X. Margot

Combustion chamber resonances in direct injection automotive diesel engines: A numerical approach

Abstract The resonant oscillation of burned gases in the combustion chamber of direct injection (DI) diesel engines appears to be the main excitation source of the engine block during combustion. This has led to the application of different techniques in order to study its generation mechanisms and to determine its relationship with combustion parameters such as bowl geometry, type of injector, injection parameters, etc. In this paper, a numerical methodology for the analysis of combustion chamber resonances is proposed. The numerical approach is validated by comparison with results from modal theory in a simple case. Then, this technique has been applied to the analysis of three different bowls, indicating their potential for the control of combustion chamber resonances.

Sound quality assessment of Diesel combustion noise using in-cylinder pressure components

The combustion process in direct injection (DI) Diesel engines is an important source of noise, and it is thus the main reason why end-users could be reluctant to drive vehicles powered with this type of engine. This means that the great potential of Diesel engines for environment preservation—due to their lower consumption and the subsequent reduction of CO2 emissions—may be lost. Moreover, the advanced combustion concepts—e.g. the HCCI (homogeneous charge compression ignition)—developed to comply with forthcoming emissions legislation, while maintaining the efficiency of current engines, are expected to be noisier because they are characterized by a higher amount of premixed combustion. For this reason many efforts have been dedicated by car manufacturers in recent years to reduce the overall level and improve the sound quality of engine noise. Evaluation procedures are required, both for noise levels and sound quality, that may be integrated in the global engine development process in a timely and cost-effective manner. In previous published work, the authors proposed a novel method for the assessment of engine noise level. A similar procedure is applied in this paper to demonstrate the suitability of combustion indicators for the evaluation of engine noise quality. These indicators, which are representative of the peak velocity of fuel burning and the resonance in the combustion chamber, are well correlated with the combustion noise mark obtained from jury testing. Quite good accuracy in the prediction of the engine noise quality has been obtained with the definition of a two-component regression, which also permits the identification of the combustion process features related to the resulting noise quality, so that corrective actions may be proposed.

Computational study of the sensitivity to ignition characteristics of the resonance in DI diesel engine combustion chambers

Purpose – The purpose of this computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study is to give insight about the influence of the piston bowl geometry and the fuel ignition features on the resonance of direct injection diesel engines combustion chambers in order to provide support to the experimental findings on combustion noise.Design/methodology/approach – The resonance due to the burned gases oscillations in a diesel combustion chamber is caused by the sudden rise in pressure due to the initial ignition of the air‐fuel mixture, and leads to the resonance noise. In the CFD study presented here the excitation source is represented by imposing locally in a small area (excitation zone) the pressure and temperature gradients of the start of combustion. The CFD approach is first validated against the acoustic modal theory. A parametric study representing different ignition conditions is then performed with a real bowl geometry.Findings – The solutions obtained are analysed in terms of the energy of resonance (ER) and the...

Numerical Modelling of Cavitation: Validation and Parametric Studies

Abstract The objective of the present work is to investigate numerically the 3D flow within diesel injector-like geometries using a cavitation model implemented in a commercial CFD code. A comprehensive study of various numerical parameters is performed which can subsequently be used to simulate cavitation under realistic diesel engine conditions. Numerical predictions were performed on a throttle channel at different operating conditions, with and without cavitation, and compared to available experimental measurements. Overall, it was found that the cavitation model was able to predict the onset of cavitation. Satisfactory agreement was found in both the injection rate and the occurrence of choked flow conditions when compared with experiments.

Evaluation of the Eulerian–Lagrangian Spray Atomization (ELSA) model in spray simulations: 2D cases

Abstract The aim of this paper is the evaluation and validation of the Eulerian–Lagrangian Spray Atomization (ELSA) model implemented in a CFD code by Renault. ELSA is an integrated model for capturing the whole spray evolution, in particular including primary break-up and secondary atomization. Two-dimensional simulations have been performed during the study, which is in fact enough to capture some of the main features of the spray, such as the spray penetration and the axial velocity. A mesh independence study has also been carried out in order to characterize the lowest mesh size that can be used to correctly characterize the spray. Furthermore, the two-equation k – e turbulence model has been adjusted by changing some of the parameters of the dissipation rate transport equation in order to accurately characterize the spray. Finally some analyses of the results obtained, in terms of penetration, liquid mass fraction and droplet number and size, are presented in the last section of the paper.

