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High-pressure isobaric combustion adopted in the double compression expansion engine (DCEE) has the prospect to achieve higher thermal efficiency compared to conventional diesel combustion. This work numerically explored the effects of various injection strategies on the combustion and emission characteristics of isobaric combustion. The study developed a mathematical model to predict the injection rate profile. After validations, extensive simulations were conducted with a peak pressure of up to 300 bar – mimicking the high-pressure unit of DCEE. Several major engine design parameters such as the exhaust recirculation gas (EGR) rate, engine speed, injection strategy, and intake pressure were varied and evaluated. The results demonstrated that a higher EGR rate resulted in a higher exhaust loss but a lower heat transfer loss owing to the lower combustion temperature, so the thermal efficiency exhibited a firstly growing and then declining trend. Besides, a higher engine speed generated a higher thermal efficiency due to the shorter combustion duration and thus lower heat transfer loss. Consequently, a peak thermal efficiency of 47.5% was achieved at EGR = 50% and 1800 rpm. The high-pressure cylinder performance can also be improved with an appropriate introduction of the isochoric combustion, but its impact on the whole DCEE setup needs further investigation.

With the revived interest in hydrogen (H2) as a direct combustion fuel for engine applications, a computational study is conducted to assess the characteristics of H2 direct-injection (DI) compression-ignition (CI) non-premixed combustion concept. Development of a CFD modeling using CONVERGE CFD solver focuses on hydrogen's unique characteristics by utilizing a suitable numerical method to reproduce the direct H2 injection phenomena. A grid sensitivity study is performed to ensure the fidelity of results with optimal cost, and the models are validated against constant-volume optical chamber and diesel engine experimental data. The present study aims to contribute to the future development of DICI H2 combustion engines, providing detailed characterization of the combustion cycle, and highlighting several distinct aspects of CI nonpremixed H2 versus diesel combustion. First, unlike the common description of diesel sprays, hydrogen jets do not exhibit significant flame lift-off and air entrainment near injector nozzle, and the fuel-air interface is drastically more stratified with no sign of premixing. It is also found that the DICI H2 combustion concept is governed first by a free turbulent jet mixing phase, then by an in-cylinder global mixing phase. The former is drastically more dominant with the DICI H2 engine compared to conventional diesel engines. The free-jet mixing is also found to be more effective that the global mixing, which indicates the need to completely rethink the optimization strategies for CI engines when using H2 as fuel.

Due to the accessibility of the planar laser-induced fluorescence technique, images of OH fluorescence intensity are often used to study the structure of turbulent flames. However, there are differences between the measured OH fluorescence intensity and the actual OH mole fraction. These are often neglected because accurate conversion from fluorescence to mole fraction requires the combined knowledge of all major species mole fractions and temperature, which was rarely achieved in 2-D. Here, a new method to convert images of OH fluorescence intensity into OH mole fraction is proposed. This model relies only on inexpensive 1-D laminar flame calculations and does not require information on major species or temperature. The primary assumption behind the applicability of this model is the local approximation of multi-dimensional flames with 1-D counterflow flames. The method utilizes the fact that both OH mole fraction and OH fluorescence intensity profiles are self-similar with pressure and scalar dissipation rate. Only two empirical constants need to be calibrated using 1-D laminar flame calculations. The model was validated using computed 2-D axisymmetric laminar flames and 3-D turbulent flames computed with LES. The accuracy of the conversion model was estimated to about 8% (for Reynolds number up to Re = 66 , 800 ), which includes errors due to the 3-D effects that are not included in this method relying on 2-D images. As a proof of concept, the conversion model was finally applied to one single-shot image of OH fluorescence intensity measured with OH-PLIF for syngas at P = 4 bar and Re = 16 , 700 , demonstrating potential applications of this new method. The method was tested for hydrogen, syngas and methane fuels but, for brevity, only syngas results are reported in detail.

Propagation of a H2-added strained laminar CH4/air flame in a rich-to-lean stratified mixture is numerically studied. The back-support effect, which is known to enhance the consumption speed of a flame propagating into a leaner mixture compared to that into a homogeneous mixture, is evaluated. A new method is devised to characterize unsteady reactant-to-reactant counterflow flames under transiently decreasing equivalence ratio, in order to elucidate the influence of flow strain on the back-support effect. In contrast to the conventional reactant-to-product configurations, the current configuration is more relevant to unsteady stratified flames back-supported by their own combustion products. Moreover, since H2 distribution downstream of the flame is known to play a crucial role in back-supported CH4/air flames, the influence of H2 addition in the upstream mixture is examined. The results suggest that a larger strain rate leads to a larger equivalence ratio gradient at the reaction zone through increased flow divergence, which amplifies the back-support. Meanwhile, since H2 addition in the upstream mixture does not affect the downstream H2 content, the relative increase in the consumption speed, i.e. the back-support, is suppressed with larger H2 addition. Especially, when the upstream H2 content decreases with the equivalence ratio, the H2 preferentially diffuses toward the unburned gas, which mitigates H2 accumulation in the preheat zone and further weakens the back-support.

Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic simulations were conducted to study the means to achieve isobaric combustion mode in a compression ignition engine, which is intended to be used in the high-efficiency double compression-expansion engine (DCEE) concept. Compared to the conventional diesel combustion mode, the isobaric combustion mode generated a significantly lower peak combustion pressure, which was beneficial for the high load extension. For both combustion modes, the ignition was triggered downstream of the nozzle, with the heat release dominated by HCO + O2 = CO+HO2, while the injection-combustion duration for the isobaric combustion mode was significantly longer. The effects of swirl ratio, spray angle, and piston geometries on the isobaric combustion at various engine loads were also investigated. The higher swirl ratio resulted in a higher heat transfer loss and thus lower thermal efficiency. Due to the higher air utilization rates and lower heat transfer losses, cases with spray angles of 140° and 150° generated the higher thermal efficiencies. The piston bowl geometry was found to have a significant impact on the mixing and combustion processes, especially at high engine load conditions. For the conditions under study, the original piston geometry with a swirl ratio of 0 and a spray angle of 140° demonstrated the highest thermal efficiency for the isobaric combustion mode. The results of this work will provide guidance in the practical design and implementation of the DCEE concept.

A ducted fuel injection (DFI) strategy has been proposed as an efficient approach to reduce the soot emission in direct-injection compression ignition engines. By injecting the fuel through a small...

A coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach was employed to Engine Combustion Network (ECN) Spray-G simulations. The Eulerian in-nozzle flow simulation was conducted with a small plenum attached to the nozzles, and the results were fed to the Lagrangian spray simulation. For Eulerian simulation, the homogeneous relaxation model (HRM) coupled with the volume of fluid (VOF) method was used. HRM proved to be good at predicting the phase change phenomena due to vaporization mechanisms, that is, both cavitation and flash boiling. As a one-way coupling, quantities such as rate of injection (ROI), mass injected through each hole, discharge coefficient, spray plume angle and half cone angle predicted from the Eulerian simulations were used as the initial and boundary conditions for the subsequent Lagrangian spray simulations using the blob injection model. Non-flashing (Spray-G1) and flashing (Spray-G2) spray was simulated, and the results were validated quantitatively against the published data in terms of the liquid and vapor penetration lengths, and good agreements were obtained. Furthermore, the simulation predicted the liquid and gas axial velocity and sauter mean diameter for Spray-G1 condition in agreement with the droplet size and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements from literature.

Two-dimensional direct numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the effects of differential diffusion on flame stabilization and blow-off dynamics of lean premixed hydrogen–air and syngas–air flames stabilized on a meso-scale bluff-body in a square channel. The unity Lewis number for all species was imposed to isolate the effects of differential diffusion. Four sets of simulation cases were conducted. Two different inflow temperature with unity Lewis number were applied to examine distinct levels of hydrodynamic instability. Each unity Lewis number case was compared with the non-unity Lewis number case to investigate how differential diffusion affects the overall flame responses, instabilities, and blow-off mechanism. For all cases, the overall flame dynamics were observed in several distinct modes as the inflow velocity approaches blow-off limit. One of the primary effects of unity Lewis number was an increased level of hydrodynamic instability due to the lower flame temperature and thus a lower density ratio. The lower gas temperature also led to a weakening of the re-ignition of the quenched local mixture by the product gas entrainment. The combined effects were manifested as suppression of the re-ignition events, leading to a revised conclusion that the ultimate blow-off behavior at high velocity conditions are mainly controlled by the onset of local extinction.

