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Air motion inside the engine cylinder plays a predominant role on combustion and emission processes. An attempt has been made in this investigation to simulate the in-cylinder air motion in a DI diesel engine with four different piston configurations such as dome piston, bowl on dome and pentroof piston and pentroof offset bowl piston. For computational analysis, the commercial general purpose code STAR-CD Es-ice has been used, which works on the method of finite volume. To validate the simulation, qualitative and quantitative comparisons have been done with the PIV results available in the literature. From this study, the best possible piston configuration has been arrived at.

Direct injection diesel engines are used in both light duty and heavy duty vehicles because of higher thermal efficiency compared to SI engines. However, due to only short time available for fuel-air mixing, combustion process depends on proper mixing. As a result, DI Diesel engine emits more NOx and soot into the atmosphere. Therefore, to achieve better combustion with less emission and also to accelerate the fuel-air mixing to improve the combustion, appropriate design of combustion chamber is crucial. Hence, in this work a study has been carried out using CFD to evaluate the effect of combustion chamber configuration on Diesel combustion with two different piston bowls. The two different piston configurations considered in this study are centre bowl on flat piston and pentroof offset bowl piston.

The present research explores the application of biodiesel fuel in a stationary agricultural engine operated under the Homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode. To achieve HCCI combustion, a fuel vaporizer and a high-pressure port fuel injection system are employed to facilitate rapid evaporation of the biodiesel fuel. The low volatility of biodiesel is one of the significant shortcomings, which makes it inevitable to use a fuel vaporizer at 380oC. Consequently, the charge temperature is high enough to promote advanced auto-ignition. Further, the high reactivity of biodiesel favors early auto-ignition of the charge. Besides, biodiesel exhibits a faster burn rate due to its oxygenated nature. The combined effect of advanced auto-ignition and faster burn rate resulted in a steep rise in the in-cylinder pressures, leading to abnormal combustion above 20% load. Diluting the charge reduces reactivity and intake oxygen concentration, facilitating load extension.

This paper deals mainly with computer simulation of processes of Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) associated with Extended Expansion Engine (EEE) concept applied to a four-stroke, single-cylinder SI engine. In the case of standard SI engines, part-load brake thermal efficiencies are low due to higher pumping losses. The pumping losses can be reduced by operating the engine always at full throttle as done in extended expansion engine. In extended expansion engine, higher Geometric Expansion Ratio (GER) compared to Effective Compression Ratio (ECR) is responsible for better performance at part loads. Usually, in this engine, by delaying inlet valve closure timing along with reduced clearance volume, extended expansion is achieved. Experimentally many researchers have proved that variable valve timing and variable compression ratio techniques adopted in SI engines, improves the part- load performance greatly.

In this work a novel mixture injection system has been developed and tested on a two stroke scooter engine. This system admits finely atomized gasoline directly into the combustion chamber. It employs many components that were individually developed, fabricated, tested and then coupled together. A small compressor driven by the engine sends pressurized air at the correct crank angle through a timing valve. This is connected to a mechanical injector through a high pressure pipe. Fuel is metered into the high pressure pipe using a standard low pressure injector. The developed mixture injection system resulted in considerable improvements in thermal efficiency and reduction in HC emissions over the manifold injection method at all engine outputs. A considerable reduction in short circuiting losses was seen. The highest brake thermal efficiency achieved was 25.5% as against 23% with the manifold injection system.

Today, GDI engines are becoming very popular because of better fuel economy and low exhaust emissions. The gain in fuel economy in these engines is realized only in the stratified mode of operation. In wall-guided GDI engines, the mixture stratification is realized by properly shaping the combustion chamber. However, the level of mixture stratification varies significantly with engine operating conditions. In this study, an attempt has been made to understand the effect of engine operating parameters viz., compression ratio, engine speed and inlet air pressure on the level of mixture stratification in a four-stroke wall-guided GDI engine using CFD analysis. Three compression ratios of 10.5, 11.5 and 12.5, three engine speeds of 2000, 3000 and 4000 rev/min., and three inlet air pressures of 1, 1.2 and 1.4 bar are considered for the analysis. The CONVERGE software is used to perform the CFD analysis. Simulation is done for one full cycle of the engine.

