Multi-Zone DI Diesel Spray Combustion Model for Thermodynamic Simulation of Engine with PCCI and High EGR Level 2009-01-1956

A multi-zone, direct-injection (DI) diesel combustion model, the so-called RK-model, has been developed and implemented in a full cycle simulation of a turbocharged engine. The combustion model takes into account:

• transient evolution of fuel sprays,
• interaction of sprays with swirl and walls,
• evolution of near-wall flow formed after spray-wall impingement depending on impingement angle and local swirl velocity,
• interaction of Near-Wall Flows (NWF) formed by adjacent sprays,
• influence of temperatures of gas and walls in the zones on evaporation rate.

In the model the fuel spray is split into a number of specific zones with different evaporation conditions including zone on the cylinder liner and on the cylinder head. The piston bowl is assumed to be a body of revolution with arbitrary shape. The combustion model supports central and non-central injector as well as the side injection system. NOx formation model uses Detail Kinetic Mechanism (199 reactions with 33 species). Soot formation model is phenomenological. The general equation for prediction of ignition delay period was derived as for conventional engines as for engines with PCCI where pilot injection timing achieved 130 CA deg. before TDC. The model has been validated by experimental data obtained from high-speed, medium-speed and low-speed engines over the whole operating range; a good agreement has been achieved without recalibration of the model for different operating modes. General equations for prediction of spray tip penetration, spray angle and ignition delay for low temperature combustion and high temperature combustion were derived and validated with the published data obtained for different diesels including diesels with multiple injection system and injection timing varied from very early up to after the TDC.

To make a computational optimization of multiple injection strategy possible, the full cycle thermodynamic engine simulation software DIESEL-RK has been supplied with library of nonlinear optimization procedures.