The effects of turbulence on knock development and intensity for a thermally inhomogeneous stoichiometric ethanol/air mixture at a representative end-gas autoignition condition in internal combustion engines are investigated using direct numerical simulations with a skeletal reaction mechanism. Two- and three-dimensional simulations are performed by varying the most energetic length scale of temperature, $$l_T$$ , and its relative ratio with the most energetic length scale of turbulence, $$l_T/l_e$$ , together with two different levels of the turbulent velocity fluctuation, $$u'$$ . It is found that $$l_T$$ / $$l_e$$ and the ratio of ignition delay time to eddy-turnover time, $$\tau _{ig}/\tau _t$$ , are the key parameters that control the detonation development. An increase in either $$l_T$$ or $$l_e$$ enhances the detonation propensity by allowing a longer run-up distance for the detonation development. The characteristic length scale of the temperature field, $$l_T$$ , is significantly modified by high turbulence intensity achieved by a large $$l_e$$ and $$u'$$ . The intense turbulence mixing effectively distributes the initial temperature field to broader scales to support the developing detonation waves, thereby increasing the likelihood of the detonation formation. On the contrary, high turbulence intensity with a short mixing time scale, achieved by a small $$l_e$$ and a large $$u'$$ , reduces the super-knock intensity attributed to the finer broken-up structures of detonation waves. Either $$\tau _{ig}/\tau _t$$ less than unity or $$l_e = l_T$$ even with a large $$u'$$ is found to have no significant effect on super-knock mitigation. Finally, high turbulent intensity may induce high-pressure spikes comparable to the von Neumann spike. Increased temperature and pressure by combustion heating, noticeably after the peak of heat release rate, significantly enhance the collision and interaction of multiple emerging autoignition fronts near the ending combustion process, resulting in localized high-pressure spikes.

The ignition regime criteria proposed by Im et al. (2015) are extended to account for temperature and concentration fluctuations. The newly-developed criteria are applied to negative temperature coefficient (NTC) and non-NTC fuels. The statistical volume-averaged Sankaran number, S ¯ a , and the volumetric fraction of Sa S ¯ a regardless of the NTC and non-NTC characteristics of fuels over a wide range of initial mean temperatures and different fluctuation levels. Besides, the magnitude of S ¯ a can be used to estimate FSa,S due to its strong correlation with FSa,S. Additionally, the predicted Sa by the theory, Sap, is compared with the statistical mean S ¯ a showing a consistent agreement and they are found to correlate with the combustion intensity that is characterized by the maximum heat release rate. Finally, the ignition delay time can be correlated with Sap for single-stage fuels, and for NTC fuels if the initial mean temperature lies outside the NTC regime.

The response of laminar methane/air counterflow premixed flames under sinusoidal equivalence ratio oscillation was investigated numerically. The timescales of the oscillation were chosen to be sufficiently longer than the flame timescale so that the flame responds quasi-steadily. The response of periodically stratified flame (SF) with a detailed reaction mechanism exhibited the “back-support” effect, in that the consumption speed Sc response deviated increasingly from Sc of steady homogeneous flames (HFs) at higher oscillation frequencies. It was shown that even when the imposed oscillation timescale is much longer than the flame timescale, the flame response can still be delayed under a sufficiently large equivalence ratio gradient. Subsequently, the above results were compared with those obtained with a global four-step mechanism that omits back-diffusion radicals into the reaction zone. As a result, SFs with the global mechanism displayed a much smaller back-support effect in both lean and rich mixtures. Further analysis with modified diffusion coefficients revealed the dominant roles of H2 and radical species diffusion in inducing the back-support effect. Contrary to the previous findings, variations in burned gas temperature were found to play a negligible role in modifying Sc. Additionally, the hysteresis of the back-support effect under periodical stratification was found to be more prominent on the richer side because of the presence of a larger H2 pool.

Front propagation speeds from fully resolved unsteady one dimensional simulations with dimethyl-ether (DME)/methane (CH4)/air mixtures under engine relevant conditions are presented using complex kinetics and transport. Different time-scales of monochromatic inhomogeneities in DME concentration with varying DME/CH4 blending ratios are simulated to unravel the fundamental aspects of auto-ignition and flame propagation under the influence of reactivity stratification. To understand the influence of different stratification time-scales on the flame-ignition interaction, two sets of conditions are simulated such that low temperature chemistry is present in only one of them. For a given amplitude of stratification, it is found that the instantaneous propagation speed is significantly affected by the level of CH4 concentration in the binary fuel blend. Specifically, for cases with low temperature chemistry, at relatively smaller time-scales, the overall fluctuation in the instantaneous propagation speed is found to subside as the level of CH4 concentration in the mixture is increased. However, for both sets of conditions, at comparatively larger time-scales, a rapid change in the instantaneous propagation speed is observed with an increase in the level of CH4 concentration in the mixture. The intrinsic effects of stratification time-scales on the low temperature chemistry and the high temperature chemistry are further examined to assess the flame-ignition interaction. A displacement speed analysis is also carried out to elucidate the underlying combustion modes that are responsible for such a variation in flame response.

Synergistic octane blending behavior of ethanol with gasoline and its surrogates has been observed by many researchers. The nonlinear octane boosting tendency is observed at mid and high molar blen...

