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Two different types of mesh used for diesel combustion with the KIVA-4 code are compared. One is a well established conventional KIVA-3 type polar mesh. The other is a non-polar mesh with uniform size throughout the piston bowl so as to reduce the number of cells and to improve the quality of the cell shapes around the cylinder axis which can contain many fuel droplets that affect prediction accuracy and the computational time. This mesh is specialized for the KIVA-4 code which employs an unstructured mesh. To prevent dramatic changes in spray penetration caused by the difference in cell size between the two types of mesh, a recently developed spray model which reduces mesh dependency of the droplet behavior has been implemented. For the ignition and combustion models, the Shell model and characteristic time combustion (CTC) model are employed.

Reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) has been shown to be capable of providing improved engine efficiencies coupled with the benefit of low emissions via in-cylinder fuel blending. Much of the previous body of work has studied the benefits of RCCI operation using high injection pressures (e.g., 500 bar or greater) with common rail injection (CRI) hardware. However, low-pressure fueling technology is capable of providing significant cost savings. Due to the broad market adoption of gasoline direct injection (GDI) fueling systems, a market-type prototype GDI injector was selected for this study. Single-cylinder light-duty engine experiments were undertaken to examine the performance and emissions characteristics of the RCCI combustion strategy with low-pressure GDI technology and compared against high injection pressure RCCI operation. Gasoline and diesel were used as the low-reactivity and high-reactivity fuels, respectively.

A transport equation residual model incorporating refined G-equation and detailed chemical kinetics combustion models has been developed and implemented in the ERC KIVA-3V release2 code for Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine simulations for better predictions of flame propagation. In the transport equation residual model a fictitious species concept is introduced to account for the residual gases in the cylinder, which have a great effect on the laminar flame speed. The residual gases include CO2, H2O and N2 remaining from the previous engine cycle or introduced using EGR. This pseudo species is described by a transport equation. The transport equation residual model differentiates between CO2 and H2O from the previous engine cycle or EGR and that which is from the combustion products of the current engine cycle.

In this paper, knock in a Ford single cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition (DISI) engine was modeled and investigated using the KIVA-3V code with a G-equation combustion model coupled with detailed chemical kinetics. The deflagrative turbulent flame propagation was described by the G-equation combustion model. A 22-species, 42-reaction iso-octane (iC8H18) mechanism was adopted to model the auto-ignition process of the gasoline/air/residual-gas mixture ahead of the flame front. The iso-octane mechanism was originally validated by ignition delay tests in a rapid compression machine. In this study, the mechanism was tested by comparing the simulated ignition delay time in a constant volume mesh with the values measured in a shock tube under different initial temperature, pressure and equivalence ratio conditions, and acceptable agreements were obtained.

The lift-off length plays a significant role in spray combustion as it influences the air entrainment upstream of the lift-off location and hence the soot formation. Accurate prediction of lift-off length thus becomes a prerequisite for accurate soot prediction in lifted flames. In the present study, KIVA-3v coupled with CHEMKIN, as developed at the Engine Research Center (ERC), is used as the CFD model. Experimental data from the Sandia National Labs. is used for validating the model predictions of n-heptane lift-off lengths and soot formation details in a constant volume combustion chamber. It is seen that the model predictions, in terms of lift-off length and soot mass, agree well with the experimental results for low ambient density (14.8 kg/m3) cases with different EGR rates (21% O2 - 8% O2). However, for high density cases (30 kg/m3) with different EGR rates (15% O2 - 8% O2) disagreements were found.

A continuous multi-component fuel evaporation model has been integrated with an improved G-equation combustion and detailed chemical kinetics model. The integrated code has been successfully used to simulate a gasoline direct injection engine. In the multi-component fuel model, the theory of continuous thermodynamics is used to model the properties and composition of multi-component fuels such as gasoline. In the improved G-equation combustion model a flamelet approach based on the G-equation is used that considers multi-component fuel effects. To precisely calculate the local and instantaneous residual which has a great effect on the laminar flame speed, a “transport equation residual” model is used. A Damkohler number criterion is used to determine the combustion mode in flame containing cells.

The present study investigated HCCI combustion in a heavy-duty diesel engine both experimentally and numerically. The engine was equipped with a hollow-cone pressure-swirl injector using gasoline direct injection. Characteristics of HCCI combustion were obtained by very early injection with a heated intake charge. Experimental results showed an increase in NOx emission and a decrease in UHC as the injection timing was retarded. It was also found that optimization can be achieved by controlling the intake temperature together with the start-of-injection timing. The experiments were modeled by using an engine CFD code with detailed chemistry. The CHEMKIN code was implemented into KIVA-3V such that the chemistry and flow solutions were coupled. The model predicted ignition timing, cylinder pressure, and heat release rates reasonably well. The NOx emissions were found to increase as the injection timing was retarded, in agreement with experimental results.

The causes of Unburned Hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions from a premixed compression ignited engine were investigated for both homogeneous and stratified charge conditions. A fast response Flame Ionization Detector (fast FID) was used to provide cycle-resolved UHC exhaust emission measurements. These fast FID UHC measurements were coupled with numerical flow simulation results to provide quantitative and qualitative insight into the sources of UHC emissions. The combined results were used to evaluate the effects of engine load, local gas temperatures, fuel stratification, and crevice quenching on UHC emissions.

