Jihad Badra

Numerical Simulations of Hollow-Cone Injection and Gasoline Compression Ignition Combustion With Naphtha Fuels

We acknowledge the help and support from Saurav Mitra and Sarangarajan Vijayraghavan from Convergent Science, Inc. (CSI). This work was sponsored by the Fuel Technology Division at Saudi Aramco R&DC. The work at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was funded by KAUST and Saudi Aramco under the FUELCOM program.

Effects of In-Cylinder Mixing on Low Octane Gasoline Compression Ignition Combustion

This work was sponsored by the Fuel Technology Division at Saudi Aramco R&DC. The surrogate formulation work at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was supported by KAUST and Saudi Aramco under the FUELCOM program. We also acknowledge the helpful discussions with Janardhan Kodavasal from Argonne National Laboratory.

Spray Modeling for Outwardly-Opening Hollow-Cone Injector

This work was sponsored by the Fuel Technology Division at Saudi Aramco R&DC. The work at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was funded by KAUST and Saudi Aramco under the FUELCOM program. We also acknowledge the help and support from Convergent Science Inc. (CSI).

Enhanced Transient Heat Transfer From Arrays of Jets Impinging on a Moving Plate

This article addresses the numerical analysis of single and multiple circular jets impinging perpendicularly on a flat plate for heating and cooling purposes. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to evaluate heat transfer calculations for different configurations and different flow boundary conditions. The commercial CFD package FLUENT is employed with various turbulence models. Results for a single jet are validated against experimental data. The SST k − ω turbulence model is compared with the elliptic V2F model, and both were validated against experimental data. Results were obtained for a range of jet Reynolds numbers and jet-to-target distances. Optimization results for the single jet case are validated against experimental data. The SST k − ω and V2F turbulence models succeeded with a reasonable accuracy (within 20% error) in reproducing experimental results. The heat transfer rates from the use of multijet configurations are discussed in the article. Transient heat transfer between multiple jets and a moving plate is more difficult to study due to the changing boundaries but is also very relevant in engineering applications. This article presents full CFD calculations of the transient heat transfer between a bank of circular jets and a moving plate. Design optimization has also been achieved for the single- and multiple-jet configurations.

Shock Tube Ignition Delay Data Affected by Localized Ignition Phenomena

ABSTRACT Shock tubes have conventionally been used for measuring high-temperature ignition delay times of approximately O(1 ms). In the last decade or so, the operating regime of shock tubes has been extended to lower temperatures by accessing longer observation times. Such measurements may potentially be affected by some non-ideal phenomena. The purpose of this work is to measure long ignition delay times for fuels exhibiting negative temperature coefficient and to assess the impact of shock tube non-idealities on ignition delay data. Ignition delay times of n-heptane and n-hexane were measured over the temperature range of 650–1250 K and pressures near 1.5 atm. Driver gas tailoring and long length of shock tube driver section were utilized to measure ignition delay times as long as 32 ms. Measured ignition delay times agree with chemical kinetic models at high (>1100 K) and low (<700 K) temperatures. In the intermediate temperature range (700–1100 K), however, significant discrepancies are observed between the measurements and homogeneous ignition delay simulations. It is postulated, based on experimental observations, that localized ignition kernels could affect the ignition delay times at the intermediate temperatures, which lead to compression (and heating) of the bulk gas and result in expediting the overall ignition event. The postulate is validated through simple representative computational fluid dynamic simulations of post-shock gas mixtures, which exhibit ignition advancement via a hot spot. The results of the current work show that ignition delay times measured by shock tubes may be affected by non-ideal phenomena for certain conditions of temperature, pressure, and fuel reactivity. Care must, therefore, be exercised in using such data for chemical kinetic model development and validation.

Standardized Gasoline Compression Ignition Fuels Matrix

Direct injection compression ignition engines running on gasolinelike fuels have been considered an attractive alternative to traditional spark ignition and diesel engines. The compression and lean combustion mode direct injection of fuel eliminates throttle losses yielding higher thermodynamic efficiencies and the better mixing of fuel/air due to the longer ignition delay times of the gasoline-like fuels allows better emission performance such as nitric oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). These gasoline-like fuels which usually have lower octane compared to market gasoline have has been identified as a viable option for the gasoline compression ignition (GCI) engine applications due to its lower reactivity and lighter evaporation longer ignition delay characteristics compared to diesel and lighter evaporation compared to gasoline fuel. The properties, specifications and sources of these GCI fuels are not fully understood yet because this technology is relatively new. In this work, a GCI fuel matrix is being developed based on the significance of certain physical and chemical properties in GCI engine operation. Those properties were chosen to be density, temperature at 90 volume % evaporation (T90) or final boiling point (FBP) and research octane number (RON) and the ranges of these properties were determined from the data reported in literature. These proposed fuels were theoretically formulated, while applying realistic constraints, using species present in real refinery streams gasoline-like fuels. Finally, three-dimensional (3D) engine computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed for using the proposed GCI fuels and the similarities and differences were highlighted.

