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[EN] In this study, a numerical methodology for the optimization of the combustion chamber in compression ignited engines using OME as fuel is presented. The objective is to obtain a dedicated combustion system for an engine that is fueled with this alternative fuel improving the efficiency and reducing the emissions of NOx. This article proposes the integration between the optimization algorithm and CFD codes to evaluate the behavior of an engine fuelled with the low sooting fuel OME. Based on a diesel model validated against experimental data, a further model for OME fuel was implemented for evaluating the performance of the engine. The particle swarm algorithm (PSO) was modified based on the Novelty Search concepts and used as optimization algorithm. Several tools are coupled in order to create each CFD case where all the tools and optimization algorithm are coupled in a routine that automates the entire process. The result is an optimized combustion system that provides an increase of the efficiency (about 2.2%) and a NOx reduction (35.7%) in comparison with the baseline engine with conventional fuel. In addition, a neuronal network was trained with all the results of all simulations performed during the optimization process, studying the influence of each parameter on the emissions and efficiency. From this analysis it was concluded that the EGR rate and injection pressure affects the NOx emissions with a range of variability of 63% and 38% respectively., The work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad through Grant No TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R "Desarrollo de modelos de combustion y emisiones HPC para el analisis de sistemas de transporte sostenibles" The author C. S. Fernandes thanks the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for his predoctoral contract (FPI-2019-S2-20-555) , which is included within the framework of Programa de Apoyo para la Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID)

[EN] To further understand the processes and phenomena taking place in the pre-chamber (PC) ignition concept, many studies under simplified conditions have been carried out in different experimental facilities (e.g. constant volume chambers and rapid compression machines). However limited information is provided about how the volume, orifice diameter and number of orifices were defined, raising the question whether the results are representative of engine-like conditions or not. This novel study arises from the necessity to determine a methodology to reproduce a reference pre-chamber, preserving as much as possible its jet characteristics. A theoretical development based on the first law of thermodynamics has been performed, and a relationship between the effective flow area, pre-chamber volume and engine speed is proposed as the governing parameter of the mass exchange between chambers. Besides, relaying on the know-how of gas jets, a relationship between the orifice diameter, jet tip penetration and engine speed is suggested as the criterion to preserve the relative jet penetration (respect to the distance from the PC hole to the combustion chamber walls). A numerical validation of these assumptions was carried out using a one-dimensional flow calculator to estimate the thermodynamic properties and mass transfer between chambers, and a one-dimensional spray model to estimate the penetration of the PC combustion products jets. Finally, preserving the ratio between the total area of the PC holes and the product of the PC volume and the engine speed for two pre-chamber geometries, an identical pressure rise rate, in an angular basis, is achieved in both pre-chambers. Furthermore, the same relative jet penetration rate, in an angular basis, can be also achieved, even under different engine speeds, when the ratio between the orifice diameter and the product of the square of the jet free length and the engine speed is preserved., The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research has been partially funded by FEDER and the Spanish Government through project RTI2018-102025-B-I00.

[EN] This investigation analyses the structure of spray A from engine combustion network (ECN), which is representative of diesel-like sprays, by means of large eddy simulations and an unsteady flamelet progress variable combustion model. A very good agreement between modelled and experimental measurements is obtained for the inert spray that supports further analysis. A parametric variation in oxygen concentration is carried out in order to describe the structure of the flame and how it is modified when mixture reactivity is changed. The most relevant trends for the flame metrics, ignition delay and lift-off length are well-captured by the simulations corroborating the suitability of the model for this type of configuration. Results show that the morphology of the flame is strongly affected by the boundary conditions in terms of the reactive scalar spatial fields and Z-T maps. The filtered instantaneous fields provided by the simulations allow investigation of the structure of the flame at the lift-off length, whose positioning shows low fluctuations, and how it is affected by turbulence. It is evidenced that small ignition kernels appear upstream and detached from the flame that eventually merge with its base in agreement with experimental observations, leading to state that auto-ignition plays a key role as one of the flame stabilization mechanisms of the flame., The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: The authors acknowledge that this work was possible thanks to the Ayuda para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU 14/03278) funded by the Subprogramas de Formacion y de Movilidad del Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte from Spain. Also, this study was partially funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad from Spain in the frame of the CHEST (TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R) national project.

[EN] Spray A from ECN, representative of diesel-like sprays, is modelled in the frame of Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) with a Dynamic Structure (DS) turbulence model in conjunction with an Unsteady Flamelet Progress Variable (UFPV) combustion model. In this work, the spray flow field is first calibrated under inert conditions against experimental data. In a second step, the reactive spray is simulated in order to describe the flame internal structure when varying ambient temperature. The model shows a good agreement with experimental results and describes the trends observed in flame global parameters, such as ignition delay (ID) and lift-offlength (LOL). Low fluctuations are observed in LOL positioning revealing an intense chemical activity at the height of the base of the flame, which stabilizes the reaction in spite of the turbulent fluctuations. The analysis of the LES instantaneous fields shows how ignition kernels appear upstream of the base of the flame, clearly detached from the reaction zone, and grow and merge with the main flame in agreement with previous reported experimental and modelling results. The ambient temperature has a clear impact on the flame structure described by the model and the whole set of results reveal that in the frame of LES simulations the UFPV model is suitable for the calculation of diesel flames., Authors acknowledge that this work was possible thanks to the Ayuda para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU 14/03278) belonging to the Subprogramas de Formacion y de Movilidad del Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte from Spain. Also this study was partially funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad from Spain in the frame of the COMEFF national project (TRA2014-59483-R). Finally, the authors thankfully acknowledge the computer resources at MareNostrum and technical support provided by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (RES-FI-2017-2-0044).

[EN] The role of nozzle diameter on diesel combustion is studied by performing computational fluid dynamics calculations of Spray A and Spray D from the Engine Combustion Network. These are well-characterized single-hole sprays in a quiescent environment chamber with thermodynamic conditions representative of modern diesel engines. First, the inert spray evolution is described with the inclusion of the concept of mixing trajectories and local residence time into the analysis. Such concepts enable the quantification of the mixing rate, showing that it decreases with the increase in nozzle diameter. In a second step, the reacting spray evolution is studied focusing on the local heat release rate distribution during the auto-ignition sequence and the quasi-steady state. The capability of a well-mixed-based and a flamelet-based combustion model to predict diesel combustion is also assessed. On one hand, results show that turbulence-chemistry interaction has a profound effect on the description of the reacting spray evolution. On the other hand, the mixing rate, characterized in terms of the local residence time, drives the main changes introduced by the increase of the nozzle diameter when comparing Spray A and Spray D., The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: The work was partially funded by the Government of Spain through the CHEST Project (TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R) and by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia through the Programa de Ayudas de Investigaciony Desarrollo (PAID-01-16).

