Publications
Progress toward understanding vortex generation in stepped-lip diesel engine combustion chambers
Stepped-lip diesel pistons can enhance in-cylinder vortex formation and thereby improve the thermal efficiency and emissions behavior of a diesel engine. Further improvements to diesel combustion systems may be realized through improved understanding of the mechanisms by which fuel sprays interact with pistons to form vortices. Analysis of computational fluid dynamics simulations provides insight about vorticity formation in one particular region of a particular stepped-lip combustion chamber. Interactions at the boundary between the sprays and the piston surface are a source of new vorticity that is transported upward and outward. This process is believed to be the origin of an energetic vortex that has been experimentally observed in the outermost region of the combustion chamber during the mixing-controlled combustion process, and is associated with improved turbulent mixing.