Emission and performance study of Omega and openW pistons

Introduction
Ever increase in the population, higher deforestation rates and various modern-day courses
causes alarming increase in the pollution, the major part of it caused by the different
transportation systems. So the researches around the globe are keenly researching on how
to reduce this pollution rates carving the mother earth. Modern-day research mainly in the
field of automobile is regarding internal combustion engines, due to these factors the
authorities are forced to implement certain stringent norms throughout the world which paves
forced research in these areas.Diesel engines, in particular, appears to be a field of interest
due to its higher thermal efficiencies and its reliability and at the same time it has a potential
to cater to a wide range of application from automobiles, marine and stationary power plants
so nowadays it has been a routine course of action to study its emission characteristics by
trying out with different engine configurations to include themselves within these stringent
norms laid by the authorities

In previous years of research has shown that the different engine configurations such as to
increase the mixing of fuel-air ratio have increased machine efficiency and reduced
emissions at a large scale. So one such methodology to increase the efficiency and reduce
the emissions by incorporating different bowl geometries in the pistons in this literature two
such piston bowl configuration will be thoroughly discussed W-pistons and omega piston.

Numerical simulation and methodology

The present study used CONVERGE simulation software for the CFD analysis for different
piston bowl geometries. In order to make the computation a lot faster we are using 60
degrees sector models for the current study. CONVERGE automatically generates
orthogonal structures grids using AMR (adaptive mesh refinement) based on simple user-
defined grid control parameters this simplicity helps the user to avoid the manual grid
creation.SAGE model has been incorporated into CONVERGE which helps in including
detailed chemistry in combustion applications with a set of chemkin format input files the fuel
used is n-heptane which has close similarity with the diesel fuel.

In order to include detailed chemistry in combustion applications the SAGE model has been
incorporated into CONVERGE. This approach allows the user to employ detailed chemical
kinetics in combustion simulations with a set of CHEMKIN input files, which are considered
the standard format for defining chemical mechanisms, SAGE mechanisms use CVODES
solver in CONVERGE. The detailed chemistry solver SAGE calculates the reactions rates for
each elementary reaction, while the CFD solves the transport equations this combustion
model can be used for the modelling of different combustion regimes such as ignition,
premixed, controlled etc.

Model description

All the engine specification related are listed in Table 1 and all the sub-models used in the
CFD computations are listed in Table 2.The sector models are used in order to consume
time for running of the simulations.
Table 1: engine specifications

Bore (m) 0.13716

Engine stroke (m) 0.1651
Connecting rod(m) 0.263
Speed (rpm) 1600
Compression ratio 17.5
Injected mass of fuel(kg/cycle) 2.70167e-005
Start of injection -9ᵒ
Injection duration 21ᵒ
Piston temperature(K) 523
Cylinder temperature (K) 443
Head temperature (K) 523

Table2: various CFD models

Turbulence models RNG k-ε

Injection drop distribution Χ2 distribution
Drop drag Dynamic drag model
Droplet collision model NTC model
Collision outcome model Post collision model
Drop turbulent dispersion O’Rourke model
Drop/wall interaction Rebound slide model
Evaporation model Chiang model
Spray breakup KH-RT
Combustion model SAGE

Figure 1: full-scale model w-piston (Left) omega piston.

Figure 2: 60 sector model w-piston (Left) and omega model

Figure 2 shows the sector model of the engine as you can see the injector at both these
models with 9ᵒ cone angle.

Results and Discussions

In common there are mainly five types of exhaust emissions

 Unburnt hydrocarbons (HC)

 Oxides of carbons ( CO and CO2)
 Oxides of nitrogen (NO and NO2)
 Oxides of sulphur (SO2 and SO3)
 Particulates soot and smoke

The first four are common to all IC engines but the last two are reserved for only CI engines.
Also there is another vertical of emissions caused by crankcase blow-by and hydrocarbons
from fuel tank which is known as non– exhaust emissions. In this scope of the study, we will
be mainly discussing the CI engine emission parameters using two different bowl
geometries.
Figure3 represents the picture of the HC, CO, NOx emissions with respect to equivalence
ratio ᶲ as can be seen HC will decrease slightly with increase in ᶲ due to high cylindrical
temperature making it easier to burn up any over mixed or under the mixed fuel-air mixture.
At high loads however HC may increase again if the amount of fuel in the regions is too rich
to burn during primary combustion process. CO emissions will be very low at all equivalence
ratio since excess air is always available, coming to NOx emissions, will steadily increase as
ᶲ increases due to increasing fraction of cylinder contents being burnt gases close to
stoichiometric during combustion and also due to higher peak temperatures and pressures.
Figure 3: emissions as a function of fuel-air equivalence ratio (ᶲ)

W pistons have higher peak pressure compared to omega pistons per cycle the peak
pressure for the w piston the peak pressure is around 11.5336 Mpa and omega piston’s
peak pressure is reaching around 11.2571 Mpa as seen from the figure 4 even though this
result is not enough for a better selection of the piston bowl geometries but there is
something fishy to be discussed here the angle of the crank while attaining the peak
pressure for the omega and W pistons is 12.48 and 10.69 degrees, since the injection starts
at -9 degrees the omega pistons can produce more better combustion compared to W
pistons which may be the reasons for higher indicated power. But due to the lower pressure
of the W pistons, from emission point of view the number of emissions are way less than the
omega pistons. Hence the keeping the emission regulations in mind the W pistons are much
better but if are taking the only performance criteria’s into considerations the omega pistons
are better performing but as nowadays the former criteria is more important or we should
move into a more optimised bowl geometries for a better balance.