Due to concerns regarding pollutant and CO2 emissions, advanced combustion modes that can simultaneously reduce exhaust emissions and improve thermal efficiency have been widely investigated. The main characteristic of the new combustion strategies, such as HCCI and LTC, is that the formation of a homogenous mixture or a controllable stratified mixture is required prior to ignition. The major issue with these approaches is the lack of a direct method for the control of ignition timing and combustion rate, which can be only indirectly controlled using high EGR rates and/or lean mixtures. Homogeneous Charge Progressive Combustion (HCPC) is based on the split-cycle principle. Intake and compression phases are performed in a reciprocating external compressor, which drives the air into the combustor cylinder during the combustion process, through a transfer duct. A transfer valve is positioned between the compressor cylinder and the transfer duct.

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.

The three-dimensional computer code, KIVA, is being modified to include state-of-the-art submodels for diesel engine flow and combustion. Improved and/or new submodels which have already been implemented are: wall heat transfer with unsteadiness and compressibility, laminar-turbulent characteristic time combustion with unburned HC and Zeldo'vich NOx, and spray/wall impingement with rebounding and sliding drops. Progress on the implementation of improved spray drop drag and drop breakup models, the formulation and testing of a multistep kinetics ignition model and preliminary soot modeling results are described. In addition, the use of a block structured version of KIVA to model the intake flow process is described. A grid generation scheme has been developed for modeling realistic (complex) engine geometries, and initial computations have been made of intake flow in the manifold and combustion chamber of a two-intake-valve engine.

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.

A three-dimensional computer code (KIVA) is being modified to include state-of-the-art submodels for diesel engine flow and combustion: spray atomization, drop breakup/coalescence, multi-component fuel vaporization, spray/wall interaction, ignition and combustion, wall heat transfer, unburned HC and NOx formation, soot and radiation and the intake flow process. Improved and/or new submodels which have been completed are: wall heat transfer with unsteadiness and compressibility, laminar-turbulent characteristic time combustion with unburned HC and Zeldo'vich NOx, and spray/wall impingement with rebounding and sliding drops.

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.

An experimental study has been completed which evaluated the effectiveness of using double, triple and rate shaped injections to simultaneously reduce particulate and NOx emissions. The experiments were done using a single cylinder version of a Caterpillar 3406 heavy duty D.I. diesel engine. The fuel system used was a common rail, electronically controlled injector that allowed flexibility in both the number and duration of injections per cycle. Injection timing was varied for each injection scheme to evaluate the particulate vs. NOx tradeoff and fuel consumption. Tests were done at 1600 rpm using engine load conditions of 25% and 75% of maximum torque. The results indicate that a double injection with a significantly long delay between injections reduced particulate by as much as a factor of three over a single injection at 75% load with no increase in NOx. Double injections with a smaller dwell gave less improvement in particulate and NOx at 75% load.

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.

The development of analytic models of diesel engine flow, combustion and subprocesses is described. The models are intended for use as design tools by industry for the prediction of engine performance and emissions to help reduce engine development time and costs. Part of the research program includes performing engine experiments to provide validation data for the models. The experiments are performed on a single-cylinder version of the Caterpillar 3406 engine that is equipped with state-of-the-art high pressure electronic fuel injection and emissions instrumentation. In-cylinder gas velocity and gas temperature measurements have also been made to characterize the flows in the engine.

An emissions and performance study was conducted to explore the effects of EGR and multiple injections on particulate, NOx, and BSFC. EGR is known to be effective at reducing NOx, but at high loads there is usually a large increase in particulate. Recent work has shown that multiple injections are effective at reducing particulate. Thus, it was of interest to examine the possibility of simultaneously reducing particulate and NOx with the combined use of EGR and multiple injections. The tests were conducted on a fully instrumented single cylinder version of the Caterpillar 3406 heavy duty truck engine. Tests were done at high load (75% of peak torque at 1600 RPM where EGR has been shown to produce unacceptable increases in particulate emissions. The fuel system used was an electronically controlled, common rail injector and supporting hardware. The fuel system was capable of up to four independent injections per cycle.

An image acquisition-and-processing camera system was developed for in-cylinder diagnostics of a single-cylinder heavy duty diesel engine. The engine was equipped with an electronically-controlled common-rail fuel injection system that allowed both single and split (multiple) injections to be studied. The imaging system uses an endoscope to acquire luminous flame images from the combustion chamber and ensures minimum modification to the engine geometry. The system also includes an optical linkage, an image intensifier, a CID camera, a frame grabber, control circuitry and a computer. Experiments include both single and split injection cases at 90 MPa and 45 MPa injection pressures at 3/4 load and 1600 rev/min with simulated turbocharging. For the single injection at high injection pressure (90 MPa) the results show that the first luminous emissions from the ignition zone occur very close to the injector exit followed by rapid luminous flame spreading.

This study investigates the effect of air-injection during the late combustion period produced by an air-cell on emissions from a direct injected diesel engine. The engine considered is a Caterpillar 3401 test engine which was modeled with an air-cell included as part of the piston geometry. A version of the KIVA-II code with updated submodels for diesel combustion and emissions was modified to allow for geometries with walls interior to the domain. This modified version of KIVA-II was then used to model an air-cell equipped diesel engine for four different air-cell configurations. Of the four air-cell configurations simulated, one proved successful in reducing the predicted engine emissions by more than a factor of two while simultaneously reducing NOx by a slight amount, thus moving the engine off its particulate-NOx tradeoff curve defined by varying the fuel injection timing.