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Simultaneous two-component measurements of gas velocity and multi-dimensional numerical simulation are employed to characterize the evolution of the in-cylinder turbulent flow structure in a re-entrant bowl-in-piston engine under motored operation. The evolution of the mean flow field, turbulence energy, turbulent length scales, and the various terms contributing to the production of the turbulence energy are correlated and compared, with the objectives of clarifying the physical mechanisms and flow structures that dominate the turbulence production and of identifying the source of discrepancies between the measured and simulated turbulence fields. Additionally, the applicability of the linear turbulent stress modeling hypothesis employed in the k-ε model is assessed using the experimental mean flow gradients, turbulence energy, and length scales.

In-cylinder fluid velocity is measured in an optically accessible, fired HSDI engine at idle. The velocity field is also calculated, including the full induction stroke, using multi-dimensional fluid dynamics and combustion simulation models. A detailed comparison between the measured and calculated velocities is performed to validate the computed results and to gain a physical understanding of the flow evolution. Motored measurements are also presented, to clarify the effects of the fuel injection process and combustion on the velocity field evolution. The calculated mean in-cylinder angular momentum (swirl ratio) and mean flow structures prior to injection agree well with the measurements. Modification of the mean flow by fuel injection and combustion is also well captured.

Managing the injection rate profile is a powerful tool to control engine performance and emission levels. In particular, Common Rail (C.R.) injection systems allow an almost completely flexible fuel injection event in DI-diesel engines by permitting a free mapping of the start of injection, injection pressure, rate of injection and, in the near future, multiple injections. This research deals with the development of a network-based numerical tool for understanding operating condition limits of the Common Rail injector. The models simulate the electro-fluid-mechanical behavior of the injector accounting for cavitation in the nozzle holes. Validation against experiments has been performed. The model has been used to provide insight into the operating conditions of the injector and in order to highlight the application to injection system design.

Cycle-resolved analysis of velocity data obtained in the re-entrant bowl of a fired high-;speed, direct-injection diesel engine, demonstrates an unambiguous, approximately 100% increase in late-cycle turbulence levels over the levels measured during motored operation. Model predictions of the flow field, obtained employing RNG k-ε turbulence modeling in KIVA-3V, do not capture this increased turbulence. A combined experimental and computational approach is taken to identify the source of this turbulence. The results indicate that the dominant source of the increased turbulence is associated with the formation of an unstable distribution of mean angular momentum, characterized by a negative radial gradient. The importance of this source of flow turbulence has not previously been recognized for engine flows. The enhanced late-cycle turbulence is found to be very sensitive to the flow swirl level.

The present study uses a numerical model to investigate the effects of flow turbulence on premixed iso-octane HCCI engine combustion. Different levels of in-cylinder turbulence are generated by using different piston geometries, namely a disc-shape versus a square-shape bowl. The numerical model is based on the KIVA code which is modified to use CHEMKIN as the chemistry solver. A detailed reaction mechanism is used to simulate the fuel chemistry. It is found that turbulence has significant effects on HCCI combustion. In the current engine setup, the main effect of turbulence is to affect the wall heat transfer, and hence to change the mixture temperature which, in turn, influences the ignition timing and combustion duration. The model also predicts that the combustion duration in the square bowl case is longer than that in the disc piston case which agrees with the measurements.

Simultaneous measurements of the radial and the tangential components of velocity are obtained in a high-speed, direct-injection diesel engine typical of automotive applications. Results are presented for engine operation with fuel injection, but without combustion, for three different swirl ratios and four injection pressures. With the mean and fluctuating velocities, the r-θ plane shear stress and the mean flow gradients are obtained. Longitudinal and transverse length scales are also estimated via Taylor's hypothesis. The flow is shown to be sufficiently homogeneous and stationary to obtain meaningful length scale estimates. Concurrently, the flow and injection processes are simulated with KIVA-3V employing a RNG k-ε turbulence model. The measured turbulent kinetic energy k, r-θ plane mean strain rates ( 〈Srθ〉, 〈Srr〉, and 〈Sθθ〉 ), deviatoric turbulent stresses , and the r-θ plane turbulence production terms are compared directly to the simulated results.

RNG k-ε closure turbulence dissipation equations are evaluated employing the CFD code KIVA-3V Release 2. The numerical evaluations start by considering simple jet flows, including incompressible air jets and compressible helium jets. The results show that the RNG closure turbulence model predicts lower jet tip penetration than the "standard" k-ε model, as well as being lower than experimental data. The reason is found to be that the turbulence kinetic energy is dissipated too slowly in the downstream region near the jet nozzle exit. In this case, the over-predicted R term in RNG model becomes a sink of dissipation in the ε-equation. As a second step, the RNG turbulence closure dissipation models are further tested in complex engine flows to compare against the measured evolution of turbulence kinetic energy, and an estimate of its dissipation rate, during both the compression and expansion processes.