A surrogate fuel formulation to characterize heating and evaporation of light naphtha droplets

ABSTRACT Light naphtha (LN) is gaining interest in internal combustion (IC) engine applications due to its low refining cost and higher heating values compared to commercial gasoline. To properly describe the chemical and physical behavior of the LN fuel under IC engine conditions, a systematic procedure to develop unified physical and chemical surrogates is described. The reduced component models to describe the chemical characteristics of LN are combined with the effective thermal conductivity/effective diffusivity (ETC/ED) model to represent the accurate evaporation behavior. Three surrogate fuels consisting of three to five components are presented and their performance in heating and evaporation of a single LN droplet is compared against the conventional primary reference fuel (PRF65) surrogate which is based on chemical aspects only. Unlike the previous approaches, the new surrogates also target matching the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio and research octane number in order to accurately describe the chemical behavior of the fuel. Subsequently, the performance of the surrogates in describing spray characteristics is tested by computational simulations compared with experimental measurements. The simulations were carried out using CONVERGE CFD package. The ETC/ED model was implemented into CONVERGE using user-defined functions. The predicted spray penetration length for the developed surrogates shows good agreement with the experimental data. At engine-like conditions, the ETC/ED model predicts higher vapor mass than the infinite thermal conductivity/infinite diffusivity model, hence showing the expected trend by incorporating the realistic droplet heating process.

Hollow-Cone Spray Modeling for Outwardly Opening Piezoelectric Injector

Linear instability sheet atomization (LISA) breakup model has been widely used for modeling hollow-cone spray. However, the model was originally developed for inwardlyopening pressure-swirl injectors by assuming toroidal ligament breakups. Therefore, LISA model is not suitable for simulating outwardly opening injectors having string-like structures at wide spray angles. Furthermore, the varying area and shape of the annular nozzle exit makes the modeling difficult. In this study, a new spray modeling was proposed for outwardly opening hollow-cone injector. The injection velocities are computed from the given mas flow rate and injection pressure regardless of ambiguous nozzle exit geometries. The modified Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor (KH-RT) breakup model is used with adjusted initial Sauter mean diameter (SMD) for modeling breakup of string-like liquid film spray. Liquid spray injection was modeled using Lagrangian discrete parcel method within the framework of commercial CFD software CONVERGE, and the detailed model was implemented by user defined functions. It was found that the new model predicted the liquid penetration length and local SMD accurately for various fuels and chamber conditions.

Numerical Simulations of Hollow Cone Injection and Gasoline Compression Ignition Combustion With Naphtha Fuels

Gasoline compression ignition (GCI), also known as partially premixed compression ignition (PPCI) and gasoline direct injection compression ignition (GDICI), engines have been considered an attractive alternative to traditional spark ignition engines. Lean burn combustion with the direct injection of fuel eliminates throttle losses for higher thermodynamic efficiencies, and the precise control of the mixture compositions allows better emission performance such as NOx and particulate matter (PM). Recently, low octane gasoline fuel has been identified as a viable option for the GCI engine applications due to its longer ignition delay characteristics compared to diesel and lighter evaporation compared to gasoline fuel [1]. The feasibility of such a concept has been demonstrated by experimental investigations at Saudi Aramco [1, 2]. The present study aims to develop predictive capabilities for low octane gasoline fuel compression ignition engines with accurate characterization of the spray dynamics and combustion processes. Full three-dimensional simulations were conducted using CONVERGE as a basic modeling framework, using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulent mixing models. An outwardly opening hollow-cone spray injector was characterized and validated against existing and new experimental data. An emphasis was made on the spray penetration characteristics. Various spray breakup and collision models have been tested and compared with the experimental data. An optimum combination has been identified and applied in the combusting GCI simulations. Linear instability sheet atomization (LISA) breakup model and modified Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor (KH-RT) break models proved to work the best for the investigated injector. Comparisons between various existing spray models and a parametric study have been carried out to study the effects of various spray parameters. The fuel effects have been tested by using three different primary reference fuel (PRF) and toluene primary reference fuel (TPRF) surrogates. The effects of fuel temperature and chemical kinetic mechanisms have also been studied. The heating and evaporative characteristics of the low octane gasoline fuel and its PRF and TPRF surrogates were examined.Copyright

Shock tube measurements of the branching ratios of propene + OH -> products

Absolute rate coefficients for the reaction of OH radical with propene (C3H6) and five deutrated isotopes, propene-1-d1 (CDHCHCH3), propene-1,1-d2 (CD2CHCH3), propene-2d1 (CH2CDCH3), propene-3,3,3-d3 (CH2CHCD3), and propene-d6 (C3D6), were measured in a shock tube behind reflected shock conditions over the temperature range of 812 K – 1460 K and pressures near 1 atm. The reaction progress was followed by monitoring OH radical near 306.7 nm using UV laser absorption. The first experimental measurements for the branching ratio of the title reaction are reported and compared with theoretical calculations. The allylic H atom abstraction of propene by OH radicals was found to be the most dominant reaction pathway followed by propen-1-yl and propen-2-yl channels over the entire temperature range of this study which is in line with theoretical predictions. Arrhenius parameters for various site-specific rate coefficients are provided for kinetic modeling.