Experimental and Computational Investigation of Spark Assisted Compression Ignition Combustion Under Boosted, Ultra EGR-Dilute Conditions (2018)

Low temperature combustion (LTC) engines that employ high levels of dilution have received increased research interest due to the demonstrated thermal efficiency improvements compared to the conventional Spark-Ignited (SI) engines. However, control of combustion phasing and heat release rate still remains a challenge, which limits the operating range as well as the transient operation of LTC engines. The work presented in this dissertation uses experimental and computational methods to investigate Spark Assisted Compression Ignition (SACI) combustion under boosted, stoichiometric conditions with high levels of exhaust gas recirculation in a negative valve overlap engine. Highly controlled experimental studies were performed to understand the impact of intake boosting and fuel-to-charge equivalence ratio (φ') on SACI burn rates, while maintaining constant combustion phasing near the optimal timing for work extraction. Previously unexplored conditions were targeted at intake pressures ranging from 80 kPa to 150 kPa and φ' ranging from 0.45 to 0.75, where LTC engines promise high thermodynamic efficiencies. The use of intake boosting for load expansion and dilution extension achieved up to 10% gross thermal efficiency improvement, respectively, mainly due to reduced relative heat transfer losses and better mixture thermodynamic properties. For a given spark advance, higher pressure and/or higher φ' mixtures necessitated lower unburned gas temperatures (TU) to match autoignition timing. While the overall effect of intake boost was minor on the initial flame burn rates, end-gas autoignition rates were found to approximately scale with intake pressure. Higher φ' mixtures exhibited faster initial flame burn rates but also led to a significant increase in end-gas autoignition rates. As a result, the high load limits shifted to lower φ' at higher intake pressures, creating a larger gap between the SI and SACI operating limits. Reducing the mass fraction unburned at the onset of autoignition by advancing the spark timing and lowering TU was, to some extent, effective at alleviating the excessive peak pressure rise rates. Under relatively high φ' conditions, cyclic heat release analysis results showed that the variability in autoignition timing is determined early in the cycle before any measurable pressure-based heat release. Combustion phasing retard was shown to be very effective at limiting the maximum pressure rise rates until the stability limit, primarily due to slower end-gas autoignition rates. CFD modeling results showed good trendwise agreement with the experimental results, once autoignition timing and mass fraction burned at the onset of autoignition were matched. The pre-ignition reactivity stratification of the mixture at higher intake pressures was shown to be narrower, due to both lower thermal and compositional stratification, which explained the increase in end-gas burn rates observed experimentally. The boost pressure effect on SACI end-gas burn rates using intake manifold heating was trendwise similar to the results employing residual gas heating, albeit less pronounced. Pre-ignition thermal stratification was shown to be similar irrespective of charge preheating method, even though thermal stratification of the mixtures was very different early in the compression stroke. The effect of higher pressure on mean reactivity was offset by the lower mean temperature that was needed to match autoignition timing. Under the conditions investigated, the increase in the end-gas autoignition rates with intake boost was primarily due to the narrower thermal stratification, which was effected by reduced relative heat transfer losses late in the compression stroke.