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This study presents a preliminary application of Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) of a speed transient performed on a motored single-cylinder engine. The numerical setup follows a methodology which has been validated and optimized for stabilized operating points in previous work, and adapted to run a speed transient of 31 cycles, from 1000 to 1800 rpm. Analysis of the results contributes to characterize the impact of the transient on the engine charge, tumble motion and velocity distribution. These simulations, which have never been performed in the past (to the best of our knowledge), represent a decisive step towards modeling and understanding transient in GDI engines, and particularly their impact on soot particle emissions in real driving conditions.

Among the new combustion concepts envisaged to meet future regulations, the Dual Fuel (DF) concept is considered to be an attractive strategy due to its potential to reduce CO2 emissions and engine-out pollutant emissions levels. A small quantity of high-cetane fuel (Diesel) is injected in the combustion chamber in order to ignite a homogeneous mixture of air and a highly volatile fuel (gasoline in our study). The DF concept has been shown to achieve improved engine thermal efficiency and low engine-out NOx and soot emissions. However, the physical mechanisms controlling DF combustion and in particular, determination of the predominant combustion regime(s) are not yet well understood. In this study, numerical simulations (CFD) and optical engine measurements are used to investigate Dual Fuel combustion.

In this paper three turbulent combustion models with different underlying hypothesis are compared with measurements from an extensive experimental database. The reference model is ECFM3Z, with the Tabulated Kinetics of Ignition (TKI) model for auto-ignition modeling, together with the CO reduced kinetics (CORK) model and the extended Zeldovich model for the nitrogen oxides. The VVTHC (Variable Volume Tabulated Homogeneous Chemistry) model predicts both the heat release and species evolutions (including CO). The most evolved model proposed is the ADF-PCM (Approximated Diffusion Flame-Presumed Conditional Moment) approach, based on the laminar flamelet equation of the progress variable. ADF-PCM and VVTHC are tabulated models based on a progress variable approach and are then coupled to the tabulated NO model NORA based on relaxation (NO Relaxation Approach). All the present combustion models are coupled to a phenomenological soot kinetics PSK approach.

In the context of low consumption and low emissions engines development, combustion processes modeling is a challenging subject as the requirements for accurately controlled pollutant emissions are becoming more stringent. From a scientific point of view, it is a major source of in-depth investigations as the chemical processes involved are strongly coupled to the flow characteristics. Among the various approaches developed recently to account for these processes in realistic configurations, tabulated techniques appear to be a promising way. They induce a good compromise between the accuracy of detailed chemistry and the computational time necessary to calculate complex configurations. Tabulation approaches were firstly developed to address the modeling of species concentrations in stationary combustors. They consist basically of pre-computed chemical kinetics using detailed mechanisms.

The study of soot oxidation and CO formation in internal combustion engine applications is the subject of numerous recent investigations. Their modeling is particularly important for Diesel operating conditions. Models have been developed recently at IFP to account for the complicated kinetic processes involved in CO / soot production and oxidation. This paper presents the equations for CO formation and oxidation based on a reduced 6 step chemistry model coupled with the PSK reduced soot production and oxidation mechanism. The species are accounted for in the conservation equations. Model development is done on the framework of the ECFM3Z engine combustion model. The global CO/soot model is first validated in a constant volume high pressure cell against LII measurements. Model parameters are adjusted and kept constant for the remaining of the simulations. Then, engine simulations are used to validate the model behavior in conventional and HCCI Diesel conditions.

Among the existing concepts to help improve the efficiency of spark ignition engines on low load operating points, Controlled Auto-Ignition™ (CAI™) is an efficient way to lower both fuel consumption and pollutant emissions at part load without major modifications of the engine design. The CAI™ concept is founded on the auto-ignition of a highly diluted gasoline-based mixture in order to reach high indicated efficiency and low pollutant emissions through a low temperature combustion. The high dilution rates needed to successfully obtain CAI™ combustion imply the use of unconventional valve lift strategies. To correctly control this combustion mode, the rate of dilution has to be precisely known. From a numerical point of view, this induces the need for a CFD tool suited for air path computations, the most relevant one being a 1D simulation approach.

The drive for substantial CO2 reductions in gasoline engines in the light of the Kyoto Protocol and higher fuel efficiencies has increased research on downsized, turbocharged engines. Via a higher intake air pressure, an increase in specific power output can be reached on a comparatively smaller sized engine, in order to ensure high torque capabilities, while allowing a fuel saving of about 20%. This fuel efficiency benefit includes the advantages of direct injection (DI) technology which avoids crossflow of fuel. This paper presents the capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics to aid in the development of such engines. Particularly, the IFP-C3D code offers several recently developed models which permit to estimate, with good accuracy, the evolution of the combustion under given working conditions. Moreover, the capability of the model to predict knock occurrence is very helpful for engine designers within the framework of development of new downsized turbocharged engines.