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The efficiency of the NOx Storage and Reduction (NSR) catalysts used in the aftertreatment of diesel engine exhaust gases can potentially be increased by using reactive reductants such as CO and H₂ that are formed during in-cylinder combustion. In this study, a multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code coupled with complex chemical analysis was used to study combustion with various fuel after-injection patterns. The results obtained will be useful in designing fuel injection strategies for the efficient formation of CO.

The purpose of this paper is to build up a model for predicting turbulent burning velocity which can be used for One-Dimensional (1D) engine simulation. This paper presents the relationship between turbulent burning velocity, the Karlovitz number, and the Markstein number for building up the prediction model. The turbulent burning velocity was measured using a single-cylinder gasoline engine, which has an external Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system. In the experiment, various engine operating parameters, e.g. engine loads and EGR rates, and various engine specifications, i.e. different types of intake ports were tested. The Karlovitz number was calculated using Three-Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (3D-CFD) and detailed chemical kinetics simulation with a premixed laminar flame model. The Markstein number was also calculated using detailed chemical kinetics simulation with the Extinction of Opposed-flow Flame model.

This paper describes the development of an integrated simulation model for evaluating the effects of electrically heating the three-way catalyst (TWC) in a series hybrid electric vehicle (s-HEV) on fuel economy and exhaust gas purification performance. Engine and TWC models were developed in GT-Power to predict exhaust emissions during transient operation. These models were validated against data from vehicle tests using a chassis dynamometer and integrated into an s-HEV model built in MATLAB/Simulink. The s-HEV model accurately reproduced the performance characteristics of the vehicle’s engine, motor, generator, and battery during WLTC mode operation. It can thus be used to predict the fuel consumption, emissions, and performance of individual powertrain components. The engine combustion characteristics were reproduced with reasonable accuracy for the first 50 combustion cycles, representing the cold-start condition of the driving mode.

The objective of the present research is to analyze the effects of using oxygenated fuels (FAMEs) on diesel engine combustion and emission (NOx and soot). We studied methyl oleate (MO), which is an oxygenated fuel representative of major constituents of many types of biodiesels. Engine tests and numerical simulations were performed for 100% MO (MO100), 40% MO blended with JIS#2 diesel (MO40) and JIS#2 diesel (D100). The effects of MO on diesel combustion and emission characteristics were studied under engine operating conditions typically encountered in passenger car diesel engines, focusing on important parameters such as pilot injection, injection pressure and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate. We used a diesel engine complying with the EURO4 emissions regulation, having a displacement of 2.2 L for passenger car applications. In engine tests comparing MO with diesel fuel, no effect on engine combustion pressure was observed for all conditions tested.

A numerical study was carried out to investigate combustion characteristics of a dual-fuel gas diesel engine, using a multi-dimensional model combined with detailed chemical kinetics, including 43 chemical species and 173 elementary reactions. In calculations, the effects of initial temperature, EGR ratios on ignition, and combustion were examined. The results indicated EGR combined with intake preheating can favorably reduced NOx and THC emissions simultaneously. This can be explained by the fact that combustion mechanism is changed from flame propagation to HCCl like combustion.

Natural gas pre-mixture is ignited by a small amount of pilot fuel in the dual fuel engine. In this paper, numerical studies were carried out to investigate the combustion and exhaust gas emissions formation process of this engine type by using a multi dimensional model combined with the detailed chemical kinetics including 57 chemical species and 290 elementary reactions. In calculation, the effect of the pre-mixture concentration on combustion was examined. The result indicated that the increased concentration of natural gas could improve the burning fraction and THC, CO emissions due to the increased pre-mixture consumption rate and the cylinders gas temperature.

A mixed timescale subgrid model of a large eddy simulation was used to simulate the turbulence regime in diesel engine combustion. The combustion model used the direct integration approach with a diesel oil surrogate mechanism (developed at Chalmers University of Technology and consisting of 70 species and 309 reactions). Additional reactions for the generation and consumption of OH*, CO2*, and CH* species were added from recent kinetic studies. Collisional quenching and spontaneous emission resulted in de-excitation of the excited state radical. A phenomenological soot formation model (developed at Waseda University) was combined with the LES code. The following important steps were considered in the soot model: particle inception where naphthalene grows irreversibly to form soot, surface growth with the addition of C2H2, surface oxidation (induced by OH radicals and O2 attack), and particle coagulation.

