Modeling of Ignition and Combustion for Glow Plug Assisted Direct Injection Natural Gas Engines

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart Xu Cheng ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Heated Surface ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
Cfd Modeling ◽  
Spontaneous Ignition ◽  
Layer Model ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Natural Gas Engines ◽  
Gas Ignition ◽  
Ignition And Combustion

Direct injection natural gas (DING) engines offer the advantages of high thermal efficiency and high power output compared to spark ignition natural gas engines. Injected natural gas requires some form of ignition assist in order to ignite in the time available in a diesel engine combustion chamber. A glow plug — a heated surface — is one form of ignition assist. Simple experiments show that the thickness of the heat penetration layer of a glow plug is very small (≈10−5 m) within the time scale of the ignition preparation period (1–2 ms). Meanwhile, the theoretical analyses reveal that only a very thin layer of the surrounding gases (in micrometer scale) can be heated to high temperature to achieve spontaneous ignition. A discretized glow plug model and virtual gas sub-layer model have been developed for CFD modeling of glow plug ignition and combustion for DING diesel engines. In this paper, CFD modeling results are presented. The results were obtained using a KIVA3 code modified to include the above mentioned new developed models. Natural gas ignition over a bare glow plug was simulated. The results were validated against experiments. Simulation of natural gas ignition over a shielded glow plug was also carried out and the results illustrate the necessity of using a shield. This paper shows the success of the discretized glow plug model working together with the virtual gas sub-layer model for modeling glow plug assisted natural gas direct injection engines. The modeling can aid in the design of injection and ignition systems for glow plug assisted DING engines.

Numerical Studies of Glow Plug Shield on Natural Gas Ignition Characteristics in a CI Engine

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Pan ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Ignition Delay ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
Fuel Mixture ◽  
Injection Angle ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Gas Ignition ◽  
Ignition And Combustion

This paper presents a numerical study on fuel injection, ignition and combustion in a direct-injection natural gas (DING) engine with ignition assisted by a shielded glow plug (GP). The shield geometry is investigated by employing different sizes of elliptical shield opening and changing the position of the shield opening. The results simulated by KIVA-3V indicated that fuel ignition and combustion is very sensitive to the relative angle between the fuel injection and the shield opening, and the use of an elliptical opening for the glow plug shield can reduce ignition delay by 0.1∼0.2ms for several specific combinations of the injection angle and shield opening size, compared to a circular shield opening. In addition, the numerical results also revealed that the natural gas ignition and flame propagation will be delayed by lowering a circular shield opening from the fuel jet center plane, due to the blocking effect of the shield to the fuel mixture, and hence it will reduce the DING performance by causing a longer ignition delay.

Modeling HPDI Natural Gas Heavy Duty Engine Combustion

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guowei Li ◽  
Tim Lennox ◽  
Dale Goudie ◽  
Mark Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Test Data ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
Cfd Modeling ◽  
Combustion Model ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Engine Test ◽  
Gas Ignition ◽  
Ignition And Combustion

CFD Modeling of the injection, the mixing, the combustion and the emission formation processes in a high pressure direct injection (HPDI) natural gas engine is presented in this paper. KIVA3V was used together with an injector model. Two sub-models had been developed that the concurrent injection, ignition and combustion of natural gas and diesel could be simulated. The gas injection was simulated with the injector model. In the injector model, the electromagnetism, the hydraulics and the mechanics were computed by solving a set of ordinary differential equations. Based on the engine experimental data, a combustion model was built in which premixed combustion of natural gas was excluded and the natural gas ignition was initiated by the pilot diesel combustion rather than a spontaneous process. The model calibration and validation are discussed. The model parameters were tuned against one set of engine test data. For the model validation, 30 engine test data were applied. The data were from HPDI engine tests at varied engine speeds, loads and injection timings with and without EGR. The model gave good agreement with the engine tests having no EGR. However, the model, in general, under-predicted the burning rate. With EGR, the model prediction errors were large and the NOx were under-predicted, though the trends were still captured.

