Validation of a Newly Developed n-Heptane Reduced Chemistry and Its Application to Simulations of Ignition Quality Tester, Diesel, and HCCI Combustion

Author(s):  
Hsin-Luen Tsai ◽  
J.-Y. Chen ◽  
Gregory T. Chin

A skeletal mechanism (144 species) and a corresponding reduced mechanism (62 species) were developed on the basis of the most recent detailed n-heptane mechanism by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL, version 3.1, 2012) (Mehl et al., 2011, “Kinetic Modeling of Gasoline Surrogate Components and Mixtures Under Engine Conditions,” Proc. Combust. Inst., 33, pp. 193–200), in order to assess the mechanism's performance under various practical combustion conditions. These simplified mechanisms were constructed and validated under shock tube conditions. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (3D CFD) simulations with both simplified mechanisms were conducted for the following modeling applications: ignition quality tester (IQT), diesel engine, and homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. In comparison with experimental data, the simulation results were found satisfactory under the diesel condition but inaccurate for both the IQT and HCCI conditions. For HCCI, the intake temperature used in the simulation had to be increased 30 K in order to be consistent with the engine data provided by Guo et al. (2010, “An Experimental and Modeling Study of HCCI Combustion Using n-Heptane,” ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 132(2), 022801). Exploration of possible causes is conducted leading to the conclusion that refinement in the mechanism is needed for accurate prediction of combustion under IQT and HCCI conditions.

Author(s):  
Y. F. Tham ◽  
F. Bisetti ◽  
J.-Y. Chen

This paper describes recent development of iso-octane skeletal and reduced mechanisms for speeding up numerical simulations of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines. A novel targeted search algorithm is developed to systematically screen species for quasisteady state (QSS) assumption in order to reduce the mechanism size while maintaining accuracy. This new approach is especially found useful when the chemical kinetics involve complex ignition pathways. Using the iso-octane mechanism developed by LLNL, a skeletal mechanism with 215 species (Skeletal-215) and a reduced mechanism with 63 non-QSS species (Reduced-63) were constructed. Evaluations of the performances of the Skeletal-215 and the Reduced-63 were extensively conducted for the operation regimes in HCCI engine applications. Both mechanisms are found satisfactory in predicting start of combustion and minor emission species.


Author(s):  
Hakan Serhad Soyhan ◽  
Terese Løvås ◽  
Fabian Mauss

Abstract Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) Engines are a promising alternative to the existing Spark Ignition Engines and Compression Ignition Engines. In an HCCI engine, the premixed fuel/air mixture ignites when sufficiently high temperature and pressure is reached. The entire bulk will auto-ignite at almost the same time because the physical conditions are similar throughout the combustion chamber. Therefore it is a justified assumption to consider the chemical reactions to be the rate-determining step for the ignition process. This gives us the opportunity to formulate a simple zero-dimensional model with detailed chemical kinetics for the calculations of the ignition process. Ignition calculations using this model have predicted a high sensitivity to fluctuations in temperature and fuel compositions. These predictions have later been confirmed by experiments. Partially stirred plug flow reactor (PaSPFR) can be used to conquer the assumption of homogeneity. The assumption is replaced by that of statistical homogeneity and thus statistical fluctuations caused by inhomogeneities can be studied. However, the CPU-time needed for this approach is increased considerably and the usage of mechanism reduction becomes evident. In this paper, we demonstrate how a reduced mechanism for natural gas as fuel is derived automatically. The original mechanism by Warnatz (589 reactions, 53 species) is first reduced to a skeletal mechanism (481 reactions, 43 species). By introduction of the quasi steady state assumption, the skeletal mechanism is reduced further to 23 species and 20 global reactions. The accuracy of the final mechanism is demonstrated using the stochastic reactor tool for an HCCI engine.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory T. Chin ◽  
J.-Y. Chen ◽  
Vi H. Rapp ◽  
R. W. Dibble

A 28-species reduced chemistry mechanism for Dimethyl Ether (DME) combustion is developed on the basis of a recent detailed mechanism by Zhao et al. (2008). The construction of reduced chemistry was carried out with automatic algorithms incorporating newly developed strategies. The performance of the reduced mechanism is assessed over a wide range of combustion conditions anticipated to occur in future advanced piston internal combustion engines, such as HCCI, SAHCCI, and PCCI. Overall, the reduced chemistry gives results in good agreement with those from the detailed mechanism for all the combustion modes tested. While the detailed mechanism by Zhao et al. (2008) shows reasonable agreement with the shock tube autoignition delay data, the detailed mechanism requires further improvement in order to better predict HCCI combustion under engine conditions.


Author(s):  
Ahmed M Nagib Elmekawy ◽  
Hassan A Hassan Saeed ◽  
Sadek Z Kassab

Three-dimensional CFD simulations are carried out to study the increase of power generated from Savonius vertical axis wind turbines by modifying the blade shape and blade angel of twist. Twisting angle of the classical blade are varied and several proposed novel blade shapes are introduced to enhance the performance of the wind turbine. CFD simulations have been performed using sliding mesh technique of ANSYS software. Four turbulence models; realizable k -[Formula: see text], standard k - [Formula: see text], SST transition and SST k -[Formula: see text] are utilized in the simulations. The blade twisting angle has been modified for the proposed dimensions and wind speed. The introduced novel blade increased the power generated compared to the classical shapes. The two proposed novel blades achieved better power coefficients. One of the proposed models achieved an increase of 31% and the other one achieved 32.2% when compared to the classical rotor shape. The optimum twist angel for the two proposed models achieved 5.66% and 5.69% when compared with zero angle of twist.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 674
Author(s):  
Paul Caicedo ◽  
David Wood ◽  
Craig Johansen

