Óscar García-Afonso

Assessment by means of gas dynamic modelling of a pre-turbo diesel particulate filter configuration in a turbocharged HSDI diesel engine under full-load transient operation

Diesel particulate filters (DPF) are becoming a standard technology in diesel engines because of the need for compliance with forthcoming regulations regarding soot emissions. When a great degree of maturity in management of filtration and regeneration has been attained, the influence of the DPF placement on the engine performance emerges as a key issue to be properly addressed. The novelty of this work leads to the study of an unusual location of an aftertreatment device in the architecture of the turbocharged diesel engine exhaust line. The problem of the pre-turbo DPF placement is tackled comparing the engine response under full-load transient operation as opposed to the traditional DPF location downstream of the turbine. The study has been performed on the basis of a gas dynamic simulation of the engine, which has been validated with experimental data obtained under steady-state and transient conditions. The DPF response has been simulated with a model able to deal with the characteristic highly pulsating flow upstream of the turbine. Several levels of DPF soot loading have been considered to represent fully the most exigent conditions in terms of performance requirements. As a result, the main physical phenomena controlling the engine and DPF response and interaction have been identified. Placing the DPF upstream of the turbine will lead to a number of important advantages, owing to the continuous regeneration mode at which the DPF will operate, the lower pressure drop in the DPF, and the thermal energy storage in the DPF, which is very useful to mitigate ‘turbocharger lag’ during engine transient operation. These three effects have been evidenced with calculations performed using the validated model and the results have been fully analysed and discussed.

Analysis of heavy-duty turbocharged diesel engine response under cold transient operation with a pre-turbo aftertreatment exhaust manifold configuration

Diesel particulate filters are the most useful technology to reduce particulate matter from the exhaust gas of internal combustion engines. Although these devices have suffered an intense development in terms of the management of filtration and regeneration, the effect of the system location on the engine performance is still a key issue that needs to be properly addressed. The present work is focused on a computational study regarding the effects of a pre-turbo aftertreatment placement under full and partial load transient operation at constant engine speed and low wall temperature along the exhaust line. The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the engine response to define the guidelines of a control strategy that is able to get the standards of engine driveability during sudden accelerations under restraining thermal transient conditions governed by the aftertreatment thermal inertia. The proposed strategy overcomes the lack of temperature at the inlet of the turbine caused by the thermal transient by means of the boost and EGR control. It leads to a proper management of the power in the exhaust gas for the expansion in the turbine.

Application of the two-step Lax and Wendroff FCT and the CE-SE method to flow transport in wall-flow monoliths

Gas dynamic codes are computational tools applied to the analysis of air management in internal combustion engines. The governing equations in one-dimensional elements are approached assuming compressible unsteady non-homentropic flow and are commonly solved applying finite difference numerical methods. These techniques can also be applied to the calculation of flow transport in complex systems such as wall-flow monoliths. These elements are characterized by alternatively plugged channels with porous walls. It filters the particulates when the flow goes through the wall from the inlet to the outlet channels. Therefore, this process couples the solution of every pair of inlet and outlet channels. In this study, the adaptation of the two-step Lax and Wendroff method and the space-time Conservation Element and Solution Element method is performed to be applied in the solution of flow transport in wall-flow monolith channels. The influence on the prediction ability is analysed by a shock-tube test and experimental data obtained under impulsive flow conditions.

Analysis of shock capturing methods for chemical species transport in unsteady compressible flow

Abstract This paper presents a chemical species transport model to account for variable composition and gas properties along the flow path in internal combustion engines. The numerical solution to adapt the gas dynamic model to chemical species transport in boundary conditions by means of the Method of Characteristics and in volumes by means of a filling and emptying model is described. The performance for chemical species transport in 1D elements of shock-capturing methods, such as the two-step Lax–Wendroff method and the Sweby’s TVD scheme considering several flux limiter definitions, is carried out by means of shock-tube tests. The influence of the fluid modelling as perfect or non-perfect gas on the numerical methods features and the flow characteristics on shock-tube results are analysed.