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Simulation of Dual-Fuel Combustion in a Compression Ignition Engine

Conference Paper · November 2015

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Cem Sorusbay Muhammet Aydin

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University
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 Simulation of Dual-Fuel Combustion in a Compression Ignition Engine

M. Aydın and C. Sorusbay

Istanbul Technical University, Automotive Laboratory,
Ayazaga Campus, Maslak 34469 – Istanbul, Turkey

ABSTRACT

Controlling the pollutant emissions from internal combustion engines while maintaining the required engine performance
has recently been one of the major concerns in automotive engineering. In this study performance of a dual-fuel engine has
been investigated and compared with a reference Diesel engine utilizing AvL FIRE code to model engine thermodynamic
cycle. Pre-mixed natural gas with pilot injection of diesel fuel is applied for various engine load and speed conditions keeping
diesel substitution rate constant.

The engine performance and specific fuel consumption along with the emissions of NO and PM of the dual-fuel engine are
compared with the reference case. It has been shown that reduction in both NO and PM emissions can be obtained with
lean mixtures in dual-fuel engines. Specific fuel consumption increases in comparison to the base Diesel engine only with
very lean mixtures.

INTRODUCTION

The use of Diesel engines in road transportation has been growing due to the optimal fuel efficiency along with reduced
carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions compared to equivalent spark ignition
engines. However Diesel engines require complex after-treatment systems to meet the present strict emission limits on
nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions. One of the recent approaches to overcome this problem is to
combine pre-mixed combustion with compression ignition systems in IC engines. Natural gas is a suitable fuel for dual-fuel
applications and can be considered as a short-term alternative energy source for road transportation due to its clean burning
properties. It also has relatively low greenhouse gas emissions due to its low carbon content. Although it is still a niche
market for transportation with less then 1% of world road fuel consumption, Diesel/Natural Gas dual-fuel utilization in heavy-
duty applications is rapidly growing for on-highway vehicles as well as off-road and marine applications [1]. Use of natural
gas in IC engines also provides considerable fuel cost savings in most cases depending on the operating conditions and
applied technology.

There are two main technological approaches for the use of natural gas in heavy-duty engines. One of them is a dedicated
compressed natural gas (CNG) combustion system where pre-mixed charge is ignited by a spark plug. This application
requires some initial modifications to the original compression ignition engine such as the addition of an ignition system.
The other approach is the dual-fuel operation of the existing Diesel engine where homogeneous pre-mixed Natural Gas/Air
mixture is compressed and then ignited by the pilot injection of Diesel fuel around top dead center. CNG substitution of up
to 90% can be done to lower pollutant emissions. Methane having the lowest C/H ratio among all fossil fuels produces
considerably low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Knocking limit at high loads is a critical issue with CNG application, as
well as poor combustion and comparatively higher CO and HC emissions at low load conditions.

Dual fuel combustion has been studied widely with most investigations including conversion of a Diesel engine to dual-fuel
operation with port injection or using a gas mixer in the intake manifold.[2-8] The major difficulties with this application is
the challenge of providing high levels of natural gas substitution at low load conditions while providing desired performance
and emission levels. These engines aim to provide the efficiency of the original Diesel engine. Some applications with high
pressure direct injection of natural gas into the cylinder forming a stratified charge indicate improved combustion efficiency
by this method. Another possibility to overcome the limitations is to apply reactivity controlled combustion.[9] RCCI mode
can be achieved by injecting the high reactivity fuel (Diesel fuel) early into the combustion chamber obtaining complete
mixing with the low reactivity fuel (CNG) creating a charge of varying reactivity. This technique allows higher Diesel
substitution ratios and provides the potential for reducing both NOx and PM emissions as reported by Dahodwala et al.[9]
In the present study performance of a dual-fuel engine with Diesel pilot injection has been investigated and compared with
a reference Diesel engine. A computational fluid dynamics model is applied utilising AvL FIRE simulation code to model the
engine thermodynamic cycle. Constant natural gas substitution was applied to investigate performance and emission
changes for the limiting conditions. Impact of injection calibration is also observed to achieve performance improvements.

COMPUTATIONAL MODEL

MODEL VALIDATION - The model is initially validated for Diesel engine operation. Simulation is carried out for a six-cylinder
Ford direct injection Diesel engine with 7.3 L displacement volume, considering only one cylinder for the computations. The
main engine specifications are given in Table 1.[10]

The computational domain for the combustion simulation is constructed within the AvL FIRE code consisting of 51o sector
grids due to the axial-symmetric nature of the combustion chamber and fuel spray. The computational grid consists of 58672
cells at TDC with a typical cell size of 0.085 mm.

Table 1. Engine Specifications.[10]

Bore / Stroke [mm] 112 / 124

Total Displacement [cm3] 7330
Compression ratio [ - ] 17.4 : 1
Maximum Power [kW] 223 @ 2400 rpm
Maximum Torque [Nm] 1100 @1440 rpm
Swirl Ratio [ - ] 1.45
Injector Nozzle Diameter [mm] 0.13 (7 holes)
Injection Pressure [bar] 1150
IVO - IVC 28o bTDC - 42o aBDC
EVO - EVC 59o bBDC - 27o aTDC

Inıtially simulations have been performed and validated at full load conditions with an engine speed of 1780 rpm for Diesel-
only combustion (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Diesel engine cylinder pressure variation, compared with experimental data of ref. [10]
For the dual-fuel engine operation, the knock limit is checked by applying Douaud and Eyzat model, with model constants
Da and Eg having values of 30.75 and 42000 simultaneously.[11] The boosting of the base Diesel engine is reduced
accordingly and compared with the dual-fuel engine of similar conditions (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Cylinder pressure variation and heat release rate at full load and 1780 rpm.
(1.5 bar and 320 K at beginning of compression in both cases)

DUAL FUEL OPERATION SIMULATIONS – Combustion of pre-mixed natural gas with the injection of diesel fuel into the
cylinder is investigated. The total energy content for both fuels, as well as the initial and boundary conditions for the
simulations are set equivalent to the base Diesel engine. The start of Diesel fuel injection (SOI) for the dual-fuel engine has
been adjusted for best performance. The amount of Diesel fuel injected is adjusted to initiate the combustion of pre-mixed
natural-gas/air charge and restricted to 10% of the total heat content of the fuel intake for all engine speeds.