The prospect of blending gasoline fuel with ethanol is being investigated as a potential way to improve the knock residence of the base gasoline. However, one of the drawbacks is a lack of proper understanding of the reason for the non-linear response of blending ethanol and gasoline. This non-linearity could be better understood by an improved knowledge of the interactions of these fuel components at a molecular level. This study proposed a highly reduced four-component (toluene/n-heptane/iso-octane/ethanol) gasoline surrogate model containing 59 species and 270 reactions. The model was reduced using the direct relation graph with expert knowledge (DRG-X) (Lu and Law, 20015; Lu et al., 2011) and isomer lumping method. The computational singular perturbation (CSP) analysis were performed to reduce the potential stiffness issues by accordingly adjusting the Arrhenius coefficients of the proper reactions. The model has been comprehensively validated against wide range of ignition delay times (IDT) and flame speed (FS) measurement data as well as compared against two representative literature models from Liu et al. (2013) and Wang et al. (2015). Overall, good agreements were observed between model predictions and experimental data across the entire research octane number (RON), equivalence ratio, pressure and temperature range. In addition, the model has also been coupled with the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models to simulate the experimental data of constant volume reacting spray of a low-octane gasoline (Haltermann straight-run naphtha), and in-cylinder pressures and temperatures of a high-octane gasoline (Haltermann Gasoline) combustion in a heavy duty compression ignition engine. The coupled model can qualitatively predict the experimentally obtained data with an improved performance for PRF, TPRF, and TPRF-ethanol surrogates.

The role of the ionic wind effects on modifying flame dynamics was demonstrated by detailed computational models. Full three-dimensional simulations were conducted to reproduce and describe the response of a laminar premixed methane–air Bunsen flame subjected to a transverse DC electric field at saturation condition. The chemical kinetic mechanism employed a methane–air skeletal mechanism with an optimized ionization model to predict the positive and negative ions that are important for generating the electric currents. Given the strong dependence of the ionic wind on the amount of charged species created by chemi-ionization, the ion production rate was optimized to match the measured saturation current. The simulation successfully reproduced the flame tilt toward the cathode. The ionic winds blowing from the flame toward the electrodes in both rightward and leftward directions were also captured. The calculated flow field is qualitatively consistent with the PIV experimental data. Accurate description of the three-body electron attachment to oxygen and the charge transfer reactions generating heavy anions was found to be critical in simulating the flame–electric field interaction. This is a first demonstration of the ionic wind effect by full three-dimensional simulations. Further investigation by both experiment and modeling are required in future work to address quantitative differences.

This paper reports an investigation of a highly stratified methanol direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engine with a high compression ratio. The effects of the start of injection (SOI), spray-included angle, injection pressure, and spark timing (ST) on in-cylinder flow, fuel distribution, flame propagation, and engine performance are evaluated in detail. The combustion process of methanol DISI engine is very sensitive to the variation of SOI, which is closely associated with the in-cylinder turbulence and the fuel/air mixing. It is found that retarding SOI shows the similar effects on combustion process as reducing spray-included angle, which indicates that the effects of SOI are more related to the spray target (i.e., fuel distribution). The injection pressure affects the combustion process mainly through the impact on the fuel distribution in the cylinder. The flame propagates from the spark plug towards the cylinder axis along the in-cylinder swirl direction, and more fuel mass in the piston bowl promotes the flame propagation. Thus, more retarded SOI, smaller spray-included angle, and lower injection pressure are suggested at low loads to enrich the fuel concentration in the bowl to achieve a stable combustion. Under medium load, indicated thermal efficiency (ITE), peak pressure rise rate (PPRR), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions can be improved with advanced SOI. ITE can also be improved by advancing ST with a slight penalty on PPRR and NOx. This study demonstrates the potential of simultaneously optimizing fuel injection and ST to improve engine performance.

Direct numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the effect of two parameters, density ratio and laminar flame speed, on the conditions of the onset of local extinction and blow-off of lean premixed flames, stabilized on a meso-scale bluff-body in hydrogen-air and syngas–air mixtures. A total of six simulation cases were considered as isolated comparison of the two parametric effects of the fluid dynamic instability and flame time scale. For all cases under study, the general flame development towards the blow-off limit showed a sequence of five distinct modes, with possible cyclic patterns among the different modes for a range of velocity conditions. The onset of local extinction was observed during the asymmetric vortex shedding and vortex street mode. As the density ratio is decreased, the flow inunder reviewstability is promoted through the increased sinuous mode, and such behavior was properly scaled by the Strouhal number. Although the blow-off velocity is altered by the fluid dynamic effects, the condition for the onset of local extinction and blow-off was mainly dictated by the competition between flow residence time associated with the lateral flame motion and ignition delay of the local mixtures. Time scale analysis supported the validity of the findings across all the cases investigated.