Transient Behavior of Glow Plugs in Direct-Injection Natural Gas Engines

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart Xu Cheng ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Cold Start ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Ignition Process ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Natural Gas Engines

Glow plugs are a possible ignition source for direct injected natural gas engines. This ignition assistance application is much different than the cold start assist function for which most glow plugs have been designed. In the cold start application, the glow plug is simply heating the air in the cylinder. In the cycle-by-cycle ignition assist application, the glow plug needs to achieve high surface temperatures at specific times in the engine cycle to provide a localized source of ignition. Whereas a simple lumped heat capacitance model is a satisfactory representation of the glow plug for the air heating situation, a much more complex situation exists for hot surface ignition. Simple measurements and theoretical analysis show that the thickness of the heat penetration layer is small within the time scale of the ignition preparation period (1–2 ms). The experiments and analysis were used to develop a discretized representation of the glow plug domain. A simplified heat transfer model, incorporating both convection and radiation losses, was developed for the discretized representation to compute heat transfer to and from the surrounding gas. A scheme for coupling the glow plug model to the surrounding gas computational domain in the KIVA-3V engine simulation code was also developed. The glow plug model successfully simulates the natural gas ignition process for a direct-injection natural gas engine. As well, it can provide detailed information on the local glow plug surface temperature distribution, which can aid in the design of more reliable glow plugs.

Computational Studies of Glow Plug Ignition of Injected High Pressure Gas Jets

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Pan ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Combustion Chamber ◽  
Ignition Delay ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Air Gap ◽  
Time Difference ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Gas Ignition ◽  
Ignition And Combustion

A numerical study of ignition and combustion in a glow plug (GP) assisted direct-injection natural gas (DING) engine is presented in this paper. The glow plug is shielded and the shield design is an important part of the combustion system development. The results simulated by KIVA-3V indicated that the ignition delay (ID) predicted by an in-cylinder pressure rise was different from that based on a temperature rise, attributed to the additional time required to burn more fuel to obtain a detectable pressure rise in the combustion chamber. This time difference for the ignition delay estimation can be 0.5 ms, which is significant relative to an ignition delay value of less than 2 ms. To further evaluate the time difference between the two different methods of ignition delay determination, sensitivity studies were conducted by changing the glow plug temperature, and rotating the glow plug shield opening angle towards the fuel jets. The results indicated that the ID method time difference varied from 0.3 to 0.8 ms for different combustion chamber configurations. In addition, this study also investigated the influences of different glow plug shield parameters on the natural gas ignition and combustion characteristics, by modifying the air gap between the glow plug and its shield, and by changing the shield opening size. The computational results indicated that a bigger air gap inside the shield can delay gas ignition, and a smaller shield opening can block the flame propagation for some specific fuel injection angles.

Soot and combustion models for direct-injection natural gas engines

2020 ◽  
pp. 146808742097801
Author(s):  
Kang Pan ◽  
James Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Model ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Soot Formation ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
Emission Characteristics ◽  
Gas Engine ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Natural Gas Engines ◽  
Natural Gas Engine ◽  
Soot Model

This paper summarizes the validation of a modified multi-step phenomenological soot model and an enhanced combustion model used for direct-injection natural gas engines. In this study, a modified phenomenological soot model including the key steps for soot formation, such as particle inception and surface growth, was developed in KIVA-3V to replace the empirical model for use in a glow plug assisted natural gas direct-injection engine. The soot model was integrated with a CANTERA based kinetic model, which employs a recently developed low temperature natural gas mechanism to predict the reactions of some important gaseous species involved in the soot formation, such as acetylene and hydroxyl. The simulated in-cylinder flame propagation process induced by a glow plug was compared to the experimental optical images obtained in an engine-like environment. In addition, both the kinetic model and modified soot model were compared with the experimental emission data to validate their reliability for predicting natural gas engine emission characteristics. The engine combustion efficiencies obtained in simulations and experiments were compared as well. The matched results suggest that the computational models can well predict the natural gas combustion and emission characteristics, and will be suitable for investigating the direct-injection natural gas engine technologies.

