A Detailed Chemical Kinetic Analysis of Low Temperature Non-Sooting Diesel Combustion 2005-01-0923

We have developed a model of the diesel fuel injection process for application to analysis of low temperature non-sooting combustion. The model uses a simplified mixing correlation and detailed chemical kinetics to analyze a parcel of fuel as it moves along the fuel jet, from injection to evaporation and ignition. The model predicts chemical composition and soot precursors, and is applied at conditions that result in low temperature non-sooting combustion. Production of soot precursors is the first step toward production of soot, and modeling precursor production is expected to give insight into the overall evolution of soot inside the engine.

The results of the analysis show that the model has been successful in describing many of the observed characteristics of low temperature combustion. The model predicts results that are qualitatively similar to those obtained for soot formation experiments at conditions in which the EGR rate is increased from zero to very high values as the fueling rate is kept constant. The model also describes the two paths to achieve non-sooting combustion. The first is smokeless rich combustion and the second is modulated kinetics (MK). The importance of the combustion temperature after ignition and the equivalence ratio at the time of ignition is demonstrated, as these parameters can be used to collapse all the results for soot precursors onto a single line for multiple fueling rates. A parametric analysis indicates that precursor formation increases considerably as the gas temperature in the combustion chamber and the characteristic mixing time are increased. The model provides a chemical kinetic description of low temperature diesel combustion that improves the understanding of this clean and efficient regime of operation.