The simulation of turbulent sooting flames requires a host of models, of which the two critical components are the chemical kinetics that describe soot precursor evolution and the description of the soot population. The purpose of this study is to understand the sensitivity of soot predictions in a realistic aircraft combustor to model choices for these components. Two different chemistry mechanisms, three different statistical approaches, and two different soot inception models are considered. The simulations show that acetylene-based soot inception produces very high soot volume fraction, with the soot particles present predominantly in the inner recirculation zone of the swirl-stabilized combustor. The PAH-based nucleation models lead to soot generation in the shear layers emanating from fuel injection. The two advanced statistical approaches (Hybrid and Conditional Quadrature Method of Moments) also show significant differences. While the Hybrid method produces lower soot number density, it also generates larger soot particles due to a faster predicted rate of coagulation. The Conditional Quadrature approach produces much higher soot number density, but its particle sizes are smaller compared to the Hybrid method for all kinetic mechanisms considered. This experimental combustor is strongly dominated by surface growth based soot mass addition. As a result, even if nucleation/condensation rates are different, the final soot mass yield is comparable for PAH-based soot models. These results indicate the importance of not only the chemical mechanism, which may be less important in this surface growth dominated combustor, but also the soot statistical model, to which coagulation and the soot surface area are relatively sensitive.

Multi-stage heat release is an important feature of hydrocarbon auto-ignition that influences engine operation. This work presents findings of previously unreported three-stage heat release in the auto-ignition of n-heptane/air mixtures at lean equivalence ratios and high pressures. Detailed homogenous gas-phase chemical kinetic simulations were utilized to identify conditions where two-stage and three-stage heat release exist. Temperature and heat release profiles of lean n-heptane/air auto-ignition display three distinct stages of heat release, which is notably different than two-stage heat release typically reported for stoichiometric fuel/air mixtures. Concentration profiles of key radicals (HO2 and OH) and intermediate/product species (CO and CO2) also display unique behavior in the lean auto-ignition case. Rapid compression machine measurements were performed at a lean equivalence ratio to confirm the existence of three-stage heat release in experiments. Laser diagnostic measurements of CO concentrations in the RCM indicate similar concentration-time profiles as those predicted by kinetic modeling. Computational singular perturbation was then used to identify key reactions and species contributing to explosive time scales at various points of the three-stage ignition process. Comparisons with two-stage ignition at stoichiometric conditions indicate that thermal runaway at the second stage of heat release is inhibited under lean conditions. H + O2 chain branching and CO oxidation reactions drive high-temperature heat release under stoichiometric conditions, but these reactions are suppressed by H, OH, and HO2 radical termination reactions at lean conditions, leading to a distinct third stage of heat release.

An improved heating and evaporation model of fuel droplets is implemented into the commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software CONVERGE for the simulation of sprays. The analytical solutions to the heat conduction and species diffusion equations in the liquid phase for each time step are coded via user-defined functions (UDF) into the software. The customized version of CONVERGE is validated against measurements for a single droplet of n-heptane and n-decane mixture. It is shown that the new heating and evaporation model better agrees with the experimental data than those predicted by the built-in heating and evaporation model, which does not consider the effects of temperature gradient and assumes infinitely fast species diffusion inside droplets. The simulation of a hollow-cone spray of primary reference fuel (PRF65) is performed and validated against experimental data taken from the literature. Finally, the newly implemented model is tested by running full-cycle engine simulations, representing partially premixed compression ignition (PPCI) using PRF65 as the fuel. These simulations are successfully performed for two start of injection timings, 20 and 25 crank angle (CA) before top-dead-centre (BTDC). The results show good agreement with experimental data where the effect of heating and evaporation of droplets on combustion phasing is investigated. The results highlight the importance of the accurate modelling of physical processes during droplet heating and evaporation for the prediction of the PPCI engine performance.

Modeling of spray in a dense near-nozzle region remains a great challenge, because of the large scale separation between the small features of the interface and the overall jet. Diffuse-interface treatment in a single-fluid Eulerian framework, in which the interfacial surface area density ( Σ ) is used to describe the atomization process, has attracted interest for its potential in providing a manageable and still accurate model. In this work, we propose a new formulation of the Σ -Y spray atomization model that accounts for liquid diffusion due to drift-flux velocities, correctly predicting the behavior under all relevant engine conditions. Additionally, the present formulation allows the interfacial dynamics to impact the transport of the liquid mass fraction, thus making the interfacial density an active scalar fully coupled with the rest of the flow, overcoming limitations of previous formulations. The new model is implemented in the OpenFOAM framework and validated against experimental measurements under non-vaporizing and vaporizing environments, and at reacting conditions.