New combustion concepts and engine designs are being currently investigated in order to comply with upcoming pollutant regulations and reduce fuel consumption. In this context, two-stroke architectures appear as a promising solution for the implementation of some combustion concepts. However, scavenging processes in a two-stroke engine are much more challenging than for a four-stroke engine, and the residual mass of burnt gases retained inside the cylinder needs to be properly determined in order to keep control over the in-cylinder composition, hence over the combustion conditions and pollutant emissions. In this study, a new methodology for the estimation of the internal residual gas fraction is introduced, which is based on the thermodynamic processes occurring in the engine investigated and makes use of basic engine instrumentation and measurement equipment usually available in a conventional test cell. Several versions of the estimator were developed so that different requirements could be met, such as those of real-time estimation on an engine test bench but with reduced precision or, on the contrary, highly precise but time-consuming computations for post-processing purposes and combustion diagnosis. The consistency of the internal residual gas estimator was then validated through its application to real engine tests at different operating points.

[EN] An optimization methodology based on a genetic algorithm coupled with the KIVA computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is applied to the design of a combustion system of a heavy-duty diesel engine fueled with dimethyl ether (DME) and working with stoichiometric combustion in order to equip the system with a three way catalyst (TWC) to control the NOx emissions. The target of the optimization is to improve net indicated efficiency (NIE) while keeping NOx emissions, peak pressure and pressure rise rate under the reference engine levels. The results of the study provide an optimum configuration that offers a 0.6% NIE improvement while satisfying the restrictions and offering NOx values lower than 1% of the original emissions. Due to the methodology, not only the optimum combustion system configuration is presented, but also the cause-effect relation of the most relevant inputs with the optimization outputs are identified and analyzed. The new geometry shape reduced heat transfer losses by minimizing the surface area. Injection pressure and swirl proved to be key parameters necessary to overcome the increased mixing requirements of stoichiometric operation. EGR was found to simultaneously increase NIE while controlling NOx emissions. The results show the potential of stoichiometric compression ignition operation using DME as a promising pathway to maintain diesel-like efficiency, while achieving near zero NOx and soot emissions., Authors acknowledge that this work was possible thanks to the Ayuda para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU13/02817) belonging to the Subprogramas de Formacion y de Movilidad del Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte from Spain.

[EN] This paper evaluates the potential advantages of introducing a new injector concept with a dual set of orifices in a 2-stroke engine operating with gasoline partially premixed combustion (PPC gasoline), specially in terms of combustion noise reduction. The injector is based on a configuration with two concentric needle valves and dual actuators, which allows to switch among two independent crowns of holes. The first set of orifices is controlled by the primary needle valve while an additional needle valve manages the secondary holes crown. Moreover, both valves are coupled with the two actuators separately, providing enhanced selective control over injection with an extra degree of freedom. In this investigation, a combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and the Design of Experiments (DoE) technique is proposed with the specific purpose of optimizing this new injector configuration. In addition to determining the most convenient design, this method is extremely useful to establish cause/effect relationships between the injection design parameters and their impact on the engine performance and emissions. Results show how this solution could increase the operating range of the PPC gasoline concept by improving the combustion stability while acoustic emissions are reduced, The equipment used in this work has been partially supported by FEDER project funds "Dotacion de infraestructuras cientifico tecnicas para el Centro Integral de Mejora Energetica y Medioambiental de Sistemas de Transporte (CiMeT), (FEDER-ICTS-2012-06)" from the operational program of unique scientific and technical infrastructure of the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad.

[EN] The pre-blending of low- and high-reactivity fuels for a single direct injection system has been proven to be an effective way to control the reactivity of mixtures in compression ignition engines, having the potential to simultaneously reduce fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. However, there is not much knowledge about the complex physical-chemical phenomena in the turbulent sprays with fuels having widely different autoignition qualities, although this information is critical for the design and development of cleaner combustion systems based on this concept. For this reason, a computational analysis of ignition behavior, flame structure, and soot production for reacting sprays with five primary reference fuels (PRFs), from PRF0 (n-heptane) to PRF80 (20% n-heptane, 80% iso-octane) with 20% increment in iso-octane mass fraction, was first performed using the Tabulated Flamelet Progress Variable (TFPV) approach based on the tabulation of diffusion flamelets for different scalar dissipation rates. The temporal and spatial features of the flame structure and soot formation for different fuels were investigated with the so-called intensity-axial distance-time (IXT) plots. Then, ten PRFs, from RRF0 to PRF90 with 10% increment in iso-octane mass fraction, were investigated and compared in a heavy-duty Diesel engine operating at the conventional high-temperature, short-ignition delay (HTSID) condition. The injection timing was altered from -5 to -13 degrees ATDC to optimize the combustion phase and engine performance for different fuels. The results showed that PRF70 exhibited the best performance at the tested condition, which reduced the soot mass to 5% of the baseline value without sacrificing fuel efficiency., Authors acknowledge the financial support from the China Scholarship Council (No. 201806230180) and Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51961135105) for the first author's study in Politecnico di Milano, Italy

[EN] The pre-chamber ignition concept is an attractive strategy to enable the operation of spark-ignition engines in lean or diluted conditions keeping a suitable combustion process. According to the results the benefits in lean conditions include the combustion process shortening, the improvement of combustion stability and the increase of combustion efficiency by lowering carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons emissions. Thus, the pre-chamber ignition concept, especially in its passive version, arises as a promising alternative for future spark-ignition engines for passenger car applications. In this framework, an experimental investigation has been carried out to evaluate the potential of passive pre-chamber ignition concept in a high compression ratio, turbocharged, port fueled spark-ignition engine, using 95 Research Octane Number gasoline. As a first step, a 1D Wave Action Model was generated to design the pre-chamber geometry taking the fuel available at the start of pre-chamber combustion and the pressure difference between the main chamber and pre-chamber as key parameters. In a second step, these pre-chamber designs were experimentally validated at high load/speed conditions (4500¿rpm, 12.5¿bar Indicated Mean Effective Pressure) and compared with the conventional spark-ignition concept. Experimental results show how the passive pre-chamber concept increases efficiency with good combustion stability and high combustion efficiency in stoichiometric conditions. Nevertheless, maximum lambda attainable with the passive system is similar than that of the conventional spark and much lower compared to the maximum levels reported for the active system., The work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad through Grant No. TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R.