This paper deals with experimental study of in-cylinder tumble flows in a single-cylinder, four-stroke, two-valve internal combustion engine using a pentroof-offset-bowl piston under non-reacting conditions with four intake manifold orientations at an engine speed of 1000 rev/min., during suction and compression strokes using particle image velocimetry. Two-dimensional in-cylinder tumble flow measurements and analysis are carried out in combustion space on a vertical plane passing through cylinder axis. Ensemble average velocity vectors are used to analyze the tumble flows. Tumble ratio (TR) and average turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) are evaluated and used to characterize the tumble flows. From analysis of results, it is found that at end of compression stroke, 90° intake manifold orientation shows an improvement in TR and TKE compared other intake manifold orientations considered.

Mixture distribution in the combustion chamber of gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines significantly affects combustion, performance and emission characteristics. The mixture distribution in the engine cylinder, in turn, depends on many parameters viz., fuel injector hole diameter and orientation, fuel injection pressure, the start of fuel injection, in-cylinder fluid dynamics etc. In these engines, the mixture distribution is broadly classified as homogeneous and stratified. However, with currently available engine parameters, it is difficult to objectively classify the type of mixture distribution. In this study, an attempt is made to objectively classify the mixture distribution in GDI engines using a parameter called the “stratification index”. The analysis is carried out on a four-stroke wall-guided GDI engine using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Internal combustion engines play a major role in biogas-based stationary power generation applications in rural areas, and serious progress on effective utilization of bio-resources by considering engine stability is not achieved yet. In the present study, combustion characteristics and cycle-to-cycle variations (CCVs) of a spark-ignition (SI) engine fueled with gasoline, biogas, and surrogate of bio-methane are analyzed. A single-cylinder, four-stroke SI engine (with a flexible gaseous fuel system) was operated at a couple of load points (8 Nm and 11.5 Nm) with a rotational speed of 1500 rpm. CCVs are analyzed using a statistical approach considering 1000 consecutive engine cycles for each operating condition. Results at 8 Nm showed relatively higher CCVs of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), peak in-cylinder pressure (Pmax), and flame initiation duration (FID) for biogas compared to methane.

The limitations related to the cost-effectiveness and technological feasibility of upgrading biogas to bio-methane for rural power generation applications have prompted researchers to explore alternative approaches for improving the quality of biogas fuel. This study focuses on evaluating the effect of hydrogen enrichment on combustion characteristics and cycle-to-cycle combustion variations in a single-cylinder spark ignition engine fueled with biogas (60% CH4 and 40% CO2). The engine was run at a constant operating load of 6 Nm, with a compression ratio of 10:1 and an engine speed of 1500 rpm. To establish a baseline for comparison, engine characteristics were initially assessed using pure methane fuel. Subsequently, the share of hydrogen in the biogas fuel mixture was incrementally increased on the volumetric basis from 0% to 30% and experiments were performed to study the effects of these variations on combustion behavior.

This paper deals with a numerical investigation on swirl generation by a helical intake port and its effects on in-cylinder flow characteristics with axisymmetric piston bowls in a small four-valve direct injection diesel engine. The novelty of this study is in determining the appropriate design and orientation of the helical port to generate high swirl. A commercial CFD software STAR-CD is used to perform the detailed three dimensional simulations. Preliminary studies were carried out at steady state conditions with the helical port which demonstrated a good swirl potential and the CFD predictions were found to have reasonably good agreement with the experimental data taken from literature. For transient cold flow simulations, the STAR-CD code was validated with Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) experimental velocity components’ measurements available in literature.

Despite the advantages of turbocharging in improved engine performance and reduced exhaust emissions, commercial single-cylinder engines used for automotive applications remain naturally aspirated (NA) and are not generally turbocharged. This is due to the shortcomings with pulsated and intermittent exhaust gas flow into the turbine and the phase lag between the intake and exhaust stroke. In the present study, experimental investigations are initially carried out with a suitable turbocharger closely coupled to a single-cylinder diesel engine. Results indicated that the engine power dropped significantly by 40% for the turbocharged engine compared to the NA version even though the air mass flow rate was increased by at least 1.5 times with turbocharging. A novel approach of decoupling the turbine and the compressor and coupling them separately to the engine is proposed to address these limitations.

Single-cylinder engines in mass production are generally not turbocharged due to the pulsated and intermittent exhaust gas flow into the turbocharger and the phase lag between the intake and exhaust stroke. The present work proposes a novel approach of decoupling the turbine and the compressor and coupling them separately to the engine to address these limitations. An impulse turbine is chosen for this application to extract energy during the pulsated exhaust flow. Commercially available AVL BOOST software was used to estimate the overall engine performance improvement of the proposed novel approach compared to the base naturally aspirated (NA) engine. Two different impulse turbine layouts were analyzed, one without an exhaust plenum and the second layout having an exhaust plenum before the power turbine. The merits and limitations of both layouts are compared in the present study.

