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In spark-ignition engines, fluctuations of the in-cylinder pressure trace and the apparent rate of heat release are usually observed from one cycle to another. These Cycle-to-Cycle Variations (CCV) are affected by the early flame development and the subsequent flame front propagation. The CCV are responsible for engine performance (e.g. fuel consumption) and the knock behavior. The occurrence of the phenomena is unpredictable and the stochastic nature offers challenges in the optimization of engine control strategies. In the present work, CCV are analyzed in terms of their impact on the engine knock behavior and the related efficiency. Target is to estimate the possible fuel consumption savings in steady-state operation and in the drivecycle, when CCV are reduced. Since CCV are immanent on real engines, such a study can only be done by means of simulation.

The paper describes a zero-dimensional crank angle resolved combustion model which was developed for the analysis and prediction of combustion in compression ignition (CI) engines. The model relies on the multi zone combustion model (MZCM) approach of Hiroyasu. The main sub-models were taken from literature and extended with additional features described in this paper. A special procedure described in a previous paper is used to identify the mechanisms of the combustion process on the basis of the measured cylinder pressure trace. Based on the identified mechanisms the present work concentrates on the analysis of the causal effects that predominantly control the combustion process and the formation of NOx and Soot. The focus lies on the changes of the thermodynamic states and the composition of the reaction zones caused by different emission control strategies.

The presented paper deals with a methodology to model cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV) in 0-D/1-D simulation tools. This is achieved by introducing perturbations of combustion model parameters. To enable that, crank angle resolved data of individual cycles (pressure traces) have to be available for a reasonable number of engine cycles. Either experimental data or 3-D CFD results can be applied. In the presented work, experimental data of a single-cylinder research engine were considered while predicted LES 3-D CFD results will be tested in the future. Different engine operating points were selected - both stable ones (low CCV) and unstable ones (high CCV). The proposed methodology consists of two major steps. First, individual cycle data have to be matched with the 0-D/1-D model, i.e., combustion model parameters are varied to achieve the best possible match of pressure traces - an automated optimization approach is applied to achieve that.