Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a Diesel Engine Operating with Varying Equivalence Ratio and Compression Ratio - A CFD Simulation

Kazi Mostafijur Rahman; Zobair  Ahmed

doi:10.38032/jea.2020.03.005

Authors

Kazi Mostafijur Rahman Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna 9203, Bangladesh
Zobair Ahmed Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET) Khulna -9203, Bangladesh.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38032/jea.2020.03.005

Keywords:

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Diesel engine, Compression ratio, Combustion performance, Engine emissions

Abstract

The performance of diesel engine highly depends on atomization, vaporization and mixing of fuel with air. These factors are strongly influenced by various parameters e.g. injection pressure, injection timing, compression ratio, equivalence ratio, cylinder geometry, in cylinder air motion etc. In this study, a diesel engine has been investigated by employing a commercial CFD software (ANSYS Forte, version 18.1) especially developed for internal combustion engines (ICE) modeling; focusing primarily on the effects of equivalence ratio and compression ratio on combustion and emission characteristics. Simulations are performed for a range of equivalence ratio varying from 0.6 to 1.2 and for three compression ratios namely, 15:1, 18:1 and 21:1. Results show that, improvement in combustion characteristics with higher compression ratio could be achieved for both lean and rich mixtures. Peak in-cylinder pressure and peak heat release nearer to TDC are achieved for compression ratio of 18:1 that could results in more engine torque. For compression ratio beyond 16:1, effects of fuel concentration on ignition delay is more pronounced. At lower compression ratio, in-cylinder temperature is not sufficiently high for atomization, vaporization, mixing of fuel with air, and preflame reactions to occur immediately after the fuel injection. NOx emission in diesel engine increases due to higher pressure and temperature inside the cylinder associated with relatively higher compression ratio. Rich mixture leads to more CO and unburnt hydrocarbon emission compared to lean mixture as result of incomplete combustion. Engine operation with too high compression ratio is detrimental as emission is a major concern.

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