[EN] As the focus of research and development is put into innovative combustion concepts with the goal of reducing harmful chemical pollutants while keeping or even improving the efficiency of conventional Diesel combustion, it is necessary to consider the impact on noise pollution brought by those innovative concepts. However, the question arises as to what extent the noise characterization and optimization strategies currently applied to conventional Diesel compression-ignited engines are applicable to these innovative combustion concepts. In this paper, we apply experimental noise characterization techniques based on pressure trace decomposition to two compression-ignited engines: a baseline conventional Diesel engine and an innovative 2-stroke engine operating with the gasoline partially premixed combustion concept. Analysis of the results reveals that the underlying physical phenomena responsible for the spectral signature of the noise are still shared between the new and the conventional concepts. However, results evince a significant change in the relevance of these physical sources, leading to necessary changes in optimization strategies for future compression-ignited engine development., The equipment used in this work has been partially supported by FEDER project funds "Dotacion de infraestructuras cientifico tecnicas para el Centro Integral de Mejora Energetica y Medioambiental de Sistemas de Transporte (CiMeT)" [Grant No. FEDER-ICTS-2012-06], framed in the operational program of unique scientific and technical infrastructure of the Spanish Government. J. Gomez-Soriano is partially supported through the Programa de Apoyo para la Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID) of Universitat Politecnica de Valencia [Grant No. FPI-S2-2016-1353]

[EN] Encouraged by the diversity of n-dodecane chemical mechanisms currently available, this investigation focuses on analysing the impact of using different fuel oxidation schemes on the diesel-like Engine Combustion Network (ECN) Spray A flame structure, simulated by means of an Unsteady Flamelet Progress Variable (UFPV) combustion model. The present research discusses systematically the characteristics of four n-dodecane chemical mechanisms in perfectly stirred reactors and counterflow laminar diffusion flames (flamelets) before the final evaluation in turbulent reacting sprays in order to describe the effects of adding different physical levels of complexity to the ignition of the mixtures. In addition, this analysis is complemented with the description of the effect of the boundary conditions on the flame structure. Results evidence the extreme importance of the low temperature chemistry including the period for which the cool flame extends. The different prediction of this stage between mechanisms leads to noticeable different laminar flame structures which in turn produce substantially distinct turbulent flames, especially in the vicinity of the lift-off length (LOL) in terms of reactivity and positioning in the Z-T map. Finally, simulations confirm the strong effect of the boundary conditions, especially for the ambient temperature, on the ignitable mixtures which directly impacts on the soot precursors formation. (C) 2019 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved., Authors acknowledge that this work was possible thanks to the Ayuda para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU 14/03278) belonging to the Subprogramas de Formacion y de Movilidad from the Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte from Spain. This work was partially funded by the Government of Spain through CHEST Project (TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R).

[EN] Passive pre-chamber ignition concept has been proven to be an excellent strategy to increase the ignition energy and enhance the combustion velocity even when spark-ignition engines are operating in diluted conditions. Other benefits of this system are the increased combustion stability and combustion efficiency, reducing hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions. However, these advantages are limited at some operation conditions such as low engine load or diluted conditions since both the energy available in the pre-chamber and the scavenge of combustion products are compromised. In this framework, numerical studies using two different computational tools, based on one-dimensional modeling, are utilized to gain knowledge about the governing parameters and to improve the design of a pre-chamber when the engine operates at these restrictive conditions. In particular, the impact of the pre-chamber volume, the total cross sectional area of the holes and tangential angle of the nozzles have been numerically evaluated. Different pre-chamber designs were proposed and experimentally tested in a single-cylinder, high compression ratio turbocharged spark-ignition engine fueled with compressed natural gas and operating on Miller cycle. Results give valuable insight into the key aspects of the internal geometry and some relevant design paths to follow for a suitable pre-chamber definition., The work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad through Grant No. TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R. P.J. Martinez-Hernandiz is partially supported by an FPI contract (FPI-S2-19-21993) of the "Programa de Apoyo para la Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID-05-19)" of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.

[EN] In view of the increasing restrictions for CO2 mitigation, the evaluation of alternative fuels to ensure sustainability of transportation is becoming increasingly important. Since some of these alternatives can be refined from renewable sources, they are interesting from the perspective of both: the use of the current power-plants and the CO2 emission. In this sense, natural gas arises as an interesting propellant to substitute fossil fuels. Therefore, combining this fuel with specific combustion strategies can help to decrease the environmental footprint of transportation in the broadest sense. In this paper, an evaluation of the possible advantages of this combination has been conducted. The investigation has been carried out in a port fueled turbocharged spark-ignition engine, using compressed natural gas (CNG) and a passive pre-chamber ignition system. The effects of the CNG fuel properties on combustion have been analyzed and the global impact of using CNG for transportation has been appraised by means of the life cycle assessment. Results show that combustion of CNG refined by different renewable sources not only reduces the global CO2 emission but also can contribute to remove the existent pollution. In addition, they show an increase of the engine thermal efficiency when combining CNG and the pre-chamber ignition concept., The work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad through grant number TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R. P. J. Martinez-Hernandiz is partially supported by an FPI, Spain contract (FPI-S2-19-21993) of the "Programa de Apoyo para la Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID-05-19)" of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.

Modern engine design has challenging requirements towards maximum power output, fuel consumption and emissions. For engine combustion development programs, the injection system has to be able to operate reliable under a variety of operating conditions. Today s legislations for quieter and cleaner engines require multiple injection strategies, where it is important to understand the behavior of the system and to measure the effect of one injection on subsequent injections. This study presents a methodology for 0D modeling the mass flow rate and the rail pressure of a common rail system, constructed from a set of experimental measurements in engine-like operating conditions, for single and multiple injection strategies. The model is based in mathematical expressions and correlations that can simulate the mass flow rate obtained with the Bosch tube experiment, focusing on the shape and the injected mass, using few inputs: rail pressure, back pressure, energizing time, etc. The model target is to satisfy two conditions: lowest computational cost and to reproduce the realistic injected quantity. Also, the influence of the rail pressure level on the start of injection is determined, especially for multiple injection strategies on the rate shape and injected mass. Good accuracy was obtained in the simulations. Results showed that the model error is within the 5%, which corresponds at the same time to the natural error of the injector and to the accuracy of the measures which had been done. The benefits of the model are that simulations can be performed quickly and easily for any operation points, and on the other hand that the model can be used in real-time on the engine test bench for mass estimations when doing additional experiments or calibration activities., The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was sponsored by "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad'' in the frame of the project "Estudio de la interaccion chorropared en condiciones realistas de motor (SPRAY WALL)'' reference TRA2015-67679-c2-1-R.