Ignition by Shielded Glow Plug in Natural Gas Fueled Direct Injection Engines

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Fabbroni ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Diesel Engine ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Combustion Chamber ◽  
Heated Surface ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
Cylinder Wall ◽  
Fuel Utilization ◽  
Direct Injection Engines ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Gas Jets

Injected natural gas requires some form of ignition assist in order to ignite in the time available in a diesel engine combustion chamber. A glow plug — a heated surface — is one form of ignition assist. Ignition by glow plug results in a single site of ignition from which the flame must propagate to other jets in the ignition pattern. The goal of this work was to determine what factors affect how the flame propagates from this initial ignition site to the remaining unburned mixture. The combustion of natural gas jets under diesel engine conditions was studied over a range of temperatures with a glow plug shield using a CFR engine as a rapid compression device. The results showed that of all the factors considered it is the inter-related geometries of the injection pattern, combustion chamber, and glow plug shield that are most dominant in controlling combustion rates and fuel utilization, because those factors determine the distribution of fuel in the combustion chamber. Ignition of adjacent gas jets requires a flammable path between jets, which is achieved: 1) through mixing between the entrainment regions of adjacent jets and 2) through mixing along the cylinder wall of adjacent jets that are spreading along the wall. Ignition by either of both of these pathways can provide high fuel utilization and combustion rates and low combustion variability. Autoignition of an adjacent jet due to heat release from ignition of the first jet was not observed in these experiments with two jets.

Transient Behaviour of Glow Plugs in Direct Injection Natural Gas Engines

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart Xu Cheng ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Cold Start ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Ignition Process ◽  
Computational Domain ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Natural Gas Engines

Glow plugs are a possible ignition source for direct injected natural gas engines. This ignition assistance application is much different than the cold start assist function for which most glow plugs have been designed. In the cold start application, the glow plug is simply heating the air in the cylinder. In the cycle-by-cycle ignition assist application, the glow plug needs to achieve high surface temperatures at specific times in the engine cycle to provide a localized source of ignition. Whereas a simple lumped heat capacitance model is a satisfactory representation of the glow plug for the air heating situation, a much more complex situation exists for hot surface ignition. Simple measurements and theoretical analysis show that the thickness of the heat penetration layer is small within the time scale of the ignition preparation period (1–2 ms). The experiments and analysis were used to develop a discretized representation of the glow plug domain. A simplified heat transfer model, incorporating both convection and radiation losses, was developed for the discretized representation to compute heat transfer to and from the surrounding gas. A scheme for coupling the glow plug model to the surrounding gas computational domain in KIVA-3V was also developed. The glow plug model successfully simulates the natural gas ignition process for a direct injection natural gas engine. As well, it can provide detailed information on the local glow plug surface temperature distribution, which can aid in the design of more reliable glow plugs.

Numerical Studies of Glow Plug Shield on Natural Gas Ignition Characteristics in a Compression-Ignition Engine

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Pan ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Ignition Delay ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Fuel Mixture ◽  
Compression Ignition Engine ◽  
Injection Angle ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Gas Ignition ◽  
Ignition And Combustion

This paper presents a numerical study on fuel injection, ignition, and combustion in a direct-injection natural gas (DING) engine with ignition assisted by a shielded glow plug (GP). The shield geometry is investigated by employing different sizes of elliptical shield opening and changing the position of the shield opening. The results simulated by KIVA-3V indicated that fuel ignition and combustion is very sensitive to the relative angle between the fuel injection and the shield opening, and the use of an elliptical opening for the glow plug shield can reduce ignition delay by 0.1–0.2 ms for several specific combinations of the injection angle and shield opening size, compared to a circular shield opening. In addition, the numerical results also revealed that the natural gas ignition and flame propagation will be delayed by lowering a circular shield opening from the fuel jet center plane, due to the blocking effect of the shield to the fuel mixture, and hence, it will reduce the DING engine performance by causing a longer ignition delay.

Flame Propagation in Natural Gas Fueled Direct Injection Engines

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Fabbroni ◽  
James S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Diesel Engine ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Combustion Chamber ◽  
Heated Surface ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
Direct Injection Engines ◽  
Glow Plug ◽  
Compression Device ◽  
Engine Combustion ◽  
Ignition Site

Injected natural gas requires some form of ignition assist in order to ignite in the time available in a diesel engine combustion chamber. A glow plug — a heated surface — is one form of ignition assist. Ignition by glow plug results in a single site of ignition from which the flame must propagate to other jets in the injection pattern. The goal of this work was to determine what factors affect how the flame propagates from this initial ignition site to the remaining unburned mixture site. The combustion of natural gas jets under diesel engine conditions was studied over a range to temperatures, pressures with and without a glow plug shield using a CFR engine as a rapid compression device. The results showed that of all the factors considered it is the geometry of the injection pattern, combustion chamber and glow plug shield that are most dominant in controlling combustion rates and fuel utilization.

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