Modelling biodiesel–diesel spray combustion using multicomponent vaporization coupled with detailed fuel chemistry and soot models

A multicomponent vaporization model is integrated with detailed fuel chemistry and soot models for simulating biodiesel–diesel spray combustion. Biodiesel, a fuel mixture comprised of fatty-acid methyl esters, is an attractive alternative to diesel fuel for use in compression-ignition engines. Accurately modelling of the spray, vaporization, and combustion of the fuel mixture is critical to predicting engine performance using biodiesel. In this study, a discrete-component vaporization model was developed to simulate the vaporization of biodiesel drops. The model can predict differences in the vaporization rates of different fuel components. The model was validated by use of experimental data of the measured biodiesel drop size history and spray penetration data obtained from a constant-volume chamber. Gas phase chemical reactions were simulated using a detailed reaction mechanism that also includes PAH reactions leading to the production of soot precursors. A phenomenological multi-step soot model was utilized to predict soot emissions from biodiesel–diesel combustion. The soot model considered various steps of soot formation and destruction, such as soot inception, surface growth, coagulation, and PAH condensation, as well as oxidation by oxygen and hydroxyl-containing molecules. The overall numerical model was validated with experimental data on flame structure and soot distributions obtained from a constant-volume chamber. The model was also applied to predict combustion, soot and NOx emissions from a diesel engine using different biodiesel–diesel blends. The engine simulation results were further analysed to determine the soot emissions characteristics by use of biodiesel–diesel fuels.     

A mixing controlled direct chemistry (MCDC) model for diesel engine combustion modelling using large eddy simulation

A mixing controlled direct chemistry (MCDC) combustion model with sub-grid scale (SGS) mixing effects and chemical kinetics has been evaluated for Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of diesel engine combustion. The mixing effect is modelled by a mixing timescale based on mixture fraction variance and sub-grid scalar dissipation rate. The SGS scalar dissipation rate is modelled using a similarity term and a scaling factor from the analysis of Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data. The chemical reaction progress is estimated from a kinetic timescale based on local internal energy change rate and equilibrium state internal energy. An optical research engine operating at conventional operating conditions and Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) conditions was used for evaluation of the combustion model. From the simulation results, the effect of SGS scalar mixing is evaluated at different stages of combustion. In the context of LES, the new approach provides improved engine modelling results compared to the Direct Chemistry Solver (DCS) combustion model.     

稳态燃烧室进气过程的大涡模拟

为精确描述燃烧室进气过程中的流场动态特性,本文应用大涡模拟模型对燃烧室稳态进气过程进行三维瞬态数值模拟研究,着重考察了三种不同亚网格模型(SGS)的性能,这三种SGS模型是:代数Smagorinsky模型、动态Smagorinsky模型和单方程动态动能输运模型(LDKEM)。计算结果表明LEDKEM模型和动态Smagorinsky模型均能较好地反映流场的瞬变性和随机性,前者性能最佳;而代数Smagorinsky模型精度较差,且不能模拟流场的微结构。     

Diesel engine emissions and combustion predictions using advanced mixing models applicable to fuel sprays

An advanced mixing model was applied to study engine emissions and combustion with different injection strategies ranging from multiple injections, early injection and grouped-hole nozzle injection in light and heavy duty diesel engines. The model was implemented in the KIVA-CHEMKIN engine combustion code and simulations were conducted at different mesh resolutions. The model was compared with the standard KIVA spray model that uses the Lagrangian-Drop and Eulerian-Fluid (LDEF) approach, and a Gas Jet spray model that improves predictions of liquid sprays. A Vapor Particle Method (VPM) is introduced that accounts for sub-grid scale mixing of fuel vapor and more accurately and predicts the mixing of fuel-vapor over a range of mesh resolutions. The fuel vapor is transported as particles until a certain distance from nozzle is reached where the local jet half-width is adequately resolved by the local mesh scale. Within this distance the vapor particle is transported while releasing fuel vapor locally, as determined by a weighting factor. The VPM model more accurately predicts fuel-vapor penetrations for early cycle injections and flame lift-off lengths for late cycle injections. Engine combustion computations show that as compared to the standard KIVA and Gas Jet spray models, the VPM spray model improves predictions of in-cylinder pressure, heat released rate and engine emissions of NOx, CO and soot with coarse mesh resolutions. The VPM spray model is thus a good tool for efficiently investigating diesel engine combustion with practical mesh resolutions, thereby saving computer time.     

