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Investigation of Flame Propagation and Pollutants Formation Within a Combustion Chamber of an RCCI Engine

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Iranian Journal of Science and Technology, Transactions of Mechanical Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The environmental problems caused by global warming have led to strict regulations to limit greenhouse gas production. These laws have accelerated the changes in the automotive and transportation industries. Reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion has always been considered one of the concepts that can increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines by more than 50%. In this research, by using three-dimensional simulations, we investigate the basis and theory of RCCI combustion. Investigations have shown that flame propagation in RCCI combustion is different from conventional combustions, so that the onset of a flame kernel and the start of energy release are similar to diesel combustion, but the flame propagation is quite different. In the RCCI engine, the whole combustion chamber is ignited so fast by forming several new flame kernels. The maximum combustion chamber temperature is reduced by about 12% in RCCI combustion. In the following, the formations of NOx and soot are investigated, and the process of pollutant formation reactions is accurately analyzed. The RCCI combustion could achieve a near-zero NOx and near-zero soot emission.

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Notes

  1. Renormalized Group.

  2. Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes.

  3. Rate of Heat Release.

Abbreviations

AMR:

Adaptive mesh refinement

APFI:

Advance port fuel injection

ATDC:

After top dead center

BDC:

Bottom dead center

BTDC:

Before top dead center

CA:

Crank angle

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

c μ :

Turbulent model constant

c p :

Specific heat

D:

Diffusion coefficient

e :

Specific internal energy

GDI:

Gasoline direct injections

h m :

Species enthalpy

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy

K t :

Turbulent conductivity

P :

Pressure

PFI:

Port fuel injection

Pr t :

Prandtl number

RCCI:

Reactivity controlled compression ignition

S :

Source term in mass transport equation

T :

Temperature

TDC:

Top dead center

u :

Velocity

Y m :

Mass fraction of species m

δ ij :

Kronecker delta

ε :

Turbulent dissipation

μ :

Viscosity

μ t :

Turbulent viscosity

ρ :

Density

σ ij :

Stress tensor

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Automotive Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Arman Rostampour & Gholam Reza Molaeimanesh

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hassan Shojaeefard

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  1. Arman Rostampour
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  2. Mohammad Hassan Shojaeefard
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  3. Gholam Reza Molaeimanesh
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Correspondence to Mohammad Hassan Shojaeefard.

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Rostampour, A., Shojaeefard, M.H. & Molaeimanesh, G.R. Investigation of Flame Propagation and Pollutants Formation Within a Combustion Chamber of an RCCI Engine. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Mech Eng 47, 345–361 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40997-022-00504-1

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