The simulation of combustion chemistry in internal combustion engines is challenging due to the need to include detailed reaction mechanisms to describe the engine physics. Computational times needed for coupling full chemistry to CFD simulations are still too computationally demanding, even when distributed computer systems are exploited. For these reasons the present paper proposes a time scale separation approach for the integration of the chemistry differential equations and applies it in an engine CFD code. The time scale separation is achieved through the estimation of a characteristic time for each of the species and the introduction of a sampling timestep, wherein the chemistry is subcycled during the overall integration. This allows explicit integration of the system to be carried out, and the step size is governed by tolerance requirements.

In a recent study, quantitative measurements were presented of in-cylinder spatial distributions of mixture equivalence ratio in a single-cylinder light-duty optical diesel engine, operated with a non-reactive mixture at conditions similar to an early injection low-temperature combustion mode. In the experiments a planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) methodology was used to obtain local mixture equivalence ratio values based on a diesel fuel surrogate (75% n-heptane, 25% iso-octane), with a small fraction of toluene as fluorescing tracer (0.5% by mass). Significant changes in the mixture's structure and composition at the walls were observed due to increased charge motion at high swirl and injection pressure levels. This suggested a non-negligible impact on wall heat transfer and, ultimately, on efficiency and engine-out emissions.

Engine-out CO emission and fuel conversion efficiency were measured in a highly-dilute, low-temperature diesel combustion regime over a swirl ratio range of 1.44-7.12 and a wide range of injection timing. At fixed injection timing, an optimal swirl ratio for minimum CO emission and fuel consumption was found. At fixed swirl ratio, CO emission and fuel consumption generally decreased as injection timing was advanced. Moreover, a sudden decrease in CO emission was observed at early injection timings. Multi-dimensional numerical simulations, pressure-based measurements of ignition delay and apparent heat release, estimates of peak flame temperature, imaging of natural combustion luminosity and spray/wall interactions, and Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) measurements of in-cylinder turbulence levels are employed to clarify the sources of the observed behavior.

This study uses Fourier analysis to investigate the relationship between the heat release event and the frequency composition of pressure oscillations in a variety of combustion modes. While kinetically-controlled combustion strategies such as HCCI and RCCI offer advantages over CDC in terms of efficiency and NOX emissions, their operational range is limited by audible knock and the possibility of engine damage stemming from high pressure rise rates and oscillations. Several criteria such as peak pressure rise rate, ringing intensity, and various knock indices have been developed to quantify these effects, but they fail to capture all of the dynamics required to form direct comparisons between different engines or combustion strategies. Experiments were performed with RCCI, HCCI, and CDC on a 2.44 L heavy-duty engine at 1300 RPM, generating a significant diversity of heat release profiles.

A new technique which is based on optoacoustic phenomena has been developed for measuring in-cylinder gas temperature and turbulent diffusivity. In the experiments, a high energy Nd:YAG pulsed laser beam was focused to cause local ionization of air at a point in the combustion chamber. This initiates a shock wave and creates a hot spot. The local temperature and turbulent diffusivity are determined by monitoring the shock propagation and the hot spot growth, respectively, with a schlieren photography system. In order to assess the validity and accuracy of the measurements, the technique was also applied to a turbulent jet. The temperature measurements were found to be accurate to within 3%. Results from the turbulent jet measurements also showed that the growth rate of the hot spot diameter can be used to estimate the turbulent diffusivity. In-cylinder gas temperature measurements were made in a motored single cylinder Caterpillar diesel engine, modified for optical access.

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to make gas velocity and turbulence measurements in a motored diesel engine. The experiments were conducted using a single-cylinder version of the Caterpillar 3406 production engine. One of the exhaust valves and the fuel injector port were used to provide optical access to the combustion chamber so that modifications to the engine geometry were minimal, and the results are representative of the actual engine. Measurements of gas velocity were made in a plane in the piston bowl using TiO2 seed particles. The light sheet necessary for PIV was formed by passing the beam from a Nd:YAG laser through the injector port and reflecting the beam off a conical mirror at the center of the piston. PIV data was difficult to obtain due to significant out-of-plane velocities. However, data was acquired at 25° and 15° before top dead center of compression at 750 rev/min.

