Automotive Science and Engineering

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In this paper, a numerical study is performed to provide the combustion and emission characteristics resulting from fuel-reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion mode in a heavy-duty, single-cylinder diesel engine with gasoline and diesel fuels. In RCCI strategy in-cylinder fuel blending is used to develop fuel reactivity gradients in the combustion chamber that result in a broad combustion event and reduced pressure rise rates (PRR). RCCI has been demonstrated to yield low NOx and soot with high thermal efficiency in light and heavy-duty engines. KIVA-CHEMKIN code with a reduced primary reference fuel (PRF) mechanism are implemented to study injection timings of high reactivity fuel (i.e., diesel) and low reactivity fuel percentages (i.e., gasoline) at a constant engine speed of 1300 rpm and medium load of 9 bar indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP). Significant reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx), while 49% gross indicated efficiency (GIE) were achieved successfully through the RCCI combustion mode. The parametric study of the RCCI combustion mode revealed that the peak cylinder pressure rise rate (PPRR) of the RCCI combustion mode could be controlled by several physical parameters – PRF number, and start of injection (SOI) timing of directly injected fuel.

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Due to very low PM and NOx emissions and considerable engine efficiency, dual-fuel combustion mode such as RCCI strategy attracted lots of attention compared to other combustion modes. In this numerical research work, the impacts of direct injection timing and pressure of diesel fuel on performance and level of engine-out emissions in a diesel-butanol RCCI engine was investigated. To simulate the combustion process, a reduced chemical kinetic mechanism, which consists of 349 reactions 76 species was used. The influence of thirty-six various strategies based on two diesel spraying characteristics such as injection pressure (650, 800, 1000, and 1200 bar) and diesel spray timing (300 to 340 CA with 5 CA steps) have been examined. Results indicated that, under the specific operating conditions like 1000-bar spray pressure by direct injection at 45 CA BTDC and the spray angle of 145 degrees, the level of cylinder-out pollutants such as CO (up to 26%), NOx (about 86%), PM (by nearly 71%) and HC (about 17.25%) have been simultaneously reduced. Also, ISFC decreased by about 2.3%, IP increased by about 2.4%, and also ITE improved by nearly 2% compared to the baseline engine operating conditions.

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Reactivity control compression ignition (RCCI) engines have demonstrated high-efficient and clean combustion but still suffer from ringing operation at upper load and production of unburned hydrocarbon (uHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions at lower load. In this study, statistical analysis and experimental testing were conducted to consider the effects of input parameters such as intake temperature (T_in), equivalent ratio (Φ) and engine speed on emissions, combustion noise and performance of a 0.5 liter RCCI engine using response surface method (RSM) with the aim to minimize emissions and combustion noise and to maximize parameters of performance. The developed models for measured responses like uHC, CO, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and calculated responses such as indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and combustion noise level (CNL) were statistically considered to be significant by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Interactive effects between Tin, Φ and engine speed for all operating points were analyzed by 3-D response surface plots. The results from this study indicated that at optimum input parameters, the values of uHC, CO, NOx, IMEP and CNL were found to be 90.3 (ppm), 106.8 (ppm), 248.2 (ppm), 11.7 (bar) and 87 (db), respectively. The models were validated by confirmatory tests, indicating the error in prediction less than 5%.