柴油引燃天然气的双燃料燃烧机理的研究

本文介绍在一台光学发动机上,利用高速数字摄像和数据采集技术,对柴油引燃天然气双燃料发动机的着火、火焰传播、气缸内压力、压力升高率等变化规律进行的研究。结果表明,采用双燃料的燃烧方式具有明显的多点着火型的预混燃烧特点,与采用纯柴油的燃烧方式相比,燃烧持续期短、产生的碳烟少,但爆发压力高、压力升高率大。     

Coupling of turbulence on the ignition of multicomponent sprays

This study examines the effect of turbulence on the ignition of multicomponent surrogate fuels and its role in modifying preferential evaporation in multiphase turbulent spray environments. To this end, two zero-dimensional droplet models are considered that are representative of asymptotic conditions of diffusion limit and the distillation limit are considered. The coupling between diffusion, evaporation and combustion is first identified using a scale analysis of 0D homogeneous batch reactor simulations. Subsequently, direct numerical simulations of homogeneously dispersed multicomponent droplets are performed for both droplet models, in decaying isotropic turbulence and at quiescent conditions to examine competing time scale effects arising from evaporation, ignition and turbulence. Results related to intra-droplet transport and effects of turbulence on autoignition and overall combustion are studied using an aviation fuel surrogate. Depending on the characteristic scale, it is shown that turbulence can couple through modulation of evaporation time or defer the ignition phase as a result of droplet cooling or gas-phase homogenization. Both preferential evaporation and turbulence are found to modify the ignition delay time, up to a factor of two. More importantly, identical droplet ignition behavior in homogeneous gas phase can imply fundamentally different combustion modes in heterogeneous environments.     

直喷式柴油机燃烧数值计算研究

以KIVA-3为计算平台,对4气门直喷式柴油机的早喷燃烧、预喷燃烧和传统燃烧三种燃烧方式工作过程进行了模拟计算,得以下结论:早喷燃烧方式因喷到缸壁的油量较多,受进气涡流影响较少,同时利用喷射效应改善缸内氧气分布,因此早喷燃烧比较完全。预喷燃烧方式仍以扩散燃烧为主,预喷油燃烧改变了主喷初期油注周围的组分分布与温度分布,从而改变主喷燃油的燃烧历程。进气涡流造成的缸内流场不均匀性是影响传统燃烧方式燃烧不完全的主要因素之一。     

Large-eddy simulations of a stratified-charge direct-injection spark-ignition engine: Comparison with experiment and analysis of cycle-to-cycle variations

Multiple-cycle large-eddy simulations (LES) have been performed for an optically accessible, single-cylinder, four-stroke-cycle, spray-guided direct-injection spark-ignition (SG-DISI) engine operating in a stratified globally fuel-lean mode. The simulations combine a standard Smagorinsky turbulence model, a stochastic Lagrangian parcel method for liquid fuel injection and fuel spray modeling, a simple energy-deposition spark-ignition model, and a modified thickened flame model for turbulent flame propagation through highly stratified reactant mixtures. Comparisons between simulations and experiments include individual-cycle and ensemble-average pressure and apparent-heat-release-rate traces, individual-cycle and ensemble-average indicated mean effective pressures (IMEP), and instantaneous two-dimensional vapor-equivalence-ratio contours. Although the number of LES cycles is small (35), the results show that the simulations are able to capture the global combustion behavior that is observed in the experiments, including cycle-to-cycle variations. The simulation results are then analyzed further to provide insight into the conditions that lead to misfire versus robust combustion. As has been reported in earlier experimental and LES studies for homogeneous-charge SI engines, local conditions in the vicinity of the spark gap at the time of ignition largely determine the subsequent flame development. However, in contrast to homogeneous-charge engines, no single local or global quantity correlates as strongly with the eventual peak pressure or IMEP for each cycle. Rather, it is the interplay among the early flame kernel, the velocity field that it experiences, and the fuel distribution that it encounters that ultimately determines the fate of each combustion event. Deeper analysis and quantitative statistical comparisons between experiments and simulations will require the simulation of larger numbers of engine cycles.     

生物制气-柴油双燃料发动机燃烧特性研究

各种农林废弃的生物质,经气化炉热解气化产生可燃生物制气,作为柴油为引燃燃料的双燃料发动机主要燃料,测量该发动机及柴油机在运转范围内的燃烧过程,并分析燃烧始点、最高燃烧压力及相位的变化规律。双燃料发动机与燃用纯柴油时的发动机相比,燃烧始点较迟,在低速大负荷时比柴油机气缸最高燃烧压力及最大压力升高率要大,在其余工况比柴油机要低。     

基于二阶矩燃烧模型的液雾燃烧大涡模拟

采用亚网格动能(k方程)应力模型、二阶矩(SOM)燃烧模型和欧拉拉氏两相流模型,对乙醇-空气液雾燃烧进行了大涡模拟(LES)。瞬态结果显示:在火焰的高温区域,旋涡强度较大;在高温区边缘附近存在的拟序结构有脱落的趋势。在燃烧装置的燃料进口附近,近喷嘴中心区域,大量液滴聚集在条状湍流拟序结构的周围。LES模拟的统计结果给出的温度分布与实验结果吻合较好。说明SOM燃烧模型适用于液雾两相湍流燃烧研究,计算结果经过和实验数据对比发现,LES-SOM燃烧模型优于RANS-PDF及LES-FA计算结果。数值计算结果与实验结果的误差主要是由于采用统观一步反应机理引起的,表明燃烧模型还有待进一步改进。     