[EN] In this paper, a computational study was performed using a combination of several numerical tools to better understand the limiting aspects of combustion in a passive pre-chamber ignition system when operating at lean conditions. A specific methodology was developed to analyze in detail the scavenging and combustion processes of this ignition concept. Results show how the scavenging of passive pre-chambers is primarily dependent on the force that the piston makes on the gas during the compression stroke, being independent of the pre-chamber geometry as along as the ratio between the total cross sectional area of the pre-chamber holes and the prechamber volume is kept within a suitable range. Moreover, a successful lean combustion, with an air-to-fuel ratio around 2, cannot be achieved as the burning rates inside the pre-chamber significantly decrease due to the low laminar flame speeds, that results in low quality jets. Further results show that increasing the flow temperature can help to recover competitive combustion rates when knocking combustion is not a limiting factor. The contribution of the heat losses through the pre-chamber walls to the overall energy balance of the pre-chamber has been estimated, showing that their impact is negligible (< 5%). Alternatives for increasing the laminar flame speed were proposed in order to improve combustion inside the pre-chamber. Although the pre-chamber combustion profile was successfully improved, none of the proposed solutions were able to completely burn the main chamber charge with the current pre-chamber design., The work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad through Grant No. TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R. J. Gomez-Soriano is partially supported through the Programa de Apoyo para la Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID) of Universitat Politecnica de Valencia [Grant No. FPI-S2-2018-17367].

[EN] As computational capabilities continue to grow, exploring the limits of computational fluid dynamics to capture complex and elusive phenomena, which are otherwise difficult to study by experimental techniques, is one of the main targets for the research community. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the physical processes that lead to combustion noise emissions in internal combustion engines. In particular, diesel combustion in a compression-ignition (CI) engine is studied in order to understand the singular behavior of the in-cylinder flow field responsible for the acoustic emissions. The main objective is, therefore, to improve the understanding of the phenomena involved in CI engine noise using large eddy simulations. Several visualization methods are employed to investigate the connection between combustion behavior and its effects on the pressure field. In addition, proper orthogonal decomposition is used to analyze the modal energy distribution among all the acoustic modes. The results show that the acoustic signature is fundamentally conditioned by the intensity of the premixed combustion rather than by the pressure oscillations generated by turbulent fluctuations in the flame surface established during the diffusion stage., The submitted manuscript was created partly by UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. This research was partly funded by the U.S. DOE Office of Vehicle Technologies, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors wish to thank Gurpreet Singh and Michael Weismiller, program managers at the DOE, for their support. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge the Laboratory Computing Resource Center (LCRC) at the Argonne National Laboratory for computing time on the Bebop cluster that was used in this research.

In the present work, a numerical methodology based on three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was developed to predict knock in a 2-Stroke engine operating with gasoline Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) concept. Single-cycle Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) simulations using the renormalization group (RNG) k &minus, &epsilon, model were performed in parallel while the initial conditions are accordingly perturbed in order to imitate the variability in the in-cylinder conditions due to engine operation. Results showed a good agreement between experiment and CFD simulation with respect to cycle-averaged and deviation of the ignition timing, combustion phasing, peak pressure magnitude and location. Moreover, the numerical method was also demonstrated to be capable of predicting knock features, such as maximum pressure rise rate and knock intensity, with good accuracy. Finally, the CFD solution allowed to give more insight about in-cylinder processes that lead to the knocking combustion and its subsequent effects.

[EN] A genetic algorithm optimization methodology is applied to the design of the combustion system of a heavy-duty diesel engine fueled with dimethyl ether (DME). The optimization includes the key combustion system related hardware, bowl geometry and injection nozzle design, together with the most relevant air management and injection settings. The GA was linked to the KIVA computational fluid dynamics code and an automated grid generation tool to perform a single-objective optimization. The optimization target focused on maximizing efficiency, while keeping NOx emissions, peak pressure and maximum pressure rise rate under the baseline engine levels. This research work not only provides the optimum combustion system definition, but also the cause-effect relation between the inputs and outputs under investigation, identifying the most relevant parameters controlling the performance of a DME fueled engine. Piston bowl geometry is found to primarily influence heat transfer and combustion efficiency due to its impact on the surface area and fuel distribution, respectively. Mixing is most affected by the injection system parameters. Finally, the optimum DME engine configuration provides 6.9% absolute net indicated efficiency improvement over the baseline engine fueled with DME. This study confirms the potential of DME as a promising fuel for the future generation of compression ignition engines and demonstrates the need to co-optimize the fuel and combustion system., Authors acknowledge that this work was possible thanks to the Ayuda para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU 13/02817) belonging to the Subprogramas de Formacion y de Movilidad del Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte from Spain.

[EN] In order to improve performance of internal combustion engines and meet the requirements of the new pollutant emission regulations, advanced combustion strategies have been investigated. The newly designed partially premixed combustion concept has demonstrated its potential for reducing NOx and particulate matter emissions combined with high indicated efficiencies while still retaining proper control over combustion process by using different injection strategies. In this study, parametric variations of injection pressure, second injection and third injection timings were experimentally performed to analyze the effect of the injection strategy over the air/fuel mixture process and its consequent impact on gaseous compound emissions and particulate matter emissions including its size distribution. Tests were carried out on a newly designed two-stroke high-speed direct injection compression-ignition engine operating with the partially premixed combustion concept using 95 research octane number gasoline fuel. A scanning particle sizer was used to measure the particles size distribution and the HORIBA 7100DEGR gas analyzer system to determine gaseous emissions. Three different steady-state operation modes in terms of indicated mean effective pressure and engine speed were investigated: 3.5 bar indicated mean effective pressure and 2000 r/min, 5.5 bar indicated mean effective pressure and 2000 r/min, and 5.5 bar indicated mean effective pressure and 2500 r/min. The experimental results confirm how the use of an adequate injection strategy is indispensable to obtain low exhaust emissions values and a balance between the different pollutants. With the increase in the injection pressure and delay in the second injection, it was possible to obtain a trade-off between NOx and particulate matter emission reduction, while there was an increase in hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions under these conditions. In addition, the experiments showed an increase in particle number emissions and a progressive shift in the particles size distribution toward larger sizes, increasing the accumulation-mode particles and reducing the nucleation-mode particles with the decrease in the injection pressure and delay in the third injection., The authors kindly recognize the technical support provided by Mr Pascal Tribotte from RENAULT SAS in the frame of the DREAM-DELTA-68530-13-3205 Project.

