Investigating Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions Using CFD
Investigating Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions Using CFD
Investigating Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions Using CFD
Received November 23, 2012; revised December 22, 2012; accepted January 7, 2013
ABSTRACT
Fluid flow in an internal combustion engine presents one of the most challenging fluid dynamics problems to model.
This is because the flow is associated with large density variations. So, a detailed understanding of the flow and combustion processes is required to improve performance and reduce emissions without compromising fuel economy. The
simulation carried out in the present work to model DI diesel engine with bowl in piston for better understanding of the
in cylinder gas motion with details of the combustion process that are essential in evaluating the effects of ingesting
synthetic atmosphere on engine performance. This is needed for the course of developing a non-air recycle diesel with
exhaust management system [1]. A simulation was carried out using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT. The turbulence and combustion processes are modeled with sufficient generality to include spray formation, delay
period, chemical kinetics and on set of ignition. Results from the simulation compared well with that of experimental
results. The model proved invaluable in obtaining details of the in cylinder flow patterns, combustion process and
combustion species during the engine cycle. The results show that the model over predicting the maximum pressure
peak by 6%, (p-), (p-v) diagrams for different engine loads are predicted. Also the study shows other engine parameters captured by the simulation such as engine emissions, fuel mass fraction, indicated gross work, ignition delay period
and heat release rate.
Keywords: Numerical Simulation; Unsteady Flow; Combustion; Diesel Engine
1. Introduction
The requirement to meet the challenge of producing
cleaner and more efficient power plants will intensify
further over the next few years. This challenge requires
an increased commitment to research by the transportation industry. The internal combustion engine represents
one of the more challenging fluid mechanics problems to
model because the flow is compressible with large density variations, relatively high Mach number, turbulent,
unsteady, cyclic, and non-stationary, both spatially and
temporally. Much progress has been made in CFD model
development for engines in recent years.
Clean diesel engines are one of the fuel efficient and
low emission engines of interest in the automotive Industry. The combustion chamber flow field and its effect on
fuel spray characteristics plays an important role in improving the efficiency and reducing the pollutant emission in a direct injection diesel engine, in terms of influencing processes of breakup, evaporation mixture formation, ignition, combustion and pollutant formation. CFD
modeling is a valuable tool to acquire detailed information about these important processes. In this context [2],
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T. M. BELAL ET AL.
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3. Mathematical Description
3.1. Mesh and Boundaries
The mathematical models in CFD start with combustion
chamber geometry approximation representation (engine
mesh) and boundaries types. The geometry can be made
using the pre-processor as shown in Figure 1. The gambit software (pre-processor is used to build and meshing
a model [10]. Table 1 shows engine data [11,12].
energy, species, turbulent equation, and chemical reaction. The liquid fuel governing equations contain the
equation of motion, the droplet energy, and spray equations. Regarding the physical boundary conditions, velocity at wall is approximated by turbulent law-of-the-wall
velocity and temperature at wall prescribed by fixed temperature (cylinder head = 490 K, cylinder wall = 473 K
and piston and piston bowl = 550 K. The program starts
at CA = 239 CA at inlet valve close with inlet charge
already fill the cylinder and ends at CA = 469 CA at exhaust valve opening. That means the simulation is counting for the indicated gross work and associated combustion parameters. The simulation is based on the experimental work using the DI diesel engine F1L511 [13].
The present model uses standard k- model for solving
Navier stokes equations employing the eddy dissipation
concept.
3.2.1. Modeling Basic Fluid Flow
It is often required to model a region of the engine as an
open thermodynamic system. Such model is appropriate
when the gas inside the open system boundary can be
assumed uniform in composition and state at each point
in time, and when that state and composition vary with
time due to heat transfer, work transfer, mass flow across
the boundary, and boundary displacement. Governing
equations are mass, momentum equations and energy
equations. These equations for open system, with time or
crank angle as the independent variable, are the building
blocks for thermodynamic based models.
Continuity equation:
v Sm
t
(1)
Momentum equation:
v vv p g F
t
Figure 1. Engine combustion chamber mesh.
Table 1. F1L511 Engine Data.
Type
Duetz F1L511
Operating principle
Four stroke
Number of cylinders
One cylinder
Type of injection
Direct injection
Bore
100 mm
Stroke
105 mm
Swept volume
825 cm3
Compression ratio
17:1
Cooling system
air cooled
Piston crown
Bowl in piston
Injection pressure
175 Bar
Injection duration
26 CA
(2)
E v E p
t
keff T j h j J j eff v S h
(3)
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T. M. BELAL ET AL.
