Dynamic simulation of a high-performance sequentially turbocharged marine diesel engine

The sequential turbocharging technique is used to improve the performance of highly rated diese engines in particular at part loads. However, the transient behaviour of the sequential turbocharging connection/disconnection phases may be difficult to calibrate and requires an accurate study and development. This may be accomplished, in addition to the necessary experimentation, by means of dynamic simulation techniques. In this paper a model for the dynamic simulation of a sequentially turbocharged diesel engine is presented. A two-zone, non-adiabatic, actual cycle approach is used for the chemical and thermodynamic phenomena simulation in the cylinder. Fluid mass and energy accumulation in the engine volumes are evaluated by means of a filling and emptying method. The simulation of the turbocharger dynamics combines the use of the compressor and turbine maps with a model of the sequential turbocharging connection/disconnection valves and of their governor system. The procedure is applied to the simulation of the Wärtsilä 18V 26X engine, a highly rated, recently developed, sequentially turbocharged marine diesel engine, whose experimental results are used for the steady state and transient validation of the simulation code with particular reference to the sequential turbocharging connection/disconnection phases. The presented results show the time histories of some important variables during typical engine load variations.