A CFD code combined with detailed chemical kinetics has been developed, linking with KIVA-3 and subroutines in CHEMKIN-II directly with some modifications. By using this CFD code, formation processes of combustion and exhaust gas emission for a turbo-charged DI diesel engine with common rail fuel injection system were simulated. As a result, formation processes of pollutant including NOx and soot were also considered according to the calculation results. The results show that NO caused by the extended Zeldvich mechanism accounted for about 88% of all NO, and it was found that there is a possibility to predict where and when soot will be formed by considering a simplified soot formation model.

Experimental and numerical studies on the combustion of the particulate matter in the diesel particulate filter with the particulate matter loaded under different particulate matter loading condition were carried out. It was observed that the pressure losses through diesel particulate filter loaded with particulate matter having different mean aggregate particle diameters during both particulate matter loading and combustion periods. Diesel particulate filter regeneration mode was controlled with introducing a hot gas created in Diesel Oxidation Catalyst that oxidized hydrocarbon injected by a fuel injector placed on an exhaust gas pipe. The combustion amount was calculated with using a total diesel particulate filter weight measured by the weight meter both before and after the particulate matter regeneration event.

Experimental and numerical studies were conducted on diesel particulate filters (DPFs) under different soot loading conditions and DPF configurations. Pressure drops across DPFs with various mean pore diameters loaded with soots having different mean particle diameters were measured by introducing exhaust gases from a 2.2 liter inline four-cylinder, TCI diesel engine designed for use in passenger cars. A mechanistic hypothesis was then proposed to explain the observed trends, accounting for the effects of the soot loading regime in the wall and the soot cake layer on the pressure drop. This hypothesis was used to guide the development and validation of a numerical model for predicting the pressure drop in the DPF. The relationship between the permeability and the porosity of the wall and soot cake layer was modeled under various soot loading conditions.

The Dual-Fuel (DF) combustion is a promising technology for efficient, low NOx and low exhaust particulate matter (PM) engine operation. To achieve equivalent performance to a DF engine with only the use of conventional liquid fuel, this study proposes the implementation of an on-board fuel reformation process by piston compression. For concept verification, DF combustion tests with representative reformed gas components were conducted. Based on the results, the controllability of the reformed gas composition by variations in the operating conditions of the reformer cylinder were discussed.

In order to improve thermal efficiency of spark ignition (SI) engines, an improved technology to avoid irregular combustion under high load conditions of high compression ratio SI engines is required. In this study, the authors focused on high pressure gasoline direct injection in a high compression ratio SI engine, which its rapid air-fuel mixture formation, turbulence, and flame speed, are enhanced by high-speed fuel spray jet. Effects of fuel injection pressure, injection and spark ignition timing on combustion characteristics were experimentally and numerically investigated. It was found that the heat release rate was drastically increased by raising the fuel injection pressure. The numerical simulation results show that the high pressure gasoline direct injection enhanced small-scale turbulent intensity and fuel evaporation, simultaneously.

To reproduce wall quenching phenomena using 3D-CFD, a wall quenching model was constructed based on the Peclet number. The model was further integrated with the flame propagation model. Combustion analysis showed that that a large amount of unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs) remained in the piston clevis and small gaps. Furthermore, the model was capable of predicting the increase in UHC emissions when there was a delay in the ignition time. The flame front cells were plotted on Peters' premixed turbulent combustion diagram to identify transitions in the combustion states. It was found that the flame surface transitioned from corrugated flamelets through thin reaction zones to wrinkled flamelets and further to laminar flamelets, which led to wall quenching. The turbulent Reynolds number (Re) decreased rapidly due to the increase in laminar flame speed and flame thickness and the decrease in turbulent intensity and turbulent scale.

We have constructed a quasi-2-dimensional NH₃-SCR model with detailed surface reactions to analyze the NOx conversion mechanism and reasons for its inhibition at low temperatures. The model consists of seven detailed surface reactions proposed by Grozzale et al., and calculates longitudinal gas flow, gas phase-catalyst phase mass transfer, and mass diffusion within the catalyst phase in the depth dimension. Using the model, we have analyzed the results of pulsed ammonia (NH₃) feed tests at various catalyst temperatures, and results show that ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) is the inhibitor in NH₃-SCR reactions at low temperatures. In addition, we found that cutting the supply of NH₃ causes decomposition of NH₄NO₃, providing surface ammonia (NH₄+), which rapidly reacts with adjacent NOx, leading to an instantaneous rise in nitrogen (N₂) formation.

