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Diesel spray experimentation at controlled high-temperature and high-pressure conditions is intended to provide a more fundamental understanding of diesel combustion than can be achieved in engine experiments. This level of understanding is needed to develop the high-fidelity multi-scale CFD models that will be used to optimize future engine designs. Several spray chamber facilities capable of high-temperature, high-pressure conditions typical of engine combustion have been developed, but because of the uniqueness of each facility, there are uncertainties about their operation. For this paper, we describe results from comparative studies using constant-volume vessels at Sandia National Laboratories and IFP.

A full understanding and characterization of the near-field of diesel sprays is daunting because the dense spray region inhibits most diagnostics. While x-ray diagnostics permit quantification of fuel mass along a line of sight, most laboratories necessarily use simple lighting to characterize the spray spreading angle, using it as an input for CFD modeling, for example. Questions arise as to what is meant by the “boundary” of the spray since liquid fuel concentration is not easily quantified in optical imaging. In this study we seek to establish a relationship between spray boundary obtained via optical diffused backlighting and the fuel concentration derived from tomographic reconstruction of x-ray radiography. Measurements are repeated in different facilities at the same specified operating conditions on the “Spray A” fuel injector of the Engine Combustion Network, which has a nozzle diameter of 90 μm.

Methanol emerges as a compelling renewable fuel for decarbonizing engine applications due to a mature industry with high production capacity, existing distribution infrastructure, low carbon intensity and favorable cost. Methanol’s high flame speed and high autoignition resistance render it particularly well-suited for spark-ignition (SI) engines. Previous research showed a distinct phenomenon, known deflagration-based knock in methanol combustion, whereby knocking combustion was observed albeit without end-gas autoignition. This work studies the implications of deflagration-based knock on noise emissions by investigating the knock intensity and combustion noise at knock-limited operation of methanol in a single-cylinder direct-injection SI engine operated at both stoichiometric and lean (λ = 2.0) conditions. Results are compared against observations from a premium-grade gasoline.

Fuel injection during negative valve overlap offers a promising method of controlling HCCI combustion, but sorting out the thermal and chemical effects of NVO fueling requires knowledge of temperatures throughout the cycle. Computing bulk temperatures throughout closed portions of the cycle is relatively straightforward using an equation of state, once a temperature at one crank angle is established. Unfortunately, computing charge temperatures at intake valve closing for NVO operation is complicated by a large, unknown fraction of residual gases at unknown temperature. To address the problem, we model blowdown and recompression during exhaust valve opening and closing events, allowing us to estimate in-cylinder charge temperatures based on exhaust-port measurements. This algorithm permits subsequent calculation of crank-angle-resolved bulk temperatures and residual gas fraction over a wide range of NVO operation.

Ionization probes built into the head gasket and uniformly distributed around the cylinder bore of a knocking, spark-ignition engine have been used to locate the autoigniting end-gas region. As normal combustion evolves after spark ignition, the ionization probes individually respond to the arrival of the propagating flame. Then, when autoignition occurs, the probes located in the end-gas region respond in rapid succession. By utilizing pressure transducer measurements to determine when autoignition occurs, the ionization probe response becomes a means to locate the end-gas region. Knowledge of the location of the last ionization probe to detect the normal flame can then be used to infer where, within the end-gas region, autoignition first occurred.

This paper proposes a structure for the diesel combustion process based on a combination of previously published and new results. Processes are analyzed with proven chemical kinetic models and validated with data from production-like direct injection diesel engines. The analysis provides new insight into the ignition and particulate formation processes, which combined with laser diagnostics, delineates the two-stage nature of combustion in diesel engines. Data are presented to quantify events occurring during the ignition and initial combustion processes that form soot precursors. A framework is also proposed for understanding the heat release and emission formation processes.

Methods for detection of the spatial position and timing of diesel ignition with improved accuracy are demonstrated in an optically accessible constant-volume chamber at engine-like pressure and temperature conditions. High-speed pressure measurement using multiple transducers, followed by triangulation correction for the speed of the pressure wave, permits identification of the autoignition spatial location and timing. Simultaneously, high-speed Schlieren and broadband chemiluminescence imaging provides validation of the pressure-based triangulation technique. The combined optical imaging and corrected pressure measurement techniques offer improved understanding of diesel ignition phenomenon. Schlieren imaging shows the onset of low-temperature (first-stage) heat release prior to high-temperature (second-stage) ignition. High-temperature ignition is marked by more rapid pressure rise and broadband chemiluminescence.