Solar chimney power plants (SCPPs) collect air heated over a large area on the ground and exhaust it through a turbine or turbines located near the base of a tall chimney to produce renewable electricity. SCPP design in practice is likely to be specific to the site and of variable size, both of which require a purpose-built turbine. If SCPP turbines cannot be mass produced, unlike wind turbines, for example, they should be as cheap as possible to manufacture as their design changes. It is argued that a radial inflow turbine with blades made from metal sheets, or similar material, is likely to achieve this objective. This turbine type has not previously been considered for SCPPs. This article presents the design of a radial turbine to be placed hypothetically at the bottom of the Manzanares SCPP, the only large prototype to be built. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used to assess the turbine’s performance when installed in the SCPP. Multiple reference frames with the renormalization group k-ε turbulence model, and a discrete ordinates non-gray radiation model were used in the CFD simulations. Three radial turbines were designed and simulated. The largest power output was 77.7 kW at a shaft speed of 15 rpm for a solar radiation of 850 W/m2 which exceeds by more than 40 kW the original axial turbine used in Manzanares. Further, the efficiency of this turbine matches the highest efficiency of competing turbine designs in the literature.


Author(s):  
Stephan Uhkoetter ◽  
Stefan aus der Wiesche ◽  
Michael Kursch ◽  
Christian Beck

The traditional method for hydrodynamic journal bearing analysis usually applies the lubrication theory based on the Reynolds equation and suitable empirical modifications to cover turbulence, heat transfer, and cavitation. In cases of complex bearing geometries for steam and heavy-duty gas turbines this approach has its obvious restrictions in regard to detail flow recirculation, mixing, mass balance, and filling level phenomena. These limitations could be circumvented by applying a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach resting closer to the fundamental physical laws. The present contribution reports about the state of the art of such a fully three-dimensional multiphase-flow CFD approach including cavitation and air entrainment for high-speed turbo-machinery journal bearings. It has been developed and validated using experimental data. Due to the high ambient shear rates in bearings, the multiphase-flow model for journal bearings requires substantial modifications in comparison to common two-phase flow simulations. Based on experimental data, it is found, that particular cavitation phenomena are essential for the understanding of steam and heavy-duty type gas turbine journal bearings.


2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Caton ◽  
A. J. Simon ◽  
J. C. Gerdes ◽  
C. F. Edwards

Studies have been conducted to assess the performance of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion initiated by exhaust reinduction from the previous engine cycle. Reinduction is achieved using a fully flexible electrohydraulic variable-valve actuation system. In this way, HCCI is implemented at low compression ratio without throttling the intake or exhaust, and without preheating the intake charge. By using late exhaust valve closing and late intake valve opening strategies, steady HCCI combustion was achieved over a range of engine conditions. By varying the timing of both valve events, control can be exerted over both work output (load) and combustion phasing. In comparison with throttled spark ignition (SI) operation on the same engine, HCCI achieved 25–55 per cent of the peak SI indicated work, and did so at uniformly higher thermal efficiency. This was accompanied by a two order of magnitude reduction in NO emissions. In fact, single-digit (ppm) NO emissions were realized under many load conditions. In contrast, hydrocarbon emissions proved to be significantly higher in HCCI combustion under almost all conditions. Varying the equivalence ratio showed a wider equivalence ratio tolerance at low loads for HCCI.


Author(s):  
Yuanjiang Pei ◽  
Marco Mehl ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Tianfeng Lu ◽  
William J. Pitz ◽  
...  

A mixture of n-dodecane and m-xylene is investigated as a diesel fuel surrogate for compression ignition (CI) engine applications. Compared to neat n-dodecane, this binary mixture is more representative of diesel fuel because it contains an alkyl-benzene which represents an important chemical class present in diesel fuels. A detailed multicomponent mechanism for n-dodecane and m-xylene was developed by combining a previously developed n-dodecane mechanism with a recently developed mechanism for xylenes. The xylene mechanism is shown to reproduce experimental ignition data from a rapid compression machine (RCM) and shock tube (ST), speciation data from the jet stirred reactor and flame speed data. This combined mechanism was validated by comparing predictions from the model with experimental data for ignition in STs and for reactivity in a flow reactor. The combined mechanism, consisting of 2885 species and 11,754 reactions, was reduced to a skeletal mechanism consisting 163 species and 887 reactions for 3D diesel engine simulations. The mechanism reduction was performed using directed relation graph (DRG) with expert knowledge (DRG-X) and DRG-aided sensitivity analysis (DRGASA) at a fixed fuel composition of 77% of n-dodecane and 23% m-xylene by volume. The sample space for the reduction covered pressure of 1–80 bar, equivalence ratio of 0.5–2.0, and initial temperature of 700–1600 K for ignition. The skeletal mechanism was compared with the detailed mechanism for ignition and flow reactor predictions. Finally, the skeletal mechanism was validated against a spray flame dataset under diesel engine conditions documented on the engine combustion network (ECN) website. These multidimensional simulations were performed using a representative interactive flame (RIF) turbulent combustion model. Encouraging results were obtained compared to the experiments with regard to the predictions of ignition delay and lift-off length at different ambient temperatures.


1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc N. Allard ◽  
Norman J. Hole ◽  
Gary D. Webster ◽  
Thomas W. Ryan ◽  
Dale Ott ◽  
...  

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