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The addition of alcohol to conventional hydrocarbon fuels for a spark-ignition engine can increase the fuel octane rating and the power for a given engine displacement and compression ratio. In this work, the influence of butanol addition to gasoline was investigated. The experiments were performed in an optical ported fuel injection single-cylinder SI engine with an external boosting device. The engine was equipped with the head of a commercial SI turbocharged engine having the same geometrical specifications (bore, stroke and compression ratio). The effect of a blend of 20% of n-butanol and 80% of gasoline (BU20) on in-cylinder combustion process was investigated by cycle-resolved visualization. The engine worked at low speed, medium boosting and wide open throttle. Changes in spark timing and fuel injection phasing were considered. Comparisons between the flame luminosity and the combustion pressure data were performed.

The paper investigates the idle operating condition of a current production turbocharged Gasoline Direct Injected (GDI) high performance engine both from an experimental and a numerical perspective. Due to the low engine speed, to the low injection pressure and to the null contribution of the turbocharger, the engine condition is far from the standard points of investigation. According to the low heat flux due to combustion, temperature levels are low and reduced fuel evaporation is expected. Consequently, fuel spray evolution within the combustion chamber and spray/wall interaction are key points for the understanding of the combustion process. In order to properly investigate and understand the many complex phenomena, a wide set of engine speeds was experimentally investigated and, as far as the understanding of the physics of spray/wall interaction is concerned, many different injection strategies are tested.

The paper presents a combined experimental and numerical activity carried out to improve the accuracy of conjugate heat transfer CFD simulations of a high-performance S.I. engine water cooling jacket. Due to the complexity of the computational domain, which covers both the coolant jacket and the surrounding metal cast (both head and block), particular care is required in order to find a tradeoff between the accuracy and the cost-effectiveness of the numerical procedure. In view of the presence of many complex physical phenomena, the contribution of some relevant CFD parameters and sub-models is separately evaluated and discussed. Among the formers, the extent of the computational domain, the choice of a proper set of boundary conditions and the detailed representation of the physical properties of the involved materials are separately considered.

To meet the future stringent emission standards, innovative diesel engine technology, exhaust gas after-treatment, and clean alternative fuels are required. Oxygenated fuels have showed a tendency to decrease internal combustion engine emissions. In the same time, advanced fuel injection modes can promote a further reduction of the pollutants at the exhaust without penalty for the combustion efficiency. One of the more interesting solutions is provided by the premixed low temperature combustion (LTC) mechanism jointly to lower-cetane, higher-volatility fuels. In this paper, to understand the role played by these factors on soot formation, cycle resolved visualization, UV-visible optical imaging and visible chemiluminescence were applied in an optically accessed high swirl multi-jets compression ignition engine. Combustion tests were carried out using three fuels: commercial diesel, a blend of 80% diesel with 20% gasoline (G20) and a blend of 80% diesel with 20% n-butanol (BU20).

The paper presents results of an experimental investigation of the fluid dynamic processes during the air/fuel mixture formation period between an evaporating diesel spray and swirl air flow under realistic engine conditions. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments have been carried out using an optically accessible prototype 2-stroke diesel engine equipped with a swirled combustion chamber. The flow within the chamber assumes a well structured swirl motion, similar to that developing in a real diesel engine, operating at high swirl ratio. The engine has been equipped with a common rail injection system and a solenoid-controlled injector, in use on automotive engines for the European market, able to manage multiple injection strategies. Two injector nozzles have been tested: a micro-sac 5-hole nozzle, 0.13 mm diameter, 150° spray angle and a 7-hole, 0.141 mm diameter, 148° spray angle.

The paper investigates the low-temperature cranking operation of a current production automotive Gasoline Direct Injected (GDI) by means of 3D-CFD simulations. Particular care is devoted to the analysis of the hollow cone spray evolution within the combustion chamber and to the formation of fuel film deposits on the combustion chamber walls. Due to the high injected fuel amount and the strongly reduced fuel vaporization, wall wetting is a critical issue and plays a fundamental role on both the early combustion stages and the amount of unburnt hydrocarbons formation. In fact, it is commonly recognized that most of the unburnt hydrocarbon emissions from 4-stroke gasoline engines occur during cold start operations, when fuel film in the cylinder vaporize slowly and fuel can persist until the exhaust stroke.

The paper presents a numerical activity directed at the analysis and optimization of internal combustion engine water cooling jackets, with particular emphasis on the fatigue-strength assessment and improvement. In the paper, full 3D-CFD and FEM analyses of conjugate heat transfer and load cycle under actual engine operation of a single bank of a current production V6 turbocharged diesel engine are reported. A highly detailed model of the engine, made up of both the coolant galleries and the surrounding metal components, i.e., the engine head, the engine block, the gasket, the valve guides and valve seats, is used on both sides of the simulation process to accurately capture the influence of the cooling system layout under thermal and load conditions as close as possible to actual engine operations.

