions can be kept at very low levels. Obtaining reliable spark ignition is difficult however with high pressure and dilution. There will be a limit to the amount of EGR that can be tolerated for each operating point. Open loop operation based on steady state maps is difficult since there is substantial dynamics both from the turbocharger and from the wall heat interaction. The proposed approach applies standard closed loop lambda control for controlling the overall air/fuel ratio for a heavy duty 6-cylinder port injected natural gas engine. A closed loop load control is also applied for keeping the load at a constant level when using EGR.

In the challenge to reduce CO2, NOx and PM emissions, the application of natural gas or biogas in engines is a viable approach. In heavy duty and marine, either a conventional dual fuel (CDF), or a reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) approach is feasible on existing diesel engines. In both technologies a pilot diesel injection is used to ignite the premixed natural gas. However, the influence of injection-timing and -pressure on the start of combustion timing (SOC) is opposite between both modes. For a single operating point these relations can be explained by a detailed CFD simulation, but an intuitive overall explanation is lacking. This makes it difficult to incorporate both modes into one engine application, using a single controller. In an experimental campaign by the authors, on a medium speed engine, the lowest emissions were found to be very close to the SOC corresponding to the transition from RCCI to CDF.

The natural gas/diesel dual-fuel engine is an interesting technique to reduce greenhouse gas emission. A limitation of this concept is the emission of un-combusted methane. In this study we analyzed the influence of PFI gas-injection timing on cylinder to cylinder gas-distribution, and the resulting methane emissions. This was done on a 6 cylinder HD engine test bench and in a GT-power simulation of the same engine. The main variable in all tests was the timing of the intake port gas injection, placed either before, after, or during the intake stroke. It showed that injecting outside of the intake window resulted in significant variation of the amount of trapped gaseous fuel over the 6 cylinders, having a strong impact on methane emissions. Injecting outside of the intake stroke results in gas awaiting in the intake port. Both testing and simulation made clear that as a result of this, cylinder 1 leans out and cylinder 6 enriches.

It has previously been shown by the authors that the pre-chamber ignition technique operating with fuel-rich pre-chamber combustion strategy is a very effective means of extending the lean limit of combustion with excess air in heavy duty natural gas engines in order to improve indicated efficiency and reduce emissions. This article presents a study of the influence of pre-chamber volume and nozzle diameter on the resultant ignition characteristics. The two parameters varied are the ratio of pre-chamber volume to engine's clearance volume and the ratio of total area of connecting nozzle to the pre-chamber volume. Each parameter is varied in 3 steps hence forming a 3 by 3 test matrix. The experiments are performed on a single cylinder 2L engine fitted with a custom made pre-chamber capable of spark ignition, fuel injection and pressure measurement.

Methanol as an alternative fuel in internal combustion engines has an advantage in decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases and soot. Hence, developing of a high performance internal combustion engine operating with methanol has attracted the attention in industry and academic research community. This paper presents a numerical study of methanol combustion at different start-of-injection (SOI) in a direct injection compression ignition (DICI) engine supported by experimental studies. The aim is to investigate the combustion behavior of methanol with single and double injection at close to top-dead-center (TDC) conditions. The experimental engine is a modified version of a heavy duty D13 Scania engine. URANS simulations are performed for various injection timings with delayed SOI towards TDC, aiming at analyzing the characteristics of partially premixed combustion (PPC).

The effects of fuel properties on the performance and emissions of an engine running in partially premixed combustion mode were investigated using nine test fuels developed in the gasoline boiling point range. The fuels covered a broad range of ignition quality and fuel chemistry. The fuels were characterized by performing a load sweep between 1 and 12 bar gross IMEP at 1000 and 1300 rpm. A heavy duty single cylinder engine from Scania was used for the experiments; the piston was not modified thus resulting in the standard compression ratio of 18:1. In order to properly run gasoline type of fuels in partially premixed combustion mode, an advanced combustion concept was developed. The concept involved using a lot of EGR, very high boost and an advanced injection strategy previously developed by the authors. By applying this concept all the fuels showed gross indicated efficiencies higher than 50% with a peak of 57% at 8 bar IMEP.

The use of compressed natural gas (CNG) in light duty applications is still restricted to conventional spark ignition engines operating at low compression ratio, so overall efficiency is limited. A combustion concept that has been successfully applied on large stationary engines and to some extent on heavy-duty engines is dual-fuel combustion, where a compression-ignited diesel pilot injection is used to ignite a homogeneous charge of methane gas and air. CNG is injected in the intake ports during the intake stroke and later in the cycle the premixed air-CNG mixture is ignited via a pilot diesel injection close to top dead center. However, this concept has not been applied to a significant extent on light duty engines yet. The main reasons are linked to high temperature methane oxidation requirements and poor combustion efficiency at diluted conditions at low loads.