Optimization of the inlet air line of an automotive turbocharger

This paper presents different aspects of air inlet behaviour near the inducer of a radial compressor and shows how the geometry can contribute to its stability and performance. Unfortunately, the space reserved for installation of an automotive turbocharger in a vehicle is constantly being reduced, so it is necessary to study the effects that elbows and abrupt changes in flow directions originate on the compressor performance. The work presented in this paper studies the effect that different 90° elbows have on the compressor with respect to its ideal, straight, no-elbow configuration, in order to obtain the best possible elbow configuration. The methodology followed has been to, initially, study different geometries in computational fluid dynamics code in order to obtain the best possible configuration. Then, several 90° elbows were constructed and characterized on a continuous flow test bench in order to validate the computational fluid dynamics results and to obtain optimum results. The elbows were then installed on a radial compressor and tested on a hot, continuous turbocharger test bench, where the compressor was characterized and maps were obtained with each different elbow. The results were compared with respect to the ideal, no-elbow configuration, which was taken as the base performance. After analysing the results obtained, it is possible to observe that in most of the cases, the elbows have a negative effect on the compression ratio, which tends to be reduced, especially at high rotor velocities and high air mass flow. On the other hand, the effect on the surge limit seems to be positive, as the surge line shifts to lower air mass flows, although the maximum mass flow allowed is reduced. It seems as if the compressor map shifts to the left with a reduction in compression ratio. From theoretical and experimental studies, it has been concluded that flow uniformity index and pressure loss are the most important factors affecting the performance of the compressor.

A moving mesh generation strategy for solving an injector internal flow problem

The ability to handle complex geometries is an important part of transient calculations; therefore, the need for fully automatic mesh generation capable of dealing with such geometries is quite demanded. In this paper a specific approach to fully automatic three-dimensional mesh generation is presented. An approach to moving the generated mesh is also outlined. In particular, the simulation of a diesel injector needle movement is sought. The movement of the needle was calculated on the basis of injection rate experimental data and injection rate predicted data with steady state boundaries and geometry. The simulation was performed using the commercial code STAR-CD version 4.06.

Analytic-numerical approach to flow calculation in intake and exhaust systems of internal combustion engines

In this paper, a polynomial approximate solution with a priori error bounds of Euler equations is constructed by means of the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya method. Then, this solution has been compared with that obtained with a numerical method based on the MacCormack algorithm to find a better error bound.

A combined 1D3D-CFD approach for reducing mesh dependency in Diesel spray calculations

A 1D3D-CFD coupled spray model is proposed in this work for the simulation of Diesel sprays under non-evaporative conditions and constant injection velocity in time. The basic idea of the model is to reduce the poor estimations of the gas velocity and droplets/gas relative velocity obtained with the standard 3D-CFD Eulerian-Lagrangian spray model, when coarse meshes are used. The coupling has been achieved in the calculation of the momentum source interaction term. General considerations, descriptions and implementation of the model in a commercial CFD code are outlined. Diesel spray simulations performed using the proposed approach have been compared with those obtained with the standard 3D-CFD, 1D models and experimental data. Encouraging results were found in terms of spray evolution when changing meshes and ambient conditions.

Impact of simple surge-enhancing inlet geometries on the acoustic behavior of a turbocompressor

This article reports the results of an experimental campaign where four different inlet geometries for the compressor of an automotive turbocharger were acoustically characterized. These four geometries (a straight pipe for reference, a tapered duct, a 90° elbow and a reservoir) were selected for their potential for deep surge margin enhancement, while being simple enough to be commonly found in production vehicles. A detailed measurement of this surge margin enhancement was performed, together with acoustic measurements of both radiated and orifice noise at design conditions of best isentropic efficiency and also close to the deep surge limit. Results demonstrated that while all the proposed geometries indeed enlarged the usable air mass flow range, changes in the acoustic behavior of the system could be positive, neutral or even negative. It is therefore important to carefully consider accurate noise measurements before implementing these geometric solutions in production vehicles and to further pursue research on the link between the characteristic flow pattern produced by each inlet geometry and the noise emission of the turbocompressor.