Engine modelling aims at studying the combustion related phenomenon occurring in Internal Combustion (IC) engines. In this regard, a low dimensional mathematical model using first principles has been developed to study Spark Ignited (SI) engines. The resulting equations are Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE) (for volume, pressure, torque, speed and work done) and Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) for temperature and species conservation equations (fuel, CO, CO2, NO). This model utilizes simplified reaction kinetics for the oxidation of fuel in the combustion chamber. A two-step mechanism for the combustion of fuel and the classical Zeldovich Mechanism are used to predict the amount of NO formed during combustion. The model is solved in FORTRAN using LSODE subroutine (for stiff equations) with lumped parameters for thermal properties and diffusion, and invoking the ideal gas assumption.

Gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines are now trending in automobile field because of good fuel economy and low exhaust emissions over their port fuel injection (PFI) counter parts. They operate with a lean stratified mixture in most of conditions. However, their performance is dependent on mixture stratification which in-turn depends on fuel injection pressure, timing and strategy. But, the main challenge to GDI engines is soot and particulate matter (PM) emissions. However, they can be reduced by employing multi-stage fuel injection strategy. Therefore, in the present work, an effort has been made to study the effect of fuel injection parameters on soot emissions of a GDI engine using the CFD analysis. In addition, the study is also extended to evaluate the performance, combustion and other emission characteristics of the engine. First the engine is modelled using the PRO-E software. The geometrical details of the engine are obtained from the literature.

Small gasoline four stroke engines used in motorcycle applications run mostly at part load conditions. Here fuel economy and good drivability are the major requirements. In this work, a single cylinder, four stroke, 2 valve gasoline motorcycle engine in which part load performance needs to be improved was taken for investigation. Various factors affecting part load performance were investigated and it was found that high exhaust gas dilution was the cause of high cycle by cycle variations in this engine. Commercial software was used in order to predict exhaust gas dilution levels. Based on the simulation, a set of parameters that lead to low exhaust gas dilution were arrived at. These were implemented and tested on the engine and part load performance characteristics such as combustion stability, brake specific fuel consumption and torque output were found to be improved.

Nowadays, Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engines are very popular because of their lower fuel consumption and exhaust emissions due to lean stratified mixture operation at most of load conditions. In these engines, achieving mixture stratification plays an important role on performance and emission characteristics of the engine. Also, mixture stratification is mainly dependent on in-cylinder flows and air-fuel interaction, which in turn largely dependent on valve configurations. Therefore, understanding them is very much essential in order to improve the engine performance. In this study, a CFD analysis has been carried out on two- and four-valve four-stroke engines to analyze in-cylinder flows and air-fuel interaction at different conditions. The engines specifications considered here are taken from the literature for which experimental data is available. ‘STAR-CD’ software has been used for the CFD analysis. For meshing, polyhedral trimmed cells have been adopted.

Mass-production single-cylinder engines are generally not turbocharged due to pulsated exhaust flow. Hence, about one-third of the fuel chemical energy is wasted in the engine exhaust. To extract the exhaust energy and boost the single-cylinder engines, a novel supercharging with a turbo-compounding strategy is proposed in the present work, wherein an impulse turbine extracts energy from the pulsated exhaust gas flow. Employing an impulse turbine for a vehicular application, especially on a single-cylinder engine, has never been commercially attempted. Hence, the design of the impulse turbine assumes higher importance. A nozzle, designed as a stator part of the impulse turbine and placed at the exhaust port to accelerate the flow velocity, was included as part of the layout in the present work. The layout was analyzed using the commercial software AVL BOOST. Different nozzle exit diameters were considered to analyze their effect on the exhaust back pressure and engine performance.

Adopting a low compression ratio (LCR) is a viable approach to meet the stringent emission regulations since it can simultaneously reduce the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions. However, significant shortcomings with the LCR approach include higher unburned hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions and fuel economy penalties. Further, poor combustion stability of LCR engines at cold ambient and part load conditions may worsen the transient emission characteristics, which are least explored in the literature. In the present work, the effects of implementing the low compression ratio (LCR) approach in a mass-production light-duty vehicle powered by a single-cylinder diesel engine are investigated with a major focus on transient emission characteristics.