This paper presents a computational study of the effects of fuel and thermal stratifications on homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion process in a personal car sized internal combustion engine. Stratified HCCI conditions are generated using a negative valve overlap (NVO) technique. The aims of this study are to improve the understanding of the flow dynamics, the heat and mass transfer process and the onset of auto-ignition in stratified charges under different internal EGR rate and NVO conditions. The fuel is ethanol supplied through port-fuel injection; the fuel/air mixture is assumed to be homogenous before discharging to the cylinder. Large eddy simulation (LES) is used to resolve in detailed level the flow structures, and the mixing and heat transfer between the residual gas and fresh fuel/air mixtures in the intake and compression strokes.

HCCI combustion can be enabled by many types of liquid and gaseous fuels. When considering what fuels will be most suitable, the emissions also have to be taken into account. This study focuses on the emissions formation originating from different fuel components. A systematic study of over 40 different gasoline surrogate fuels was made. All fuels were studied in a CFR engine running in HCCI operation. Many of the fuels were blended to achieve similar RON's and MON's as gasoline fuels, and the components (n-heptane, iso-octane, toluene, and ethanol) were chosen to represent the most important in gasoline; nparaffins, iso-paraffins, aromatics and oxygenates. The inlet air temperature was varied from 50°C to 150°C to study the effects on the emissions. The compression ratio was adjusted for each operating point to achieve combustion 3 degrees after TDC. The engine was run at an engine speed of 600 rpm, with ambient intake air pressure and with an equivalence ratio of 0.33.

Fumigation was studied in a 12 L six-cylinder heavy-duty engine. Port-injected ethanol was ignited with a small amount of diesel injected into the cylinder. The setup left much freedom for influencing the combustion process, and the aim of this study was to find operation modes that result in a combustion resembling that of a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine with high efficiency and low NOx emissions. Igniting the ethanol-air mixture using direct-injected diesel has attractive properties compared to traditional HCCI operation where the ethanol is ignited by pressure alone. No preheating of the mixture is required, and the amount of diesel injected can be used to control the heat release rate. The two fuel injection systems provide a larger flexibility in extending the HCCI operating range to low and high loads. It was shown that cylinder-to-cylinder variations present a challenge for this type of combustion.

Alternative fuels, such as natural and bio-gas, are attractive options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from combustion engines. However, the naturally occurring variation in gas composition poses a challenge and may significantly impact engine performance. The gas composition affects fundamental fuel properties such as flame propagation speed and heat release rate. Deviations from the gas composition for which the engine was calibrated result in changes in the combustion phase, reducing engine efficiency and increasing fuel consumption and emissions. However, the efficiency loss can be limited by estimating the combustion phase and adapting the spark timing, which could be implemented favorably using a closed-loop control approach. In this paper, we evaluate the efficiency loss resulting from varying gas compositions and the benefits of using a closed-loop controller to adapt the spark timing to retain the nominal combustion phase.

The focus has recently been directed towards the engine out soot from Diesel engines. Running an engine in PPC (Partially Premixed Combustion) mode has a proven tendency of reducing these emissions significantly. In addition to combustion strategy, several studies have suggested that using alcohol fuels aid in reducing soot emissions to ultra-low levels. This study analyzes and compares the characteristics of PM emissions from naphtha gasoline PPC, ethanol PPC, methanol PPC and methanol diffusion combustion in terms of soot mass concentration, number concentration and particle size distribution in a single cylinder Scania D13 engine, while varying the intake O2. Intake temperature and injection pressure sweeps were also conducted. The fuels emitting the highest mass concentration of particles (Micro Soot Sensor) were gasoline and methanol followed by ethanol. The two alcohols tested emitted nucleation mode particles only, whereas gasoline emitted accumulation mode particles as well.

Using diluted methane/air mixtures in internal combustion engines has a potential of reducing emissions and increasing efficiency. However, the ignition systems used today show difficulties igniting lean mixtures. For this purpose a new high frequency (HF) ignition system using pulse generators and a resonance circuit to achieve a controlled number of sparks during a controlled period of time has been developed. A first prototype of this high frequency system has been tested in a flow-reactor and compared to a conventional ignition system. Results show that the high frequency system improves the flame development under lean conditions compared to the conventional system. Higher frequencies have higher capability of igniting lean mixtures than lower frequencies. Lower spark frequencies were found to travel faster across the electrodes than high frequencies and also compared to the conventional system.

The worldwide adoption of renewable energy mandates, together with the widespread utilization of biofuels has created a sharp increase in the production of biodiesel (fatty acid alkyl esters). As a consequence, the production of glycerol, the main by-product of the transesterification of fatty acids, has increased accordingly, which has led to an oversupply of that compound on the markets. Therefore, in order to increase the sustainability of the biodiesel industry, alternative uses for glycerol need to be explored and the production of fuel additives is a good example of the so-called glycerol valorization. The goal of this study is therefore to evaluate the suitability of a number of glycerol-derived compounds as diesel fuel additives. Moreover, this work concerns the assessment of low-concentration blends of those glycerol derivatives with diesel fuel, which are more likely to conform to the existing fuel standards and be used in unmodified engines.