With the advent of the KIVA-4 code which employs an unstructured mesh to represent the engine geometry, the gap in flexibility between commercial and research modeling software becomes more narrow. In this study, we tried to perform a full cycle simulation of a 4-stroke HD diesel engine represented by a highly boosted research IF (Isotta Fraschini) engine using the KIVA-4 code. The engine mesh including the combustion chamber, intake and exhaust valves and helical manifolds was constructed using optional O-Grids catching a complex geometry of the engine parts with the help of the ANSYS ICEM CFD software. The KIVA-4 mesh input was obtained by a homemade mesh converter which can read STAR-CD and CFX outputs. The simulations were performed on a full 360 deg mesh consisting of 300,000 unstructured hexahedral cells at BDC. The physical properties of the liquid fuel were taken corresponding to those of real diesel #2 oil.

In this paper, a Low Temperature Premixed Combustion (LTPC) was investigated employing a four cylinder D.I. common rail Diesel engine, used for passenger cars on the European market. Experiments were carried out setting the engine speed at 2500 rpm with a fuel amount of 26 mg/str to realize an operating condition close to the point of NEDC at 0.8 MPa of BMEP. The experimental approach was the management of the start of injection, injection pressure and EGR rates as a method to control NOx and soot production. The investigation was first carried out testing engine performances and emissions as set from the commercial engine map. Afterward, engine tests were carried out exploring performances, gaseous and smoke emissions at late start of combustion [10 to 17.5 cad ATDC], injection pressures from 80 to 120 MPa and EGR rates up to 50%.

The paper aims at providing information about the influence of the combustion chamber shape on the combustion process evolution in a high speed direct injection (HSDI) small unit displacement engine for off-highway applications. Small HSDI Diesel engines require a deep optimisation process in order to maximize specific power output, while limiting pollutant emissions without additional expensive pollutant aftertreatment equipments. Making reference to a current production engine, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of combustion chamber design on both engine performances and combustion efficiency. The actual piston omega-shape is progressively distorted in order to assess the influence of some of the main bowl-features on both mean-flow evolution, mixture formation and pollutants.

The paper aims at providing information about the in-cylinder flow structure and its evolution of a high speed direct injection (HSDI) four valve per cylinder engine for off-highway applications. Fully transient CFD analyses by means of state-of-the-art tools and methodologies are carried out for the whole intake and compression strokes, in order to evaluate port effects on both engine permability and in-cylinder flow field evolution. Organized mean motions (i.e., swirl, tumble and squish) are investigated, trying to establish general rules in the port design optimization process, addressing relationships between the relative port orientation and the in-cylinder flow structure. Different port configurations are compared, each deriving from the rotation of the BASE port configuration on two different planes, the former being perpendicular to the cylinder axis, while the latter being parallel to the cylinder axis.

The present paper aims at developing a general method to estimate integral and microtime scales of turbulent in-cylinder flow field in reciprocating engines. The ensemble average technique was used to compute the integral time scale from the single point time autocorrelation function, whereas the microtime scale, representative of the most rapid changes that occur in the fluctuation, was computed as the intercept of the parabola that matches the autocorrelation function at the origin. Further, the microtime scale was also estimated by spectral analysis through the energy spectral density function of the ensemble turbulent fluctuation and the results obtained by the two methods were compared. The procedures were applied to the tangential component of the instantaneous velocity data collected, at different engine speeds (1,000, 1,500, 2,000 rpm), within a motored d.i. diesel engine equipped with a re-entrant combustion chamber, using the Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) technique.

In-cylinder cycle-resolved LDV measurements have been made in a diesel engine having a high-squish re-entrant combustion chamber with compression ratio of 21:1. The engine has been motored in the range of 1000 to 3000 rpm thanks to the use of self-lubricating seeding particles. Conventional ensemble-averaging and filtering techniques have been used for analyzing instantaneous velocity data obtained at two points along a diameter located in a horizontal plane at 5 mm below the engine head. The dependence of the mean motion and turbulence on engine speed has been evaluated. The effect of cut-off frequency selection on turbulence values has been also analyzed. Moreover, the Kolmogorov's -5/3 power domain has been investigated in detail by spectral analysis on the instantaneous velocity data.

The air fuel mixing process of a small direct injection (d.i.) diesel engine, equipped with two different re-entrant combustion chambers and two nozzles having unlike spray angles, has been studied by integrated use of in-cylinder laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) measurements, engine tests, and KIVA simulations. The LDV measurements have been carried out in an engine with optical access motored at 2200 rpm. The engine tests have been performed on a similar engine at the same speed, at fixed start of combustion, and different air-fuel ratio. The KIVA-II simulations have been made using as initial conditions the parameters determined by LDV and engine tests. The re-entrant bowl with higher levels of air velocity and turbulent kinetic energy at the time of injection gives the best performance. The nozzle having a spray angle of 150° which injects the fuel into the regions at higher turbulent kinetic energy lowers the smoke emission levels.

Intake valve flow patterns have been measured quantitatively using particle image velocimetry (PIV) for a commercial 4-valve diesel cylinder head and valve system. The measurements have been made for low (600 engine RPM) and higher (1000 engine RPM) speeds, and at several planes in the valve curtain area. The measurements involve double exposure photography of laser light scattered by seed particles (≅1 μm) from a laser light sheet (≅ 0.5 mm by 50 mm) through an imaging system onto silver halide film. Subsequent processing produces the local particle displacement between the two exposures. Combined with the known time interval between exposures, the displacement information can produce velocity vectors at many locations in the field of view. The results of the experiments are shown as vector plots for each operating condition. In the plane of the illuminating laser sheet, velocity vectors representing local gas velocity are produced.