In Figure 2 progress of combustion initiated by the injection of Diesel fuel can be observed by temperature contours for
various piston positions.

Figure 3. In-cylinder temperature contours indicating the progress of combustion for dual-fuel operation.

Set of simulations have been performed at engine speeds of range 1500 - 2900 rpm (Figure 4).
 Figure 4. Cylinder pressure variation with engine speed and comparison with Diesel combustion.

SOI is adjusted for best performance with increasing engine speed, but especially at high engine speeds injection timing
advance is restricted due to knock limit. Increase of engine speed at full load reduced NO while increasing soot emissions
(Figure 5). For pre-mixed combustion with lean mixtures, increase in engine speed displaces combustion process into the
expansion stroke and reduces temperature levels producing lower NO emissions. The opposite effect can be observed in
rich pre-mixed combustion, with higher turbulence intensity and faster flame travel, heat losses are reduced and increase
in temperature levels increase NO emissions. In this case, the first effect has been dominant, providing minor reductions in
NO levels.

Engine performance and emission data is given in Table 2 for various engine speeds, at full load. Specific fuel consumption
here is given in terms of Diesel fuel equivalent value combining the consumption of two fuels.

Figure 5. NO and Soot emission variation with engine speed.

 Table 2. Engine performance and emissions for different engine speeds.

Engine Speed BMEP POWER BSFC NO SOOT

[rpm] [bar] [kW] [g/kWh] [g/kWh] [g/kWh]

1500 10.15 16.50 172.1 0.15 0.0008

1780 10.11 19.75 170.7 0.14 0.0010
2500 10.43 27.55 171.8 0.11 0.0015
2900 10.35 31.56 174.0 0.10 0.0020

In this work effect of mixture strength on performance and emissions is also investigated. For the pre-mixed CNG charge
air-excess ratio is varied in the range 1.63 – 2.17 for a constant engine speed of 1780 rpm (Figure 6). Diesel fuel injection
timing is again adjusted for best performance and knock limits are considered. Lean mixtures provide slow burn rates, so
SOI is advanced with increase in air excess ratio. It has been observed that lean mixtures have the tendency to increase
unburned HC emissions due to combustion problems.

Figure 6. Cylinder pressure variation with mixtures of different air excess ratio.

Figure 7. NO and Soot emission variation with air excess ratio.

 Figure 8. Variation of engine power output with air excess ratio.

For pre-mixed charge combustion, NO emissions show a peak at around 10% lean mixtures and reduce with leaner
mixtures. Air-excess ratio values applied here for the dual-fuel engine provided lower NO and soot emission in comparison
to the base Diesel engine (Table 3.). Diesel engine produced NO emissions of 1.59 [g/kWh] and soot emissions of 0.0079
[g/kWh] for the same operating conditions. In the dual-fuel engine simulations, for very lean mixtures break specific fuel
consumption was increased considerably and there is a reduction in power output. In Table 3, fuel consumption given is the
combined value for the two fuels. For the same operating conditions base Diesel engine fuel consumption and power output
values are 193.3 [g/kWh] and 19.23 [kW] respectively.

Table 3. Engine performance and emissions for different air excess ratio values for the pre-mixed charge.
(@ 1780 rpm and Diesel fuel of 6.6 [mg] per cycle)

Power
Air Excess Ratio BSFC NO SOOT
[-]
Output [kg/kWh] [g/kWh] [g/kWh]
[kW]
1.63 23.50 170.4 0.43 0.0004
1.77 21.48 171.8 0.22 0.0008
1.95 19.75 170.7 0.14 0.0010
2.17 16.90 180.4 0.05 0.0020

CONCLUSION

In this study lean operation limits are investigated for a pre-mixed charge CNG engine with pilot injection, while considering
peak pressure level, knock limit and engine performance. Constant natural gas substitution was applied to investigate
performance and emission changes for the limiting conditions. Impact of injection calibration is also observed to achieve
performance improvements.

Boosting level and fuel injection timing is set accordingly and the simulation results are compared with an equivalent Diesel
engine. It has been observed that the pre-mixed CNG engine with Diesel fuel pilot injection has the ability to reduce both
NO and PM emissions while keeping the engine power output and specific fuel consumption values comparable to the base
Diesel engine. For the simulation conditions set here, leaning the pre-mixed charge over an air-excess ratio of two, reduces
power output and increases specific fuel consumption compared to the base engine.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to express their gratitude to AvL Turkey for providing an academic license for AvL FIRE software
to Istanbul Technical University.

REFERENCES

1. Nijboer, M., The Contribution of Natural Gas Vehicles to Sustainable Transport, International Energy Agency,
Paris, France, 2010 .
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SAE Technical Paper Series No. 94548, USA, 1994.
3. Königsson, F., Advancing the Limits of Dual Fuel Combustion, Licentiate Thesis, Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm, Sweden, 2012.
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