A variable valve timing (VVT) mechanism was applied to achieve premixed diesel combustion at higher load for low emissions and high thermal efficiency in a light duty diesel engine. By means of late intake valve closing (LIVC), compressed gas temperatures near the top dead center are lowered, thereby preventing too early ignition and increasing ignition delay to enhance fuel-air mixing. The variability of effective compression ratio has significant potential for ignition timing control of conventional diesel fuel mixtures. At the same time, the expansion ratio is kept constant to ensure thermal efficiency. Combining the control of LIVC, EGR, supercharging systems and high-pressure fuel injection equipment can simultaneously reduce NOx and smoke. The NOx and smoke suppression mechanism in the premixed diesel combustion was analyzed using the 3D-CFD code combined with detailed chemistry.

Spark-assisted diesel engines operated with alcohol fuels usually display misfiring or knocking problems. This paper presents an analysis of the factors influencing the ignition characteristics of ethanol in a swirl chamber diesel engine with a multi-spark ignitor. In the experiments, cycle-to-cycle combustion variations and the degree of knocking were investigated by changing engine parameters over a wide operating range. The results of the investigations showed that stable ignition and smooth combustion is achieved when a flammable mixture is formed in the vicinity of the spark plug when only a small amount of the injected fuel has evaporated. By optimizing the design factors, operation with high efficiency and low exhaust emissions was achieved.

This paper presents a study on the effects of the engine size and rotation speed on diesel combustion characteristics and engine performance of two differently sized diesel engines (85 mm and 135 mm bores). For simplification of the evaluation, the experimental conditions were set based on the similarity rules proposed by Chikahisa. The combustion characteristics and the indicated thermal efficiencies were compared for the small and the large engines at the same engine speed. To examine the effects of the velocities of the in-cylinder gas and the fuel spray on the combustion and the thermal efficiency, the engine speed was changed in the small engine, while maintaining a non-dimensional engine speed.

To monitor emission-related components/systems and to evaluate the presence of malfunctioning or failures that can affect emissions, current diesel engine regulations require the use of on-board diagnostics (OBD). For diesel particulate filters (DPF), the pressure drop across the DPF is monitored by the OBD as the pressure drop is approximately linear related to the soot mass deposited in a filter. However, sudden acceleration may cause a sudden decrease in DPF pressure drop under cold start conditions. This appears to be caused by water that has condensed in the exhaust pipe, but no detailed mechanism for this decrease has been established. The present study developed an experimental apparatus that reproduces rapid increases of the exhaust gas flow under cold start conditions and enables independent control of the amount of water as well as the gas flow rate supplied to the DPF.

The NOx-reducing activity of a Cu-chabazite selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst was analyzed over a wide temperature range. The analysis was based on the ammonia SCR (NH3-SCR) mechanism and accounted for Cu redox chemistry and reactions at Brønsted acid sites. The reduction of NOx to N2 (De-NOx) at Cu sites was found to proceed via different paths at low and high temperatures. Consequently, the rate-limiting step of the SCR reaction at Cu sites varied with the temperature. The rate of NOx reduction at Cu sites below 200°C was determined by the rate of Cu oxidation. Conversely, the rate of NOx reduction above 300°C was determined by the rate of NH3 adsorption on Cu sites. Moreover, the redox state of the active Cu sites differed at low and high temperatures. To clarify the role of the chabazite Brønsted acid sites, experiments were also performed using a H-chabazite catalyst that lacks Cu sites.

Time-resolved and local ambient gas entrainment processes in intermittent gas jets with a range of injection conditions were evaluated by a LIFA (Laser-Induced Fluorescence of Ambient gas) technique. The gas injection conditions tested were: mean discharge velocity, um; mean discharge turbulence intensity, u′m; kinematic viscosity of the gas jet, ν; specific gravity of the gas jet, ρj; and of the ambient gas, ρa. Experimental results showed that the entrainment of jets are enhanced with higher eddy kinematic viscosity, νt, measured by a hot wire anemometer. In conclusion, the mean jet concentration was approximated with only one parameter, (ρj/ρa)D2/[(ν+νt)Δt].