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A combination of optical imaging diagnostics has been applied to the fuel jet of a direct-injection diesel engine to study the ignition and early soot formation processes. Measurements were made in an optically accessible direct-injection diesel engine of the “heavy-duty” size class at a representative medium speed (1200 rpm) operating condition. Two fuels were used, a 42.5 cetane number mixture of the diesel reference fuels and a new low-sooting fuel (needed to reduce optical attenuation at later crank angles) that closely matches both the cetane number and boiling point of the reference fuel mixture. The combustion and soot formation processes are found to be almost identical for both fuels. Ignition and early combustion were studied by imaging the natural chemiluminescence using a calibrated intensified video camera. The early soot development was investigated via luminosity imaging and simultaneous planar imaging of laser-induced incandescence (LII) and elastic scattering.

The effects of ambient gas thermodynamic state and fuel composition on the autoignition of natural gas under direct-injection diesel conditions were studied experimentally in a constant-volume combustion vessel and computationally using a detailed chemical kinetic model. Natural gas compositions representative of variations observed across the U.S. were considered. These results extend previous observations to more realistic natural gas compositions and a wider range of thermodynamic states that include the top-dead-center conditions in the natural gas version of the 6V-92 engine being developed by Detroit Diesel Corporation. At temperatures less than 1200 K, the experiments demonstrated that the ignition delay of natural gas under diesel conditions has a dependence on temperature that is Arrhenius in character and a dependence on pressure that is close to first order.

A flamelet model is used to calculate combustion in a diesel engine, and the results are compared to experimental data available from an optically accessible, direct-injection diesel research engine. The 3∼D time-dependent Kiva-II code is used for the calculations, the standard Arrhenius combustion model being replaced by an ignition model and the coherent flame model for turbulent combustion. The ignition model is a four-step mechanism developed for heavy hydrocarbons which has been previously used for diesel combustion. The turbulent combustion model is a flamelet model developed from the basic ideas of Marble and Broadwell. This model considers local regions of the turbulent flame front as interfaces called flamelets which separate fuel and oxidizer in the case of a diffusion flame. These flamelets are accounted for by solving a transport equation for the flame surface density, i.e., the flame area per unit volume.

Two-dimensional laser-sheet imaging and high-speed cinematography have been used to examine the combustion process in a newly constructed, optically accessible, direct-injection Diesel engine of the “heavy-duty” size class. The design of this engine preserves the intake port geometry and basic dimensions of a Cummins N-series production engine. It also includes several unique features to provide considerable optical access. An extended piston with piston-crown window and a window in the cylinder head allow the processes in the combustion bowl and squish region to be observed simultaneously. Windows at the top of the cylinder wall provide orthogonal-optical access with the capability of allowing the laser sheet to enter the cylinder along the axis of the spray. Finally, this new engine incorporates a unique separating cylinder liner that permits rapid cleaning of the windows. Studies were performed at a medium speed (1200 rpm) using a Cummins closed-nozzle fuel injector.

A numerical model is used to examine the chemical kinetic processes leadING to knocking in spark-ignition internal combustion engines. The construction and validation of the model is described in detail, including low temperature reaction paths involving alkylperoxy radical isomerization. The numerical model is applied to C1 to C7 paraffinic hydrocarbon fuels, and a correlation is developed between the Research Octane Number (RON) and the computed time of ignition for each fuel. Octane number is shown to depend on the rates of OH radical production through isomerization reactions, and factors influencing the rate of isomerization such as fuel molecule size and structure are interpreted in terms of the kinetic model. knock behavior of fuel mixtures is examined, and the manner in which pro-knock and anti-knock additives influence ignition is studied numerically. The kinetics of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is discussed in particular detail.

Laser-induced incandescence (LII) has been explored as a diagnostic for qualitative two-dimensional imaging of the in-cylinder soot distribution in a diesel engine. Advantages of LII over elastic-scatter soot imaging techniques include no interfering signals from liquid fuel droplets, easy rejection of laser light scattered by in-cylinder surfaces, and the signal intensity being proportional to the soot volume fraction. LII images were obtained in a 2.3-liter, single cylinder, direct-injection diesel engine, modified for optical access. To minimize laser sheet and signal attenuation (which can affect almost any planar imaging technique applied to diesel engine combustion), a low-sooting fuel was used whose vaporization and combustion characteristics are typical of standard diesel fuels. Temporal and spatial sequences of LII images were made which show the extent of the soot distribution within the optically accessible portion the combusting spray plume.

Multi-dimensional computations were made of spark-ignited premixed-charge combustion in two engines having pent-roof-shaped combustion chambers and two intake valves per cylinder, one with a central spark plug and the other with dual lateral spark plugs. The basic specifications for the two engines were the same except for differences in the number of spark plugs and exhaust valves. The effects of swirl and equivalence ratio on combustion, wall heat transfer, and nitric oxide emission characteristics were examined using a global combustion model that accounts for laminar-kinetics and turbulent-mixing effects. The initial conditions on both mean-flow and turbulence parameters at intake valve closing (IVC) were estimated in order to simulate engine operation either with both intake valves active or with one valve deactivated. The predictions were compared with experimentally derived pressure-time, heat loss, and nitric oxide emission data.

The development of detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms for analysis of autoignition and knocking of complex hydrocarbon fuels is described. The wide ranges of temperature and pressure which are encountered by end gases in automobile engine combustion chambers result in extreme demands on the reaction mechanisms intended to describe knocking conditions. The reactions and chemical species which are most important in each temperature and pressure regime are discussed, and the validation of these reaction mechanisms through comparison with idealized experimental results is described. The use of these mechanisms is illustrated through comparisons between computed results and experimental data obtained in actual knocking engines.

The development of detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanisms for analysis of autoignition and knocking of hydrocarbon fuels is described. In particular, kinetic processes of concern for the oxidation of complex hydrocarbon fuel molecules are emphasized. The wide ranges of temperature and pressure which are encountered by end gases in automobile engine combustion chambers result in extreme demands on reaction mechanisms which are intended to describe knocking conditions and predict rates of combustion and ignition. The reactions and chemical species which are most important in each temperature and pressure regime are discussed, and the validation of these reaction mechanisms through comparison with idealized experimental results is described.