[EN] The newly designed partially premixed combustion concept has demonstrated its potential to reduce nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions combined with highly indicated efficiencies. However, it is highly dependent of the ignition characteristics of the fuel and the air/fuel mixture preparation. Therefore, the proper selection of an injection strategy, of the combustion chamber design and of the air management strategy are critical to ensuring successful partially premixed combustion operation in the full engine map. The objective of the present investigation is to evaluate the use of multiple air management strategies over the air/fuel effective equivalence ratio (feff) and cylinder charge reactivity and its consequent impact on particle number emissions and particle size distribution. Tests were carried out in a newly designed 2-stroke high-speed direct-injection compression-ignition engine operating with partially premixed combustion concept using 95-research-octane-number gasoline fuel. A scanning mobility particle sizer was used to measure the size distribution of engine-exhaust particles in the range from 6.3 to 237 nm. Three different steady-state operation modes in terms of indicated mean effective pressure and engine speed were investigated. The experiments showed an increase in the particle number emissions and a progressive shift in the particle size toward larger sizes, increasing the accumulation-mode particles and reducing the nucleation-mode particles with the decrease in the differential pressure between intake and exhaust (DP) and the valve overlap period. Finally, the particle formation process was limited by the increase in the exhaust gas recirculation rate.

Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) of fuels in the gasoline octane range has proven its potential to achieve simultaneous reduction in soot and NOX emissions, combined with high indicated efficiencies; while still retaining proper control over combustion phasing with the injection event, contrary to fully premixed strategies. However, gasoline fuels with high octane number as the commonly available for the public provide a challenge to ensure reliable ignition especially in the low load range, while fuel blends with lower octane numbers present problems for extending the ignition delay in the high load range and avoid the onset of knocking-like combustion. Thus, choosing an appropriate fuel and injection strategy is critical to solve these issues, assuring successful PPC operation in the full engine map. In this framework, the objective of the present investigation consists of evaluating the use of multiple injection strategies for achieving stable PPC operation, attaining low NOX and soot emissions together with high efficiencies. This research was carried out in a single-cylinder DOHC 2-stroke HSDI CI engine using 95 Research Octane Number (RON) gasoline fuel. Three different operating conditions in terms of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and speed were investigated: 3.1 bar IMEP and 1250 rpm, 5.5 bar IMEP and 1500 rpm and 10.4 bar IMEP and 1500 rpm. Parametric variations of injection timings, at different rail pressures and different fuel split between injections were experimentally performed to analyze the effect of the injection strategy over the combustion process, exhaust emissions and efficiency levels. Experimental results confirm how using an appropriate injection strategy helps to achieve stable PPC operation in the selected operating conditions; with competitive combustion stability, lower NOX and soot levels, and moderate CO and HC emissions with combustion efficiency over 96%, compared to Conventional Diesel Combustion (CDC). Finally, a detailed analysis of the local cylinder conditions was performed by means of 3D-CFD simulations in order to provide guidelines for further optimization of the gasoline PPC concept, when using multiple injection strategies in the 2-stroke engine under development.

[EN] Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) using gasoline-like fuels has proven its potential to control or even break the NOx and soot emissions trade-off, retaining the high efficiency levels characteristic of the conventional diesel combustion (CDC) concept. However, selecting an appropriate fuel and a suitable injection strategy is essential to assure a successful PPC operation in the full engine map. Additionally, extending the limit of PPC beyond 10 bar IMEP was not possible due to excessively high pressure gradients and onset of knocking-like combustion, so the CDC concept has to be adopted and the conventional trade-off between NOx and soot emissions was recovered. Present investigation focuses on evaluating the use of a multiple injection strategy for extending the load range of the PPC concept to medium/high load conditions, when using a commercial RON95 gasoline in a 2-stroke engine under development. Experimental results confirm how with a fine tuned triple injection strategy it is possible to reach extremely low NOx and soot levels keeping combustion efficiency over 96%, while indicated efficiency is improved compared to a well-optimized point obtained operating with the CDC concept. Finally, the research work is completed by including 3D-CFD modeling activities that are carried out to contribute to the understanding on how the mixture preparation and stratification prior to the start of combustion impacts its development and particularly the experimentally observed pollutant emissions trends., This work was partly funded by the Generalitat Valenciana Spain, project PROMETEOII/2014/043. The authors kindly recognize the technical support provided by Mr. Pascal Tribotte from RENAULT SAS - France in the frame of the DREAM-DELTA-68530-13-3205 Project

[EN] In this paper, a numerical Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is carried out with the purpose of understanding how the injector design may impact on the in-cylinder processes, which cause noise emission. This study is based on a combination of the gasoline partially premixed combustion concept with a new high speed direct injection 2-stroke engine, which emerges as a promising solution able to comply with nitrous oxides and particulate matter emissions standards, while ensuring combustion control and stability. The original engine configuration is varied by modifying the included spray angle and the number of injector nozzles in order to evaluate other design solutions for mitigating combustion noise. Results show that the maximum pressure time-derivative achieved during the combustion is the most influential parameter on the acoustic response of the in-cylinder noise source. However, they also evidence that for some operation conditions the resonance phenomena can enhance their contribution, thus playing a relevant role in the engine noise level. Further analysis allowed to identify three combustion related parameters, which characterise this phenomenon and allow identifying key paths to minimize its levels. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., The equipment used in this work has been partially supported by FEDER project funds "Dotacion de infraestructuras cientifico tecnicas para el Centro Integral de Mejora Energetica y Medioambiental de Sistemas de Transporte (CiMeT), (FEDER-ICTS-2012-06)" from the operational program of unique scientific and technical infrastructure of the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. J. Gomez-Soriano is partially supported by an FPI contract (FPI-S2-2016-1353) of the "Programa de Apoyo para la Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID-01-16)" of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.

[EN] This paper deals with the thermodynamic analysis of an absorption refrigeration cycle used to cool down the temperature of the intake air in an Internal Combustion Engine using as a heat source the exhaust gas of the engine. The solution of ammonia-water has been selected due to the stability for a wide range of operating temperatures and pressures and the low freezing point. The effects of operating temperatures, pressures, concentrations of strong and weak solutions in the absorption refrigeration cycle were examined to achieve proper heat rejection to the ambient. Potential of increasing Internal Combustion Engine efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions was estimated by means of theoretical models and experimental tests. In order to provide boundary conditions for the absorption refrigeration cycle and to simulate its effect on engine performance, a OD thermodynamic model was used to reproduce the engine performance when the intake air is cooled. Furthermore, a detailed experimental work was carried out to validate the results in real engine operation. Theoretical results show how the absorption refrigeration system decreases the intake air flow temperature down to a temperature around 5 degrees C and even lower by using the bottoming waste heat energy available in the exhaust gases in a wide range of engine operating conditions. In addition, the theoretical analysis estimates the potential of the strategy for increasing the engine indicated efficiency in levels up to 4% also at the operating conditions under evaluation. Finally, this predicted benefit in engine indicated efficiency has been experimentally confirmed by direct testing. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., Authors want to acknowledge the "Apoyo para la investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID)" grant for doctoral studies (FPI S2 2015 1067).

Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) of fuels in the gasoline octane range has proven to combine low NOX and soot emissions with high indicated efficiencies, while still retaining control over combustion phasing with the injection event. Previous research performed in four-stroke engines, has shown how the operating region where gasoline PPC concept can be successfully implemented is largely linked to the octane number of the fuel, making difficult to cover the entire load range with a fixed fuel. In this framework, 2-stroke engines arise as a promising solution to extend the load range of gasoline PPC concept, since it intrinsically provides equivalent torque response with only half the IMEP required in a 4-stroke cycle. Moreover, 2-stroke architecture provides high flexibility on the air management parameters to substantially control the cylinder conditions and affect the combustion environment, allowing proper combustion control even in low load conditions. An experimental investigation has been performed to evaluate the potential of the PPC concept for pollutant control, using a commercial gasoline with Research Octane Number of 95 in a newly-designed 2-stroke poppet valves automotive diesel engine. The experimental results confirm how it is possible to achieve stable gasoline PPC combustion at a low speed medium load point (1200 rpm, 5 bar IMEP); with good combustion stability (σIMEP below 3%), high combustion efficiency (over 98%), and low NOX and zero soot levels; thanks to the wide control of the cylinder gas temperature provided by the air management settings. Nevertheless, in agreement to the results reported in the literature, the indicated cycle efficiency attained at this low load operating condition is lower than the obtained in conventional diesel combustion conditions. Therefore, a dedicated optimization process of the engine hardware and engine settings is required to fully exploit the benefits of gasoline PPC concept in the investigated 2-stroke engine architecture., The authors of this paper thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the financial support of this research through the Project TRA 2010-20271 (LOWTECOM).

Recent research activities in the field of diesel engines have shown the potential to reduce pollutant emissions and improve the thermal efficiency by controlling the fuel reactivity. However, understanding the impact of blending fuels with different physical and especially chemical properties on diesel-like spray mixing and combustion processes is still a challenge. Since the experimental techniques are still far from providing detailed temporal and spatial information about local spray conditions, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling tools have become the key source of information for investigating the characteristics of these dual-fuel sprays. In this frame, the present research focuses on modeling a dual-fuel spray in diesel-like conditions, comparing different gasoline and diesel blends in terms of ignition characteristics and flame structure. The results confirm the suitability of the state of the art computational CFD modeling tools for reproducing the complex phenomena associated to dual-fuel sprays. Moreover, the important benefits provided by dual-fuel blends, considering the expected reduction in pollutant emissions as a consequence of the differences observed in terms of flame structure, are confirmed., The authors thank Dr. Jose Manuel Pastor for his support during this work and for sharing his profound knowledge and experience. Support for this research was provided by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia inside the program Programas de Apoyo a la I + D + I, Primeros proyectos de investigacion (reference PAID-06-11 2033) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion inside the VeLoSoot project (TRA 2008_06448), which is gratefully acknowledged.

Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) is one of the most promising premixed combustion modes, aimed at reducing simultaneously engine emissions and fuel consumption. In this work, the global energy balance (GEB) of a single-cylinder engine operating with dual-fuel and RCCI modes is analysed. The methodology used allows determining the energy degradation from the energy release during the combustion to the final work output, thus evaluating the performance of such combustion mode. The weight of each GEB term is analysed using two references: the injected and the burned fuel energies, thus decoupling the combustion and thermal processes. The analysis is performed by evaluating the effect of some key parameters: low/high reactivity fuel ratio, injection timing and EGR rate. The results show that increasing the low reactivity fuel leads to a better shape of the heat release rate, with a reduction of heat transfer and exhaust losses, thus improving the thermal efficiency about 1% with respect to a conventional Diesel combustion. Injection timing swept shows that a suitable optimization leads to further thermal efficiency increase up to 4%, while EGR has a limited effect. It is also concluded that there is still room for further improvement by reducing incomplete combustion losses., The support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (TRA2013-41348-R) is greatly acknowledged. This work was performed in the frame of the Cluster of Excellence "Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass", which is funded by the Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments. Thus, the authors would like to thank the Institute for Combustion Engines, RWTH Aachen University, for all the support to perform the research activities.

The research in the field of internal combustion engines is currently driven by the needs of decreasing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, while fulfilling the increasingly stringent pollutant emissions regulations. In this framework, this research work focuses on describing a methodology for optimizing the combustion system of Compression Ignition (CI) engines, by combining Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling, and the statistical Design of Experiments (DOE) technique known as Response Surface Method (RSM). As a key aspect, in addition to the definition of the optimum set of values for the input parameters, this methodology is extremely useful to gain knowledge on the cause/effect relationships between the input and output parameters under investigation. This methodology is applied in two sequential studies to the optimization of the combustion system of a 4-cylinder 4-stroke Medium Duty Direct Injection (DI) CI engine, minimizing the fuel consumption while fulfilling the emission limits in terms of NOx and soot. The first study targeted four optimization parameters related to the engine hardware including piston bowl geometry, injector nozzle configuration and mean swirl number (MSN) induced by the intake manifold design. After the analysis of the results, the second study extended to six parameters, limiting the optimization of the engine hardware to the bowl geometry, but including the key air management and injection settings. For both studies, the simulation plans were defined following a Central Composite Design (CCD), providing 25 and 77 simulations respectively. The results confirmed the limited benefits, in terms of fuel consumption, around 2%, with constant NOx emission achieved when optimizing the engine hardware, while keeping air management and injection settings. Thus, including air management and injection settings in the optimization is mandatory to significantly decrease the fuel consumption, by around 5%, while keeping the emission limits.

