The use of alternative fuels such as methanol and ethanol in spark-ignition (SI) engines is beneficial to the environment as it reduces emissions of pollutants such as NOx from these engines with slight penalty on the performance. This paper investigated the use of liquid fuel blends such as ethanol/gasoline blend in an SI engine by numerical simulations. The numerical simulations were based on the models of finite heat release, cylinder heat transfer, pumping losses, and friction losses. Simulations were carried out to evaluate the effects of compression ratio, equivalence ratio, ignition timing, and engine speed on the performance of the SI engine. The results of the simulations were compared with experimental data from the literature to validate the simulations. Good agreements between the computed and experimental results were obtained. The results showed that the current model could satisfactorily predict the performance of an SI engine fueled by liquid fuel blends.
An Experimental Study on Performance Characteristics of a Hydrogen Fuelled Spark Ignition Engine