Numerical Study on Turbulent Two-Phase Flow in a Porous Media Combustion Chamber

To understand the working mechanism of the porous medium (PM) internal combustion engine, effects of a porous medium heat regenerator inserted into a combustion chamber on the turbulent flow field and fuel-air mixture formation are studied by numerical simulation. The cylindrical chamber has a constant volume, in which a disk-shaped PM insert is fixed. A simplified model for the random structure of the PM is presented, in which the PM is represented by an assembly of a great number of randomly distributed solid units. To simulate flows in the PM a Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy's equation is introduced into the numerical solver. A version of two-equation k - ε turbulence model suggested by Antohe and Lage is employed for the turbulence prediction in the PM. A spray model, in which the effects of drop breakup, collision and coalescence are taken into account, is introduced to describe spray/wall interactions. Numerical computations are performed for the turbulent flows induced by a fuel spray outside and inside of the PM with different structures. Calculation results show that the spray/PM interaction has substantial and positive influences on the fuel-air mixture formation and homogenization in the combustion chamber, which could be very advantageous in engine applications.

File Size: 3836K

See papers presented at 2008 SAE International Powertrains, Fuels and Lubricants Congress, June 2008, Shanghai, CHINA, Session: Fuel Injection and Sprays

Purchase more technical papers and save! With TechSelect, you decide what SAE Technical Papers you need, when you need them, and how much you want to pay. Learn more >