Publications

This study examines the flame evolution of autoigniting H2 jets with high-speed schlieren and OH∗ chemiluminescence optical methods in a constant-volume combustion chamber over a wide range of simulated compression-ignition engine conditions. Parametric variations include the injector nozzle orifice diameter (0.31–0.83 mm), injection reservoir pressure (100–200 bar), ambient temperature (1000–1140 K), density (12.5–24 kg/m3) and O2 concentration (10–21 vol.%). The jet ignition delay was found to be highly sensitive to changes in ambient temperature while all other parameter variations resulted in minor ignition delay changes. Optical imaging reveals that in most cases, the reaction front of the H2 jet initiates from a localised kernel, before engulfing the entire jet volume downstream and recessing towards the nozzle. The flames attach to the nozzle, except at the lowest ambient oxygen condition of 10 vol.% O2 for which a lifted flame is observed. The H2 diffusion flame length shows a dependence on both the mass flow rate and the level of O2 entrainment that follows the same correlations as previously established for atmospheric H2 jet flames.

Regulatory drivers and market demands for lower pollutant emissions, lower carbon dioxide emissions, and lower fuel consumption motivate the development of cleaner and more fuel-efficient engine operating strategies. Most current production heavy-duty diesel engines use a combination of both in-cylinder and exhaust emissions-control strategies to achieve these goals. The emissions and efficiency performance of in-cylinder strategies depend strongly on flow and mixing processes that can be influenced by using multiple fuel injections. Past work performed under this project showed that adding a second injection can reduce soot to levels below what would have been produced by an unchanged first injection, thereby increasing load while decreasing soot and potentially reducing brake specific fuel consumption. Information characterizing the important in-cylinder processes with multiple injections has been gleaned from ensemble-averaged planar laser-induced incandescence (PLII) imaging visualizing the soot cloud and planar induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH characterizing the soot oxidation regions. PLII showed a consistent disruption of the first injection soot cloud by the second injection. In conjunction with OH-PLIF, differences in soot oxidation patterns for multiple injections compared to single injections were observed. This understanding was further enhanced in FY20, when high-speed imaging resolving the above-mentioned effects in a single cycle were combined with direct numerical simulations investigating the multiple-injection ignition process on the microscopic level of turbulence and chemistry interaction. In FY21, these findings in conjunction with findings from other researchers published in the scientific literature were composed into a preliminary multiple-injection conceptual model of fuel-mixing, injection and ignition processes. Remaining key research questions were also highlighted. In addition, wall heat flux was investigated experimentally and with numerical simulations to understand the potential of multiple injections to reduce the engine heat losses and further enhance the efficiency.

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