Figure 4: relation to pressure and CAD

From figure 5: it can be depicted that the omega piston has reached a temperature of 1768
K at 25.47ᵒ while the W pistons have reached a temperature of 1464.55 K at 39.434ᵒ.when
viewing the results there happens to be some anomaly going on, it’s due to the injection
timing. As it’s evident that the injection time starts at -9ᵒ at this time the peak pressure at
both piston geometries are almost same that is 11 Mpa and the injection duration is for other
21ᵒ i.e.: up to 12ᵒ.But as you know more temperature results in more NOx emissions in the
re-entrant form of pistons . Also since the inline temperature is so low there is a chance that
there is incomplete burning of fuels but this gets into more clarity when we study other
graphs along with.

Figure 5: the relation between temperature and CAD

Figure 6: heat release rate vs. CAD

Heat release rate in the omega pistons is more compared to the W pistons. Heat release
rates are the amount of heat released from the combustion alone. Clearly there is 140 J/min
advantage for the omega pistons than the W pistons the integrated quantity of the heat
release rate over the time cycle leads to the integrated heal release curve which is shown in
the figure 7 as it’s evident the omega pistons have a 68J upper hand over W pistons per
cycle hence since combustion energy release is more for the former it has more work output
than the later as expected.

Figure 7: Integrated heat release vs. CAD

Also from the engine calculator a facility very useful provided by the converge, the amount
work done in the omega piston is around 3409.28 J and for the W piston, the work is about
3028.5 which is 11.16 % increase in power when compared to the W pistons.

Also, there is a clear advantage of the combustion energy for the omega piston

The energy surplus from the combustion energy alone = 68 J

For 1000 cycles the energy = 68 KJ

Power = ;

Time = ;

Where RPM =1600 rpm hence Time = 1.04*10-04 sec/degree

Total duration is 270.189 ᵒ hence the total Time (seconds) =270.189 * 1.04*10-04 = 0.02809

Power (omega piston) = 3409.28/0.02809 = 121.369 KW

Power (w piston) = 3028.50/0.02809 = 107.8114 KW

Power = where N is the rpm, T is the torque;

N=1600 rpm

Power (omega piston) = 3409.28/0.02809 = 121.369 KW

Power (w piston) = 3028.50/0.02809 = 107.8114 KW

Torque (omega piston) = 0.724 KNm

Torque (w piston) = 0.643 KNm

Figure 8: relation between a fuel (gaseous) and CAD

As in figure 8, it is clear that the gaseous fuel is not fully burnt that is it undergoes late
combustion inside the cylinder of the engine for omega piston. As it’s evident from the graph,
for the same amount of fuel injected the fuel remains in the cylinder for a long time without
undergoing combustion also the amount fuel in a gaseous state is more in the cylinder.
Figure 9: the relation between NOx and CAD

NOx is formed mostly from the atmospheric nitrogen at low temperature the nitrogen
compound is diatomic and stable but when the temperature is increased the N2 receives
much energy to breaks its partial covalent triple bond which results in the formation of
monoatomic Nitrogen which is highly unstable and also reactive this results in the formation
of the NOx.

Hence it can be concluded that the W profile pistons have less generation of NOx compared
to Omega bowl piston geometries.

There is the number of possible reactions to form NO .all the restrictions are probably
occurring during the combustion process or immediately after.

O + N2 = NO + N

N + O2 = NO + O

N + OH = NO + H

N2 2N (at high temperature)

According to the above graph, the NOx for the W pistons is less compared to the omega
pistons so the main aim of the designer is the environmental concern rather than the
performance it’s advised to move into the W pistons.

CO is an odourless and colourless toxic gas as you can see from figure 1: the CO
concentrations in a CI engine is less compared to other emissions.As one very well knows
the CO (Carbon monoxide) is the result of incomplete combustion in the system hence the
omega piston has more CO formation rather compared to W piston. But as you can see the
graph for the omega piston the graph is narrower compared to the W pistons hence the time
taken for the complete combustion is less for the omega pistons that is while the crank
rotates about 70 ᵒ the CO concentrations diminishes, the CO emissions mainly depends on
the richness of the fuel.

Figure 10: CO vs. CAD

In general CI engines has high combustion efficiency of about 98 % hence only 2 % of HC

fuel is being emitted in the figure 11 the HC emission for the omega piston is much lower
than W pistons, the reason behind this is because of the low temperature of the W piston
more HC particles will escape the combustion process also there is an improper mixing of
fuels in W piston.

Figure 11: HC vs. CAD

Soot particles are clusters of solid carbon spheres.This spheres in the range of 9mm to 90
mm.The model very well describes the soot is Hiroyasu Soot Model . Carbon spheres are
formed due to the lack of oxygen to convert into the CO2

CxHy + z O2 a CO2 + b H 2O+ c CO + d C(s)

As we have discussed earlier the omega pistons combusts at a faster rate than W pistons
soot formation also becomes more, the turbulence and mass motion continue to mix the
components of the combustion chamber, most of the carbon particles find sufficient oxygen
to further react and convert into carbon dioxide. The majority of the soot comes from the
lubrication oil used in the engine.

Figure 12: hiroy soot vs. CAD

Conclusion

It can concluded that if the performance parameters are focussed it gives a slight upper
hand for the omega pistons since it produces more work output as seen above .but as we
know the open pistons have slight advantage over the emissions compared to the omega
pistons it really depends on the designer, at last, to design an optimum design so he gets a
balanced result regarding the performance and the emissions .If we change the injector
parameters like angle, pressure etc. the performance parameters can be increased for the
openW pistons can be improved to great extent apart from this various engine management
systems can be used to eliminate emissions such as controlling injection timing ,injection
pressure many of which can be reduced solely by the engine design and controlling the
injection parameters.