Numerical modeling of hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Theoretical Div.
Major progress was achieved in the last year in advancing the modeling capabilities of hydrogen-fueled engines, both in support of the multi-laboratory project with SNL and LLNL to develop a high-efficiency, low emission powerplant and to provide the engine design tools to industry and research laboratories for hydrogen-fueled engines and stationary power generators. The culmination of efforts on many fronts was the excellent comparison of the experimental data from the Onan engine, operated by SNL.These efforts include the following. An extensive study of the intake flow culminated in a major understanding of the interdependence of the details of the intake port design and the engine operating condition on the emissions and efficiency. This study also resulted in design suggestions for future engines and general scaling laws for turbulence that enables the KIVA results to be applied to a wide variety of operating conditions. The research on the turbulent combustion of hydrogen brought into perspective the effect of the unique aspects of hydrogen combustion and their influence on possible models of turbulent combustion. The effort culminated in a proposed model for turbulent hydrogen combustion that is in agreement with available literature. Future work will continue the development in order to provide a generally predictive model for hydrogen combustion. The application of the combustion model to the Onan experiments elucidated the observed improvement of the efficiency of the engine with the addition of a shroud on the intake valve. This understanding will give guidance to future engine design for optimal efficiency. Finally, a brief summary is given of the extensions and refinements of the KIVA-3 code, in support of future designers of hydrogen-fueled engines.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 266624
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR--96-1982; CONF-9605195--1; ON: DE96012747
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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