CFD Simulations of the Effect of Water Injection Characteristics on TSCI: A New, Load-Flexible, Advanced Combustion Concept

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion has the potential for high efficiency with very low levels of NOx and soot emissions. However, HCCI has thus far only been achievable in a laboratory setting due to the following challenges: 1) there is a lack of control over the start and rate of combustion, and 2) there is a very limited and narrow operating range. In the present work, the injection of water directly into the combustion chamber was investigated to solve the aforementioned limitations of HCCI. This new advanced combustion mode is called Thermally Stratified Compression Ignition (TSCI). A 3-D CFD model was developed using CONVERGE CFD coupled with detailed chemical kinetics to gain a better understanding of the underlying phenomena of the water injection event in a homogeneous, low temperature combustion strategy. The CFD model was first validated against previously collected experimental data. The model was then used to simulate TSCI combustion and the results indicate that injecting water into the combustion chamber decreases the overall unburned gas temperature and increases the level of thermal stratification prior to ignition. The increased thermal stratification results in a decreased rate of combustion, thereby providing control over its rate. The results show that the peak pressure and gross heat release rate decrease by 37.8% and 83.2%, respectively, when 6.7 mg of water were injected per cycle at a pressure of 160 bar. Finally, different spray patterns were simulated to observe their effect on the level of thermal stratification prior to ignition. The results show that symmetric patterns with more nozzle holes were generally more effective at increasing thermal stratification.