Realistic fuel spray modeling for gasoline direct injection engine applications

Journal Article · Mon Dec 25 04:00:00 EST 2023 · International Journal of Engine Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/14680874231210929· OSTI ID:2533552

Kim, Sayop ^[1]; Nocivelli, Lorenzo ^[1]; Zhang, Anqi ^[2]; Voice, Alexander K. ^[2]; Pei, Yuanjiang ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
2. Aramco Research Center, Detroit, Novi, MI (United States)

Fuel spray modeling plays a critical role during modern gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine development due to fuel injection’s dominant impact on engine performance and emissions as well as the complex physical processes involved. In engineering three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the liquid-phase fuel atomization, evaporation, and mixing are usually modeled with the discrete droplet model (DDM) adopting a Lagrangian approach for multiphase CFD simulations. To this end, general practices heavily depend on the reduced order characterization of the injector nozzle flow. However, such simplified injector modeling may lead to insufficient representations of the complex spray dynamics. To tackle this problem, this study proposes a novel workflow to numerically evaluate GDI sub-cooled and flash-boiling sprays under engine-relevant conditions using a side-mounted GDI injector together with real gasoline fuel properties. The workflow introduces a one-way coupling (OWC) method leveraging high-fidelity nozzle flow simulations to provide realistic boundary conditions to the Lagrangian injector model. The proposed workflow was first verified in a constant volume chamber (CVC) environment and then implemented in a practical GDI engine setup to study spray morphology, fuel-air mixing, and wall-wetting propensity. In addition, detailed comparison was performed between the OWC method and the conventional rate of injection (ROI) routine. In conclusion, quantitative analysis of spray characteristics was conducted to highlight possible source of discrepancies of the conventional ROI method.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 2533552
• Journal Information: International Journal of Engine Research, Journal Name: International Journal of Engine Research Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 25; ISSN 1468-0874
• Publisher: SAGE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
CFD
Flash-boiling
GDI Injector
Lagrangian
One-Way Coupling
Spray
Volume of Fluid