The newly designed Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) concept operating with high octane fuels like gasoline has confirmed the possibility to combine low NOx and soot emissions keeping high indicated efficiencies, while offering a control over combustion profile and phasing through the injection settings. The potential of this PPC concept regarding pollutant control was experimentally evaluated using a commercial gasoline with Research Octane Number (RON) of 95 in a newly-designed 2-Stroke poppet valves Compression Ignition (Cl) engine for automotive applications. Previous experimental results confirmed how the wide control of the cylinder gas temperature provided by the air management settings brings the possibility to achieve stable gasoline PPC combustion at low and medium speed conditions (1250-2000 rpm) for the whole load range (3.1-10.4 bar IMEP) with good combustion stability (Coefficient of Variation (Coy) of IMEP below 3%), high combustiOn efficiency (over 97%), and low NOx/soot levels. In this context, present research focuses on the two main specific drawbacks of this concept. Firstly, the high Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) due to the work required by the mechanical supercharger since the turbocharging system does not provide the suitable pressure ratio at low speeds. Secondly, the high level of noise generated by the combustion process, especially at high loads. Therefore, a dedicated analysis has been carried out to fully exploit the benefits of the gasoline PPC concept combined with the innovative 2-Stroke engine architecture with the aim of identify and break the most relevant trade-offs., The authors kindly recognize the technical support provided by Mr. Pascal Tribotte from RENAULT SAS in the frame of the DREAM-DELTA-68530-13-3205 Project.

Two-stroke engines have dropped out of the automobile market for a long time due to severe drawbacks. Unfortunately, the comparison with the performances of four-stroke engines was not in favour of two-stroke ones. Nevertheless, the needs of a more compact engine with a better ratio of the mass and size versus power motivated research efforts at the beginning of the 90's. Regrettably, these efforts did not result in commercial success and automobile manufacturers kept four-stroke engine architecture as base architecture. However, the two-stroke engine is a highly favourable concept for downsizing and cost reduction by reducing the number of cylinders without NVH penalties. All that added to the maturity of CFD calculations and the availability of high power electronic for control and fuel injection encouraged the Renault research division to have a closer look into its architecture. The study deals with a two-cylinder Diesel engine based on two-stroke valves engine. Air admission and exhausts gas are done through four valves per cylinder; fuel injection is done through ten holes nozzle at 1800 bar of pressure. The company Delphi, partner of the project, provided the injection system. The displacement of engine is 730 cm3 and the engine is designed for a range of power of about 35-50 kW and a range of torque of 110 - 145 N.m. The design of the scavenging was achieved with the help of 3D simulation based on the best 3D simulation tools available. More than 250 calculations were completed to determine the best design of the cylinder-head reaching the objective of scavenging performances. At the end of this step, the best compromise was determined between the mass of fresh gas and the mass of burnt gas in the cylinder respecting combustion and engine efficiency criterias. Air supercharging system was designed in cooperation between the partners Renault, Le Moteur Moderne and University of Technology of Prague. The injection and combustion testing and optimisation were done on a one cylinder engine at CMT, University of Valencia, partner of the project. The set of parameters was explored and optimised to reach the best compromise between the combustion efficiency and the target of pollutant emissions to reach the EURO 6 standards. Finally, the optimisation of the engine, including the air loop system, calibration and control is planed in 2012 and will be done at IFPEN, partner of project. The objectives, the design process, the major technical breakthrough as well as its detailed results will be presented in this paper., The work was split between the partners of the project supported by the European Commission.

Spray ignition and flame stabilisation in the frame of diesel-like combustion conditions combine fundamental and complex physical and chemical processes. In this work, a numerical investigation has been performed to evaluate the potential of integrating detailed chemistry into CFD calculations, in order to improve predictions and gain more insight in involved processes. This work has been carried out using the capabilities of OpenFOAM ©code, which provides an opensource framework for 3D-CFD simulations, including an ODE solver for solving chemical kinetics. As a general methodology, this study is based on simulating free n-heptane sprays injected into a constant volume vessel, corresponding to the conditions of the experimental database provided by Sandia National Laboratories. Calculations results have been compared to experiments, evaluating the effect of a wide range of ambient conditions on spray ignition and combustion characteristics. Specifically, this research checks the performance of some relevant n-heptane oxidation mechanisms found in the literature, with different degree of complexity, for modelling the chemical history of the fuel. The results of this investigation show the relative influence of chemical mechanism on spray/flame structure in terms of ignition delay and also ignition and flame stabilisation sites. The comprehensive mechanism performs generally better than more simplified chemistry models. However, its accuracy is also compromised for modelling advanced diesel-like combustion concepts based on injecting the spray into a low oxygen concentration environment. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

The demand for reduced pollutant emissions has motivated various technological advances in passenger car diesel engines. This paper presents a study comparing two fuel injection systems and analyzing their combustion noise and pollutant emissions. The abilities of different injection strategies to meet strict regulations were evaluated. The difficult task of maintaining a constant specific fuel consumption while trying to reduce pollutant emissions was the aim of this study. The engine being tested was a 0.287-liter single-cylinder engine equipped with a common-rail injection system. A solenoid and a piezoelectric injector were tested in the engine. The engine was operated under low load conditions using two injection events, high EGR rates, no swirl, three injection pressures and eight different dwell times. Four injector nozzles with approximately the same fuel injection rate were tested using the solenoid injection system (10 and 12 orifice configuration) and piezoelectric system (6 and 12 orifice design). The injection system had a significant influence on pollutant emissions and combustion noise. The piezoelectric injector presented the best characteristics for future studies since it allows for shorter injection durations and greater precision, which means smaller fuel mass deliveries with faster responses.

An experimental investigation has been performed on the modification of in-cylinder gas thermodynamic conditions by advancing the intake valve closing angle in a HD diesel engine. The consequences on the diffusion-controlled combustion process have been analysed in detail, including the evolution of exhaust emissions and engine efficiency. This research has been carried out at full load (100%) and low engine speed (1200 rpm) with the aim of generating a long and stable diffusion-controlled combustion process. The intake oxygen mass concentration was kept at 17.4% to obtain low NOx levels in all cases. The required flexibility on intake valve motion has been attained by means of an electro-hydraulic variable valve actuation system. The results obtained from advancing the intake valve closing angle (IVC) have shown an important reduction on in-cylinder gas pressure and density, whereas the gas temperature showed less sensitivity. Consequently, the diffusion-controlled combustion process is slowed down mainly due to the lower in-cylinder gas density and oxygen availability. Important effects of advancing IVC have also been observed on pollutant emissions and engine efficiency. Where NOx production decreases, soot emissions increase. Finally, the results of pollutant emissions and engine efficiency have been compared with those obtained retarding the start of injection.

An experimental investigation performed on a single-cylinder heavy-duty diesel research engine operating at low-speed, medium load is presented in this paper. This study is focused on combining a homogeneous charge compression ignition and a conventional diesel combustion processes to produce a partially premixed combustion by means of an original injection strategy. This strategy is based on introducing an early pilot injection at the low-pressure top dead center, between the exhaust and the intake strokes, followed by a conventional injection close to the compression top dead center. The main advantage of this concept compared to other early injection strategies consists of injecting always inside the piston bowl, far of the cylinder liner walls, thereby avoiding the oil dilution problems. The effect of the distribution of the fuel injected between low-pressure and compression top dead centers, and also the effect of the start of injection timing for the conventional injection are investigated in terms ...