Preheating technology is widely used to improve the emission or efficiency of combustors, such as diesel engines and gasifiers operating at high pressures. Soot is an unwanted by-product, but its formation is unavoidable in high-pressure diffusion combustion. In this study, the effect of preheating temperature on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and soot formation in methane/air co-flow flames was comprehensively investigated in the pressure range of 1–5 bar. The temperature of inlet gas ranges from 295 K to 573 K. The soot, PAH, and OH* concentrations were obtained using planar laser-induced incandescence, planar laser induced fluorescence, and chemiluminescence techniques, respectively. The experimental results reveal that soot and PAH formation is greatly enhanced at higher pressure or with a higher preheating temperature of inlet gas. At a fixed preheating temperature, the peak/integrated soot volume fraction follows a power law with pressure. As pressure increases, the enhancement of soot formation by preheating temperature is suppressed. As the preheating temperature is raised from 295 K to 573 K, the integrated soot volume fraction is increased by 33.7 times at 1.5 bar, but the difference narrows to 2.3 times at 5 bar. OH* signal increases with preheating temperature at 1 bar, but the difference becomes indistinguishable at higher pressure. Further, the experimental results were utilized to evaluate the soot modeling, PAH and soot formation under experimental conditions are examined using four different kinetic mechanisms. While the soot trend along different pressure and preheating temperature is qualitatively captured, the quantitative predictions vary depending on the mechanisms. Specifically, KAUST and Narayanaswamy-Blanquart-Pitsch (NBP) mechanisms overpredict the soot volume fraction while DRL and Appel-Bockhorn-Frenklach (ABF) mechanisms underpredicts the soot volume fraction. In terms of the PAH spatial distribution, only DRL and ABF mechanisms show the ability to capture the experimental observations, that is the peak PAH appears in the flame centerline. The reaction pathway analysis indicates both fuel-pyrolysis chemistry and PAH growth chemistry should be accounted for the discrepancy.

The work reported in this paper was sponsored by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and computational resources were provided by the KAUST Supercomputing Laboratory (KSL).

This work was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Computational resources were provided by the KAUST Supercomputing Laboratory (KSL).

Crude oil sprays are often used in direct combustion applications and refinery catalytic cracking units. Droplet evaporation, break-up, and pyrolysis are important aspects prior to gas-phase chemical reactions. This paper reports an experimental suspended droplet study of Arabian Light (AL) crude oil to assess the effect of ambiance temperature on dynamic events. Experiments were conducted at three different temperatures of 620 K, 710 K, and 840 K, to examine different regimes (devolatilization, transition stage, and complete pyrolysis) for several repetitions. Break-up events involved during the evaporation were successfully identified and classified into break-up modes depending on their break-up intensity ( β ). Additionally, the effect of the temperature on the break-up events was assessed, showing that the number of break-up events increases exponentially with temperature. Finally, the density distribution of each break-up mode, as well as their final probability distribution were assessed. Intermediate and high-intensity break-ups (2-mode and 3-mode) break-ups were favored at lower temperatures, as well as micro-explosion (4-mode), in comparison with pyrolysis regime. However, break-up frequency increased exponentially with temperature. Additionally, based on the individual break-up modes density distributions characteristic times were identified successfully for pyrolysis regime, were the gasification dynamics changed. The global droplet behavior was examined by following the time evolution of the normalized droplet diameter. Two successive stages were identified at all temperature conditions: the swelling and the regression stage. In the devolatilization and the transition regimes, evaporation was controlled purely by the diffusive processes, whereas in the pyrolysis stage, the pure diffusion stage was not observed. Instead, a second swelling was registered, where an amorphous carbonaceous structure was formed. This was attributed to the pyrolysis of the heavy hydrocarbons in the droplet.

The implications of the choice of reaction progress variable on the performances of the flame surface density (FSD) based mean reaction rate closure and the well-established sub-models of t...

NC, VP and DHW are grateful to EPSRC, Rocket and ARCHER. HGI was sponsored by KAUST and made use of the resources of the KAUST Supercomputing Laboratory and computer clusters.

To provide fundamental insights into the ignition enhancement of methanol (MeOH) by the addition of the more reactive dimethyl ether (DME), computational parametric studies were conducted in a one-dimensional counterflow fuel versus air mixing layer configuration with the incorporation of detailed chemistry and transport. Various computational analysis tools based on the computational singular perturbation (CSP) framework were employed for detailed identifications of complex chemical pathways. CSP tools were also used to develop a 43-species skeletal mechanism for efficient computation of ignition of methanol-DME blends at engine conditions. The overarching practical question was the extent to which the addition of DME improves the ignitability of the methanol. As a baseline analysis, the results of a uniform temperature condition at 850 K showed that the low temperature chemistry associated with the DME fuel was highly effective in promoting autoignition. The increase in the oxidizer side temperature was found to diminish the ignition enhancement by DME blending, as the overall reactivity increases and the dominant chemical pathways become shifted towards the high temperature reactions. Finally, the strain rate effect on the ignition delay time was found to be significant for the pure methanol case, and then the effect diminishes as the amount of DME addition increases. This behavior was explained by examining the spatial locations of the ignition kernels and the Damkohler number history for different strain rate conditions.