The three-dimensional KIVA code has been used to study the effects of injection pressure and split injections on diesel engine performance and soot and NOx emissions. The code has been updated with state-of-the-art submodels including: a wave breakup atomization model, drop drag with drop distortion, spray/wall interaction with sliding, rebounding, and breaking-up drops, multistep kinetics ignition and laminar-turbulent characteristic time combustion, wall heat transfer with unsteadiness and compressibility, Zeldovich NOx formation, and soot formation with Nagle Strickland-Constable oxidation. The computational results are compared with experimental data from a single-cylinder Caterpillar research engine equipped with a high-pressure, electronically-controlled fuel injection system, a full-dilution tunnel for soot measurements, and gaseous emissions instrumentation.

This study was conducted to develop an understanding of how rate-shaped and split injections can affect the soot and NOx emissions of a heavy-duty diesel engine. The tests were performed on a single cylinder version of the Caterpillar 3406 production engine, modified to accept an electronically-controlled, high-pressure common-rail injection system that offers a very high degree of flexibility in injection timing, split injections, and rate shaping of the initial injection. The engine was instrumented for particulate measurements with a full dilution tunnel, and CO, CO2 and NOx emission meters. Cylinder pressure was used to study heat release rates, and the response to changes in the injection scheme. The results show that rate-shaped injection, when optimized for lowest BSFC, does not appreciably affect pressure rise or peak cylinder gas pressures.

An emissions and performance study was performed to show the effects of injection pressure, nozzle hole inlet condition (sharp and rounded edge) and nozzle included spray angle on particulate, NOx, and BSFC. The tests were conducted on a fully instrumented single-cylinder version of the Caterpillar 3406 heavy duty engine at 75% and 25% load at 1600 RPM. The fuel system consisted of an electronically controlled, hydraulically actuated, unit injector capable of injection pressures up to 160 MPa. Particulate versus NOx trade-off curves were generated for each case by varying the injection timing. The 75% load results showed the expected decrease in particulate and flattening of the trade-off curve with increased injection pressure. However, in going from 90 to 160 MPa, the timing had to be retarded to maintain the same NOx level, and this resulted in a 1 to 2% increase in BSFC. The rounded edged nozzles were found to have an increased discharge coefficient.

A study was performed to correlate the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD), NOx and particulate emissions of a direct injection diesel engine with various injection pressures and different nozzle geometry. The spray experiments and engine emission tests were conducted in parallel using the same fuel injection system and same operating conditions. With high speed photography and digital image analysis, a light extinction technique was used to obtain the spray characteristics which included spray tip penetration length, spray angle, and overall average SMD for the entire spray. The NOx and particulate emissions were acquired by running the tests on a fully instrumented Caterpillar 3406 heavy duty engine. Experimental results showed that for higher injection pressures, a smaller SMD was observed, i.e. a finer spray was obtained. For this case, a higher NOx and lower particulate resulted.

An emissions and performance study was conducted to explore the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and multiple injections on the emission of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate emissions, and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) over a wide range of engine operating conditions. The tests were conducted on an instrumented single cylinder version of the Caterpillar 3400 series heavy duty Diesel engine. Data was taken at 1600 rev/min, and 75% load, and also at operating conditions taken from a 6-mode simulation of the federal transient test procedure (FTP). The fuel system used was an electronically controlled, common rail injector and supporting hardware. The fuel system was capable of as many as four independent injections per combustion event at pressures from 20 to 120MPa.

Improved atomization is important in fuel injection applications since atomization influences fuel-air mixing and vaporization rates. The present paper explores the use of low pressure gas/air injection and methods to achieve a dispersed two-phase flow to enhance the atomization process. Gas-driven twin-fluid atomization has been achieved by combining X-ray lithographic/micro-machining technology to mechanically disperse a driving gas into a liquid to be sprayed. This technique forces the gas through a designed pattern of micron sized holes thereby yielding a field of micro-bubbles immediately upstream of the < I mm. diameter discharge orifice. Precise control of both uniformity of hole diameter and inter-hole spacing is critical to producing a well dispersed bubbly flow. The results show that the method of gas injection influences the liquid breakup process. Results are given for steady-flow atomization with low pressure injection into ambient air.

Multidimensional computations were carried out to simulate the in-cylinder fuel/air mixing process of a direct-injection spark-ignition engine using a modified version of the KIVA-3 code. A hollow cone spray was modeled using a Lagrangian stochastic approach with an empirical initial atomization treatment which is based on experimental data. Improved Spalding-type evaporation and drag models were used to calculate drop vaporization and drop dynamic drag. Spray/wall impingement hydrodynamics was accounted for by using a phenomenological model. Intake flows were computed using a simple approach in which a prescribed velocity profile is specified at the two intake valve openings. This allowed three intake flow patterns, namely, swirl, tumble and non-tumble, to be considered. It was shown that fuel vaporization was completed at the end of compression stroke with early injection timing under the chosen engine operating conditions.