Over the past decade, laser diagnostics have improved our understanding of many aspects of diesel combustion. However, interactions between the combusting fuel jet and the piston-bowl wall are not well understood. In heavy-duty diesel engines, with typical fuels, these interactions occur with the combusting vapor-phase region of the jet, which consists of a central region containing soot and other products of rich-premixed combustion, surrounded by a diffusion flame. Since previous work has shown that the OH radical is a good marker of the diffusion flame, planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging of OH was applied to an investigation of the diffusion flame during wall interaction. In addition, simultaneous OH PLIF and planar laser-induced incandescence (PLII) soot imaging was applied to investigate the likelihood for soot deposition on the bowl wall.

Double-pulse laser-induced desorption with elastic laser scattering (LIDELS) is a diagnostic technique capable of making time-resolved, in situ measurements of the volatile fraction of diesel particulate matter (PM). The technique uses two laser pulses of comparable energy, separated in time by an interval sufficiently short to freeze the flow field, to measure the change in PM volume caused by laser-induced desorption of the volatile fraction. The first laser pulse of a pulse-pair produces elastic laser scattering (ELS) that gives the total PM volume, and also deposits the energy to desorb the volatiles. ELS from the second pulse gives the volume of the remaining solid portion of the PM, and the ratio of these two measurements is the quantitative solid volume fraction. In an earlier study, we used a single laser to make real-time LIDELS measurements during steady-state operation of a diesel engine.

Negative valve overlap (NVO) is a valve strategy employed to retain and recompress residual burned gases to assist HCCI combustion, particularly in the difficult regime of low-load operation. NVO allows the retention of large quantities of hot residual burned gases as well as the possibility of fuel addition for combustion control purposes. Reaction of fuel injected during NVO increases charge temperature, but in addition could produce reformed fuel species that may affect main combustion phasing. The strategy holds potential for controlling and extending low-load HCCI combustion. The goal of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of applying two-wavelength PLIF of 3-pentanone to obtain simultaneous, in-cylinder temperature and composition images during different parts of the HCCI/NVO cycle. Measurements are recorded during the intake and main compression strokes, as well as during the more challenging periods of NVO recompression and re-expansion.

An experimental study was conducted to characterize the dynamics and spray behavior of a wide range of minisac and Valve-Covered-Orifice (VCO) nozzles using a high-pressure diesel common-rail system. The measurements show that the resultant injection-rate is strongly dependent on common-rail pressure, nozzle hole diameter, and nozzle type. For split injection the dwell between injections strongly affects the second injection in regards to the needle lift profile and the injected fuel amount. The minisac nozzle can be used to achieve shorter pilot injections at lower common-rail pressures than the VCO nozzle. Penetration photographs of spray development in a high pressure, optical spray chamber were obtained and analyzed for each test condition. Spray symmetry and spray structure were found to depend significantly on the nozzle type.

Low-temperature combustion of diesel fuel was studied in a heavy-duty, single-cylinder, optical engine employing a 15-hole, dual-row, narrow-included-angle nozzle (10 holes × 70° and 5 holes × 35°) with 103-μm-diameter orifices. This nozzle configuration provided the spray targeting necessary to contain the direct-injected diesel fuel within the piston bowl for injection timings as early as 70° before top dead center. Spray-visualization movies, acquired using a high-speed camera, show that impingement of liquid fuel on the piston surface can result when the in-cylinder temperature and density at the time of injection are sufficiently low. Seven single- and two-parameter sweeps around a 4.82-bar gross indicated mean effective pressure load point were performed to map the sensitivity of the combustion and emissions to variations in injection timing, injection pressure, equivalence ratio, simulated exhaust-gas recirculation, intake temperature, intake boost pressure, and load.

Calorimetric measurements of the net heat input to the workpiece have been made to determine the effect of very high travel speeds on laser weld melting efficiency. Very high welding speeds are required in welding applications such as automotive where lasers are now applied extensively. Travel speeds as fast as 530 mm/s for continuous wave CO2 laser welding on 304 stainless steel have been examined in this study. Melting efficiency indicates what fraction of the laser power absorbed is used to produce melting rather than undesirable base metal heating. It was found that melting efficiency initially increased then slowly decreased as fusion zone dimensions changed. Dimensionless parameter correlations for melting efficiency based on heat flow theory have been presented for both 2D and 3D heat flow geometries. The levels of melting efficiency observed are close to the maximum values that are predicted with these correlations.

The detailed mechanisms by which oxygenated diesel fuels reduce engine-out soot emissions are not well understood. The literature contains conflicting results as to whether a fuel's overall oxygen content is the only important parameter in determining its soot-reduction potential, or if oxygenate molecular structure or other variables also play significant roles. To begin to resolve this controversy, experiments were conducted at a 1200-rpm, moderate-load operating condition using a modern-technology, 4-stroke, heavy-duty DI diesel engine with optical access. Images of broadband natural luminosity (i.e., light emission without spectral filtering) from the combustion chamber, coupled with heat-release and efficiency analyses, are presented for three test-fuels. One test-fuel (denoted GE80) was oxygenated with tri-propylene glycol methyl ether; the second (denoted BM88) was oxygenated with di-butyl maleate. The overall oxygen contents of these two fuels were matched at 26% by weight.