The present study investigated the in-cylinder combustion for low octane 70 primary reference fuel (PRF70) by the method of the flame index during the transition from homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion to partially premixed combustion (PPC). Full cycle engine simulations were performed using CONVERGE™, coupled with chemical kinetics. Good agreements between the simulations and experiments were achieved at HCCI and PPC combustion modes. The fully premixed HCCI mode was achieved at the earliest injection timing of −180 CAD aTDC with the combustion temperature below 1600 K, where the formation of soot and NOx can be successfully avoided. For the injection timing of −100 CAD aTDC, the premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) was achieved where the premixed combustion clouds were mainly distributed in the piston top-land zone and were surrounded by the diffused combustion that occurs in the piston bowl and the periphery of piston top. Less premixed flames were formed in piston top and surrounded by more diffusion mixtures at PPC mode. The in-cylinder HO2 evolution profile displayed two bumps which were distributed in low temperature zone and high temperature zone respectively. The spatial and temporal evolution of HO2 is very similar to the distribution of premixed flames.

The choice of reaction progress variable (RPV) on the statistical behavior of the surface density function (SDF) and the strain rates, which govern the evolution of SDF, have been analyzed using a ...

Injectors play an important role in direct injection (DI) gasoline compression ignition (GCI) engines by affecting the in-cylinder mixture formation and stratification, which in turn impacts combustion and emissions. In this work, the effects of two different injector geometries, a 7-hole solid-cone injector and an outwardly opening hollow-cone injector, on fuel mixture stratification in a GCI engine were investigated by computational simulations. Three fuels with similar autoignition kinetics, but with different physical properties, were studied to isolate the effect of the combustion chemistry on combustion phasing. In addition, start of injection (SOI) sweeps relevant to low-load engine operating conditions were performed. The results show that physical properties of the fuel do not have significant influence when using a hollow-cone injector. Richer mixtures were observed at all the studied SOI (−40 to −14 CAD aTDC) cases, which can be attributed to the nature of the hollow cone spray. At later SOIs (−18 and −14 CAD aTDC), the richer mixtures are accompanied by lower mean in-cylinder temperature due to the charge cooling effect, which surpasses the equivalence ratio effect. The effect of fuel physical properties on combustion phasing was evident in multi-hole injection cases, which can be attributed to the differences in mixture stratification and equivalence ratio distribution at the time of ignition.

The present study intends to explore the in-cylinder combustion and evolution of soot emission during the transition from conventional compression ignition (CI) combustion to partially premixed combustion (PPC) under low load conditions. In-cylinder combustion images and engine-out emissions were measured in an optical engine fueled with low octane heavy naphtha fuel (RON = 50). Full cycle engine simulations were performed using a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code CONVERGE, coupled with gas-phase chemical kinetics, turbulence, and a particulate size mimic soot model. The simulations were performed under low load conditions (indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) of ∼2–3 bar) at an engine speed of 1200 rpm. The start of injection (SOI) was advanced from late (−10 CAD aTDC) to early fuel injection timings (−40 CAD aTDC) to realize the combustion transition from CI combustion to PPC. The simulation results of combustion and emission are compared with the experimental results in both CI an...

Experimental and computational investigations are carried out to identify the generalized criterion to predict the preignition tendency of methanol and ethanol mixtures in shock tubes. Preignition or weak ignition in shock tubes has been reported to be a significant factor impacting the accuracy of the ignition delay times data. A systematic means to predict the extent of non-idealities needs to be established and validated with experimental data over a wide range of conditions. Measurements of ignition delay times of methanol and ethanol mixtures were performed to identify unexpectedly expedited ignition. Methanol mixtures showed preignition at low temperatures, similarly to ethanol mixtures. Endwall high-speed imaging was implemented to assess spatial uniformity of ignition for methanol and ethanol. Furthermore, 1-D simulations of ethanol/methanol mixtures, in the presence of ignition sources, were utilized to investigate various preignition criteria. The Sankaran number criterion (Sap), proposed earlier for ignition regime identification, was found to be the most successful predictor of the experimental observations.