含甲缩醛柴油喷雾和燃烧排放特性的试验研究

应用激光相位多普勒技术测量了含甲缩醛柴油喷雾的速度场和粒径场,在直喷式柴油机上研究了该含氧混合燃油的燃烧排放特性。结果表明,添加甲缩醛可改善柴油的雾化,增加喷雾轴线上的粒子速度,但减小喷雾锥角;同时以远大于其加入的比例降低柴油机排气烟度,但对氮氧化物的排放影响不大。柴油机采用甲缩醛作燃油添加剂时,需改造燃油系统。     

6110柴油机喷雾过程的多维瞬态数值模拟研究

将柴油机全体燃烧室部件(气缸盖-气缸套-活塞组)作为一个耦合体,在对耦合体进行传热数值模拟的基础上得到喷雾过程缸内计算的壁面边界条件.利用大型通用CFD软件STAR-CD及ES-ICE,在进气压缩过程多维瞬态数值模拟基础上,对6110柴油机喷雾过程进行多维瞬态数值模拟研究.通过计算,着重分析缸内两相流动,燃油喷射、雾化以及喷雾粒子的空间分布等.     

DMM及纳米颗粒添加剂对农用柴油机燃烧与排放性能的影响

本文通过在柴油中添加小比例二甲氧基甲烷(DMM)以及纳米氧化铝(Al2O3)颗粒研究一台小型农用柴油机的燃烧与排放特性。研究表明,随着柴油中DMM添加比例的增大,发动机燃烧特性参数如缸内压力、燃烧放热率及制动热效率得到明显地提升,着火延迟期以及CA50逐渐减小;排放方面HC和NOx增加,而CO和碳烟得到有效地抑制。燃油中同时添加DMM和纳米Al2O3颗粒后,发动机燃烧及排放方面得到了不同程度地优化。因此,将DMM与纳米颗粒的有机结合可为代用燃料在农用发动机中的推广应用提供新的思路。     

Large Eddy Simulation of a swirl stabilized spray flame

Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of kerosene spray combustion in an axial-swirl combustor have been carried out focusing on the effect of the evaporating droplets on the flame temperature and species concentrations. The LES-PDF methodology is used for both dispersed (liquid) and gas phases. The liquid phase is described using a Lagrangian formulation whilst an Eulerian approach is employed for the gas phase. The predictive capability of LES with sub-grid scale models for spray dispersion and evaporation is assessed placing emphasis on the effect of the unresolved velocity and temperature fields on the droplet evaporation rate. The results of the fully coupled LES formulation exhibit good agreement between the measured and simulated mean velocity fields. The global behaviour of the spray combustion, such as droplet dispersion and evaporation, are captured reasonably well in the simulations. It was found that the large velocity fluctuations observed in the shear layer strongly affect the evaporation rate and thus the temperature distributions. The present work also demonstrated the feasibility of LES to study complex flow features which are typical of gas-turbine combustion chambers.     

Imaging of Drop and Vapour Clouds in an Evaporating Fuel Spray by ultraviolet and visible lasers

A laser-based method was developed for the simultaneous and quantitative imaging of drop and vapour clouds in an evaporating fuel spray. The method was based on extinction of two wavelengths, that is, ultraviolet and visible laser light through the fuel spray due to absorption by the vapour and scattering by the drops. α-Methylnaphthalene was selected as an injection fuel, since it absorbs the ultraviolet laser light but does not absorb the visible laser light. Subtraction of the transmissivity of the visible laser light from that of the ultraviolet laser light made it possible to image the distribution of the vapour cloud in the evaporating fuel spray. The distribution of the drop cloud is imaged by the transmissivity of the visible laser light. The method was applied to the fuel spray injected from a nozzle of a direct injection diesel engine into high-pressure and high-temperature nitrogen gas in a bomb.     

Numerical simulation of turbulent combustion: Scientific challenges

Predictive simulation of engine combustion is key to understanding the underlying complicated physicochemical processes, improving engine performance, and reducing pollutant emissions. Critical issues as turbulence modeling, turbulence-chemistry interaction, and accommodation of detailed chemical kinetics in complex flows remain challenging and essential for high-fidelity combustion simulation. This paper reviews the current status of the state-of-the-art large eddy simulation (LES)/prob-ability density function (PDF)/detailed chemistry approach that can address the three challenging modelling issues. PDF as a subgrid model for LES is formulated and the hybrid mesh-particle method for LES/PDF simulations is described. Then the development need in micro-mixing models for the PDF simulations of turbulent premixed combustion is identified. Finally the different acceleration methods for detailed chemistry are reviewed and a combined strategy is proposed for further development.     