Post-injection strategies aimed at reducing engine-out emissions of unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) were investigated in an optical heavy-duty diesel engine operating at a low-load, low-temperature combustion (LTC) condition with high dilution (12.7% intake oxygen) where UHC emissions are problematic. Exhaust gas measurements showed that a carefully selected post injection reduced engine-out load-specific UHC emissions by 20% compared to operation with a single injection in the same load range. High-speed in-cylinder chemiluminescence imaging revealed that without a post injection, most of the chemiluminescence emission occurs close to the bowl wall, with no significant chemiluminescence signal within 27 mm of the injector. Previous studies have shown that over-leaning in this near-injector region after the end of injection causes the local equivalence ratio to fall below the ignitability limit.

The diffusion flame lift-off length of isolated, free diesel jets in quiescent atmospheres is known to have a strong influence on soot formation by affecting fuel/air mixing prior to combustion. In realistic engine environments, the proximity and temperature of in-cylinder surfaces, in-cylinder gas flows (swirl), and interactions between adjacent jets may affect the behavior of the flame lift-off, and thereby affect soot formation. To better understand the influence of these factors on the lift-off length and on soot formation, optical imaging diagnostics were employed to measure the flame lift-off length in an optically-accessible heavy-duty Direct Injection (DI) diesel engine. A two-camera OH chemiluminescence diagnostic was developed and employed to measure the flame lift-off length for a range of injector nozzle geometries and engine operating conditions.

For lean or dilute, boosted gasoline compression-ignition engines operating in a low-temperature combustion mode, creating a partially stratified fuel charge mixture prior to auto-ignition can be beneficial for reducing the heat-release rate (HRR) and the corresponding maximum rate of pressure rise. As a result, partial fuel stratification (PFS) can be used to increase load and/or efficiency without knock (i.e. without excessive ringing). In this work, a double direct-injection (D-DI) strategy is investigated for which the majority of the fuel is injected early in the intake stroke to create a relatively well-mixed background mixture, and the remaining fuel is injected in the latter part of the compression stroke to produce greater fuel stratification prior auto-ignition. Experiments were performed in a 1-liter single-cylinder engine modified for low-temperature gasoline combustion (LTGC) research.

In-cylinder reforming of injected fuel during an auxiliary negative valve overlap (NVO) period can be used to optimize main-cycle auto-ignition phasing for low-load Low-Temperature Gasoline Combustion (LTGC), where highly dilute mixtures can lead to poor combustion stability. When mixed with fresh intake charge and fuel, these reformate streams can alter overall charge reactivity characteristics. The central issue remains large parasitic heat losses from the retention and compression of hot exhaust gases along with modest pumping losses that result from mixing hot NVO-period gases with the cooler intake charge. Accurate determination of total cycle energy utilization is complicated by the fact that NVO-period retained fuel energy is consumed during the subsequent main combustion period. For the present study, a full-cycle energy analysis was performed for a single-cylinder research engine undergoing LTGC with varying NVO auxiliary fueling rates and injection timing.

Spark plugs instrumented with a ring of optical fibers in the threaded-body region have seen considerable use in the past ten years, and it is expected that their application to unmodified production engines will increase in the years to come. Interpretation of the optical signals obtained with the probe is often difficult, particularly under lean operating conditions where the low luminosity of the flame leads to imprecise flame arrival detection. A systematic look at the optical signals, along with direct imaging of the flame, has been undertaken to calibrate and optimize the determination of flame arrival times. In addition, an evaluation of the different models available for the analysis of the flame arrival data is made. Data fits are compared with real flame images, to determine which model best estimates the convective velocity of the flow and the expansion speed of the flame kernel.

This work investigates the injection processes of an eight-hole direct-injection gasoline injector from the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) effort on gasoline sprays (Spray G). Experiments are performed at identical operating conditions by multiple institutions using standardized procedures to provide high-quality target datasets for CFD spray modeling improvement. The initial conditions set by the ECN gasoline spray community (Spray G: Ambient temperature: 573 K, ambient density: 3.5 kg/m3 (∼6 bar), fuel: iso-octane, and injection pressure: 200 bar) are examined along with additional conditions to extend the dataset covering a broader operating range. Two institutes evaluated the liquid and vapor penetration characteristics of a particular 8-hole, 80° full-angle, Spray G injector (injector #28) using Mie scattering (liquid) and schlieren (vapor).