Early injection strategy is employed in many advanced combustion concepts of modern compression-ignition engines to promote the fuel-air premixing, but it could result in fuel spray impingement on the cylinder wall and potential fuel trapping in the crevice regions. The impact of the fuel trapping on the formation and distribution of unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) in the advanced compression-ignition concepts is not well understood. In this study, the planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique was applied in a single-cylinder optical engine to visualize the fuel distribution before combustion and the formaldehyde formation during combustion. A three-dimensional computational model was established to explore the detailed mechanism of UHC formation in the piston crevice. Three cases with injection timings of 20°, 40° (SOI-40), and 100° (SOI-100) were compared. The PLIF and simulation results indicate that, under early injection conditions, the squish region and piston crevice trap a considerable amount of fuel, resulting in increased UHC emission and reduced engine work, and the main combustion zone resides in the squish region. The simulation shows that the amount of UHC formation from the trapped fuel is highly dependent on the local equivalence ratio distribution formed by different injection timings. The local equivalence ratio within the piston crevice region for the SOI-40 case exceeds 2 before combustion; the charge sequentially undergoes both low- and high-temperature heat release (LTHR and HTHR) processes and produces less UHC in the crevice region. However, the SOI-100 case produces an overall leaner mixture with a local equivalence ratio lower than 1 before combustion; the charge undergoes LTHR without noticeable HTHR and becomes UHC near the cylinder wall. The injector dribbling results in more UHC formation in the central part of the cylinder under very early injection timing, and thus an accurate injector dribbling model is required to better reproduce the UHC emissions.

The opportunity for ignition assistance by a pulsed applied voltage is investigated in a canonical one-dimensional configuration. An incipient ignition kernel, formed by localized energy deposition into a lean mixture of methane and air at atmospheric pressure, is subjected to sub-breakdown electric fields (E/N ≈ 100 Td) by a DC potential applied across the domain, resulting in non-thermal behavior of the plasma formed during the discharge. A two-fluid approach is employed to couple thermal neutrals and ions to the non-thermal electrons. A two-temperature plasma mechanism describing gas phase combustion, excitation of neutral species, and high-energy electron kinetics is employed to account for non-thermal effects. Charged species transported from the ignition zone drift rapidly through the domain, augmenting the magnitude of the electric field in the fresh gas during the pulse through a dynamic-electrode effect, which results in an increase in the energy of the electrons in the fresh mixture with increasing time. Enhanced fuel and oxidizer decomposition due to electron impact dissociation and interaction with excited neutrals generate a pool of radicals, mostly O and H, in the fresh gas ahead of the flame’s preheat zone. In the configuration considered, the effect of the nanosecond pulse is to increase the mass of fuel burned at equivalent times relative to the unsupported ignition through enhanced radical generation, resulting in an increased heat release rate in the immediate aftermath of the pulse.

The i − V curve describes the current drawn from a flame as a function of the voltage difference applied across the reaction zone. Since combustion diagnostics and flame control strategies based on electric fields depend on the amount of current drawn from flames, there is significant interest in modeling and understanding i − V curves. We implement and apply a detailed model for the simulation of the production and transport of ions and electrons in one-dimensional premixed flames. An analytical reduced model is developed based on the detailed one, and analytical expressions are used to gain insight into the characteristics of the i − V curve for various flame configurations. In order for the reduced model to capture the spatial distribution of the electric field accurately, the concept of a dead zone region, where voltage is constant, is introduced, and a suitable closure for the spatial extent of the dead zone is proposed and validated. The results from the reduced modeling framework are found to be in good agreement with those from the detailed simulations. The saturation voltage is found to depend significantly on the flame location relative to the electrodes, and on the sign of the voltage difference applied. Furthermore, at sub-saturation conditions, the current is shown to increase linearly or quadratically with the applied voltage, depending on the flame location. These limiting behaviors exhibited by the reduced model elucidate the features of i − V curves observed experimentally. The reduced model relies on the existence of a thin layer where charges are produced, corresponding to the reaction zone of a flame. Consequently, the analytical model we propose is not limited to the study of premixed flames, and may be applied easily to others configurations, e.g. nonpremixed counterflow flames.

The influence of increasing pressure on nonpremixed syngas/air turbulent jet flames is numerically investigated using large eddy simulations in conjunction with a steady laminar flamelet approach. The applicability of the steady flamelet approach is assessed through an extensive parametric study of laminar counterflow flames and tangential stretching rate analysis on target flame structures at different pressures. Two sets of large eddy simulations, exploring pressure values up to 10 atm, are carried out. The first one (series A) is characterized by a constant jet Reynolds number, while the second one (series B) is characterized by a constant jet inlet velocity. Both campaigns show narrower flame brushes and reduced radical concentrations with increasing pressure. While for series A the flame length is not sensitive to pressure, a longer flame brush is noticed for series B, being mainly caused by the increased mass flow rate. The sensitivity of the local flame behavior to pressure, such as the OH layer thickness and position, is compared to the available experimental results, showing similar trends with a satisfactory agreement.

The study is aimed at demonstrating a methodology for the time-scale characterization of the chemistry-wall-heat-transfer interaction. The driving chemical time-scale is estimated by means of the t...