Laser metrology — a diagnostic tool in automotive development processes

Laser measurement techniques are widely used in automotive development processes. Applications at Volkswagen are presented where laser metrology works as a diagnostic tool for analysing and optimising complex coupled processes inside and between automotive components and structures such as the reduction of a vehicle's interior or outer acoustic noise, including brake noise, and the combustion analysis for diesel and gasoline engines to further reduce fuel consumption and pollution. Pulsed electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) and holographic interferometry are used for analysing the knocking behaviour of modern engines and for correct positioning of knocking sensors. Holographic interferometry shows up the vibrational behaviour of brake components and their interaction during braking, and allows optimisation for noise-free brake systems. Scanning laser vibrometry analyses structure-born noise of a whole car body for the optimisation of its interior acoustical behaviour.Modern engine combustion concepts such as in direct-injection (DI) gasoline and diesel engines benefit from laser diagnostic tools which permit deeper insight into the in-cylinder processes such as flow generation, fuel injection and spray formation, atomisation and mixing, ignition and combustion, and formation and reduction of pollutants. The necessary optical access inside a cylinder is realised by so-called ‘transparent engines’ allowing measurements nearly during the whole engine cycle. Measurement techniques and results on double-pulse particle image velocimetry (PIV) with a frequency-doubled YAG laser for in-cylinder flow analysis are presented, as well as Mie-scattering on droplets using a copper vapour laser combined with high-speed filming, and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) with an excimer laser for spray and fuel vapour analysis.     

6106柴油机性能研究及优化

本文利用内燃机工作过程数值模拟软件GT-Power,对6106柴油机工作过程进行了数值模拟计算.通过计算,分析了供油提前角、配气相位等参数对柴油机性能的影响,并将计算结果与实验值进行了比较,验证了计算的准确性.优化后的结果为柴油机的优化设计提供理论依据.     

Effects of fuel viscosity on the primary breakup dynamics of a high-speed liquid jet with comparison to X-ray radiography

One of the major concerns in combustion engines is the sensitivity of engine performance to fuel properties. Recent works have shown that even slight differences in fuel properties can cause significant changes in performance and emission of an engine. In order to design the combustion engines with multi-fuel flexibilities, the precise assessment of fuel sensitivity on liquid jet atomization process is a prerequisite since the resulting fuel/air mixture is critical to the subsequent combustion process. The present study is focusing on the effect of physical fuel properties, mostly viscosity difference, on the breakup process of the liquid jet injected into still air. Two different jet fuels, CAT-A2 and CAT-C3, are considered here as surrogates for a fossil-based fuel and a bio-derived high-viscosity alternative fuel. The simulations are performed using the volume-of-fluid (VoF) interface tracking method coupled to Lagrangian particle method in order to capture the breakup instabilities of jets and the resulting droplets. The investigations take the actual geometry of the injector into account to resolve the unsteady flow phenomena inside the nozzle that impact the turbulence transition and atomization. The simulation results are compared to the experimental measurement using X-ray radiography. Both simulation and X-ray measurements consistently describe the effects of different fuels on the fundamental properties of atomization including the breakup length, transverse liquid volume fraction and the droplet sauter-mean-diameter. The application of a Detailed Numerical Simulation approach complemented by unique X-ray diagnostics is novel and providing new understanding and research directions in engine spray dynamics.     

Temperature measurements of the gas-phase during surrogate diesel injection using two-color toluene LIF

Planar laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) of toluene has been applied in an optical engine and a high-pressure cell, to determine temperatures of fuel sprays and in-cylinder vapors. The method relies on a redshift of the toluene LIF emission spectrum with increasing temperature. Toluene fluorescence is recorded simultaneously in two disjunct wavelength bands by a two-camera setup. After calibration, the pixel-by-pixel LIF signal ratio is a proxy for the local temperature. A detailed measurement procedure is presented to minimize measurement inaccuracies and to improve precision. n-Heptane is used as the base fuel and 10 % of toluene is added as a tracer. The toluene LIF method is capable of measuring temperatures up to 700 K; above that the signal becomes too weak. The precision of the spray temperature measurements is 4 % and the spatial resolution 1.3 mm. We pay particular attention to the construction of the calibration curve that is required to translate LIF signal ratios into temperature, and to possible limitations in the portability of this curve between different setups. The engine results are compared to those obtained in a constant-volume high-pressure cell, and the fuel spray results obtained in the high-pressure cell are also compared to LES simulations. We find that the hot ambient gas entrained by the head vortex gives rise to a hot zone on the spray axis.