In the last years, a growing interest about increasing the engine efficiency has led to the development of new engine technologies. The accurate determination of the heat transfer across the combustion chamber walls is highly relevant to perform a valid thermal balance while evaluating the potential of new engine concepts. Several works dealing with heat transfer correlations that consider the swirl motion are found in the literature; however, there is a lack of works dealing with heat transfer correlations which take into account the effect of the tumble movement. In this work, a new heat transfer model accounting for the tumble motion is presented. A two stroke HSDI Diesel engine with high tumble and no swirl is used to perform the theoretical study, the model development and its final calibration. Initially, a theoretical analysis of the gas movement phenomena is carried out based on CFD results and then, a model is developed and calibrated based on a skip-fire testing technique. Finally, a sensitivity study focused on evaluating the model robustness is performed. The results confirm an average RMSE reduction of 70% with respect to the Woschni model, being this consistent improvement qualitatively evidenced in the instantaneous heat transfer evolution, The support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (TRA2013-41348-R) is greatly acknowledged.

This paper presents an experimental study of a low pressure EGR loop on a spark ignition (SI) Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection (GTDI) engine that will improve the understanding on the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy. Two steady engine operating conditions were investigated, 10 bar and 17 bar at 2000 rpm. At partial load conditions a combustion, performance, air management and exhaust gas emissions study was performed in order to analyses the EGR effect on the GTDI engine. The main advantages found were the reduction in fuel consumption due to the better combustion phasing, and the reduction in pumping losses and heat losses through the cylinder walls. A reduction on NOx, CO and soot was also observed when introducing EGR at these operating conditions. The main disadvantage found was the water condensation after the intercooler. At high load conditions similar analysis and conclusions to the partial load conditions are obtained. The EGR also allowed the combustion to be phased in a more efficient angle by reducing the risk of knocking, which helped reduce the exhaust gas temperature, despite the elimination of the fuel enrichment strategy. A reduction on CO and soot raw emissions was also observed when introducing EGR, as observed at partial load conditions, but a high reduction in NOx, CO, HC and soot emissions was observed after the catalyst since the fuel enrichment strategy is eliminated when cooled EGR is introduced. The main disadvantage found was the turbocharger limitation since higher compression ratio is required in order to keep the same air mass flow as the reference conditions without EGR. The original turbocharger is not designed to provide this higher compression ratio at low engine speed and high load. Results confirm how introducing EGR is a suitable strategy to control knocking and reduce simultaneously exhaust gas temperature and fuel consumption, but the disadvantages found in this investigation must be solved to assure its feasibility as a powerful technology to be implemented in future SI engines.

An unsteady flamelet/progress variable (UFPV) approach is used to model a lifted H2/N2 flame in a RANS framework together with presumed PDF. We solve the unsteady flamelets both in physical space and in mixture fraction space. We show that in the former case, the scalar dissipation rate profile strongly varies in time (while it is assumed to be fixed in time in the latter). However, this does not result in significant qualitative differences in the corresponding flamelet libraries. The progress variable is carefully defined, including both the main combustion product (H2O) and a key radical species in ignition process (HO2). The presumed-PDF model is proposed in terms of the non-normalised progress variable, without assuming its statistical independence with mixture fraction. We introduce a modelled transport equation for the mean progress variable which is consistent with the basic underlying UFPV assumption, derived from the Lagrangian flamelet model. The influence of different model parameters on the results for the mean temperature and mean species mass fractions and their fluctuations is discussed. Good results are obtained for the conditions of the considered lifted flame where detailed experimental data is available. However, at low coflow temperature the modelled flame lift-off height is shorter than expected., This work is supported by the Comunidad de Madrid through Project HYSYCOMB P2009/ENE-1597 and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Projects ENE2008-06515-004-02 and CSD2010-00011. This research was also partially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana inside the program Ajudes per a la realitzacio de projectes d'I+D per a grups de investigaclel emergent (Reference GV/2013/041), which is gratefully acknowledged.

In this research, a new methodology to evaluate the operation of spark ignition systems in high density conditions is presented. New requirements in engines and new combustion modes demand more from these systems. One of the most important new requirements is the increase in density. Thus, a better understanding of the effects of high density and the behavior of the ignition system in these conditions seems necessary. To carry out this work two experimental facilities have been used: a transparent constant volume vessel, and an optical engine to simulate real engine conditions. Thus, the study combines the electrical signals derivate parameters and images obtained with a high speed camera. The methodology has been applied for different cases of pressure, intake temperature, and other parameters that affect the density. Results show that an increase in density causes a decrease in integrated power. Additionally, the dispersion in this integrated power increases too. Finally, the methodology results offer a useful data base for the engineers willing to improve the design of the ignition system. Moreover, it is validated that the results of the ambient transparent constant volume vessel follow the same trends and values as the realistic ones.

[EN] On the last years engine researchers has been focused on improving engine efficiency in order to decrease CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, while fulfilling the increasingly stringent pollutant emissions regulations. In this framework, engine downsizing arises as a promising solution, and 2-stroke cycle operation offers the possibility of reducing the number of cylinders without incurring in NVH penalties. An experimental investigation has been performed to evaluate the performance of a newly-designed poppet valves 2-stroke engine, in terms of finding the proper in-cylinder conditions to fulfill the emission limits in terms of NOx and soot, keeping competitive fuel consumption levels. Moreover, present research work aims to improve the existing knowledge about the gas exchange processes in a 2-stroke engine with poppet valves architecture, and its impact over the combustion conditions, final exhaust emissions levels and engine efficiency. The experimental results confirm how this engine architecture presents high flexibility in terms of air management control to substantially affect the in-cylinder conditions. The in-cylinder oxygen concentration and density, which are the product of a given trapping ratio and delivered mass flow, were linked to pollutant emissions and performance by their impact on instantaneous adiabatic flame temperature and spray mixing conditions. After the optimization process, it was possible to minimize simultaneously NOx, soot and indicated fuel consumption, without observing a critical trade-off between the pollutant emissions and the fuel consumption. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., This research has been sponsored by the European Union in framework of the POWERFUL project, seventh framework program FP7/2007-2013, theme 7, sustainable surface transport, grant agreement No. SCP8-GA-2009-234032. The authors gratefully appreciate this support.