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Journal Article

The Effect of Humidity on the Knock Behavior in a Medium BMEP Lean-Burn High-Speed Gas Engine

2016-10-24
2016-01-9075
The effects of air humidity on the knock characteristics of fuels are investigated in a lean-burn, high-speed medium BMEP engine fueled with a CH4 + 4.7 mole% C3H8 gas mixture. Experiments are carried out with humidity ratios ranging from 4.3 to 11 g H2O/kg dry air. The measured pressure profiles at non-knocking conditions are compared with calculated pressure profiles using a model that predicts the time-dependent in-cylinder conditions (P, T) in the test engine (“combustion phasing”). This model was extended to include the effects of humidity. The results show that the extended model accurately computes the in-cylinder pressure history when varying the water fraction in air. Increasing the water vapor content in air decreases the peak pressure and temperature significantly, which increases the measured Knock Limited Spark Timing (KLST); at 4.3 g H2O/kg dry air the KLST is 19 °CA BTDC while at 11 g H2O/kg dry air the KLST is 21 °CA BTDC for the same fuel.
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