Yig
empirical model, and the derivation of the model equations rely on phenomenological considerations and empiricism [14].
k kui
t
xi
t k
Gk Gb YM Sk
xi
k x j
G2
2
k
(4)
id
C1 0.22 S p
6N
(5)
du p
dt
a Cn H m b O 2 cN 2
eH 2 fCO gCO 2 hH 2 O jN 2
FD u u p
gx p
Fx
(9)
We
(6)
ep
1
1 21.2
exp Ea
RT 17,190 p 12.4
(8)
Yi vYi J i Ri Si
t
(7)
The ignition delay period is calculated using the Hardenburg and Hase correlation [9] which is given by:
and
ui
t
xi
t
G1 Gk C3 Gb
xi
k
x j
Wec
dy dt n
(10)
(11)
(12)
vbnuc
t bnuc
bnuc
Rnuc (13)
t
nuc
(14)
T. M. BELAL ET AL.
175
zones. The first zone is the cylinder zone and the second
is the bowl zone. The first zone uses the hexagonal cells
and the second zone uses tetrahedral cells as shown in
Figure 1. In engine operation, valves and the piston move,
so the mesh should move according to the real engine in
order to simulate the charge of valve and piston position
with crank angle. Piston and piston bowl movement are
decided by the stroke, connecting rod and crank angle.
Simulation starts at 239 CA and ends at 469 CA. This
is the period from the inlet valve closing till exhaust
valve opening. That means thermodynamically; the compression stroke and power stroke only accounted in this
study (indicated gross work). The simulation time step is
0.5 crank angles. Each computer run spends about 12
hours on IBM compatible computer using quad duo processor with 2 GHz and 4 MB cache and 6 GB RAM. The
simulation uses fixed temperature boundary conditions
[21] and the initial conditions driven from the experimental work [13].
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177
4.4. Emissions
Engine emissions due to combustion of hydrocarbon fuel
depend on the combustion equations and the emission
model solved to calculate engine pollutant. In the present
study the combustion emissions CO, CO2, NO and Soot
are calculated. Figure 13 shows NO concentrations rise
from the residual gas value following the start of combustion, to a peak at the point where the burned gas equiCopyright 2013 SciRes.
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T. M. BELAL ET AL.
of Diesel Engine CFD Simulations, International Multidimensional Engine Modeling Users Group Meeting, SAE
Congress, 23 April 2012
5. Conclusions
From the present study the main conclusions are:
The fluid flow in DI diesel having bowel in piston
with turbulence and combustion processes modeled
with sufficient generality to include spray formation,
delay period, chemical kinetics and onset of ignition;
adequately simulated the engine cycle.
The model is validated through the comparison of the
predicted p- curve with the experimental p- curve.
Some important engine characteristics are predicted
such as heat release rate, gross and net heat release. In
addition the T- diagrams for different loads are shown.
Detailed CFD model predictions are obtained as incylinder temperature and pressure distributions, gas
velocity and fuel mass fraction on the piston bowl.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
A. S. Kuleshov, Multi-Zone DI Diesel Spray Combustion Model for Thermodynamic Simulation of Engine
with PCCI and High EGR Level, SAE Paper No 200901-1956, 2009.
[4]
[5]
L. V. Griend, M. E. Feldman and C. L. Peterson, Modeling Combustion of Alternate Fuels in a DI Diesel Engine
Using KIVA, ASAE, Vol. 33, No. 2, 1990, pp. 342-350.
[6]
B. A. Cantrell, R. D. Reitz, C. J. Rutland and Y. Immamori, Strategies for Reducing the Computational Time
[7]
S. A. Basha and K. R. Gopal, In-Cylinder Fluid Flow Turbulence and Spray Models, Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews, Vol. 13, No. 6-7, 2008, pp. 1620-1627.
[8]
[9]
EPE
T. M. BELAL ET AL.
179
Nomenclature
20%, 80%
A
*
bnuc
bcrit
C1
C1 , C2
C10H22
CA
CFD
CO
CO2
D
DI
EDC
Ea
ep
E
Exp
Fraction of max. volume
F
FD(u up)
Fx
f
Gb
gi
Gk
H, H2
HHR
H2O
JJ
k
keff
Kr
kt
KIVA
min
N
N2
n
NO
O2,O
OH
p
Prt
Qn
Qch
R
Ri
Rsoot, comb
RPM
Rsoot,form
*
Rnuc
r1 , r2
Droplet radius
Sct
EPE
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T. M. BELAL ET AL.
Continued
Si
S k, S
Sm
SNO
Sp
Rate of creation by addition from the dispersed phase plus any user-defined sources
user-defined source terms for k and equations
mass added to the continuous phase from the dispersed second phase (kg)
source term is to be determined for NO mechanism
SOI
to
T
u
up
We
Wec
x
y
Yig
YM
YNO
Start of injection
time at which fuel is introduced into the domain (s)
Temperature
Fluid phase velocity (m/s)
Particle velocity (m/s)
Weber number
Critical Weber number
Displacement in x-direction
Displacement in y-direction
mass fraction of a passive species representing radicals which form when the fuel in the domain breaks down
fluctuating dilatation in compressible turbulence to the overall dissipation rate (kg/(ms2))
mass fraction of NO in the gas phase
Turbulent rate dissipation (m2/s2)
Crank angle
molecular viscosity of the fluid (Ns/m2)
Absolute velocity vector (m/s)
gravitational body force (N)
fluid density (kg/m3)
*
nuc
id
eff
EPE