Mallikarjuna J M

This article aims to identify the best combination of intake port angle (IPA) and cylinder head pentroof angle (PA) of a gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine to achieve a simultaneous reduction in the fuel consumption and the exhaust emissions using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and optimization techniques. The present study is carried out on a single-cylinder, four-stroke GDI engine. The design space is bound by the range of the IPA (35°, 80°) and the PA (5°, 20°). The initial data set consists of 80 design points, which are generated using the uniform Latin hypercube (ULH) algorithm. CFD simulations were carried out at all the points in the initial data set using CONVERGE at engine speed of 2,000 rev/min and the overall equivalence ratio of 0.7 ± 0.05. A prediction model based on the support vector machine algorithm is generated between the design inputs and the output parameters viz., indicated specific fuel consumption (ISFC), hydrocarbon (HC), nitric oxides (NOx), and soot. After sufficient validation of the prediction model, it is used for the optimization study. The optimization is carried out using the MOGA-II algorithm. The optimization study predicted that the IPA of 58° and the PA of 13.4° results best, in simultaneous reduction of the fuel consumption and the emissions. The results of the optimization study are further validated using the CFD analysis, which is carried out at the optimum design point. From the results, it is concluded that the optimization-driven design techniques could be effectively used to improve the engine performance and reduce the emissions simultaneously.

Gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines have picked up prominence in the current circumstances in light of lower fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Mixture formation in these engines plays a critical role which affects the combustion, performance and emission characteristics. To get better mixture formation, various factors ought to be considered, of which intake port design is one of the factors of considerable importance. Therefore, in this study, a comparison of mixture formation, performance and emission characteristics has been analyzed in a GDI engine with conventional intake port and swirl intake port. The analysis is carried out on a four-stroke wall-guided GDI engine using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the help of the CONVERGE. The validation of spray breakup model is carried out to the extent possible using the experimental results available in the literature. The analysis is carried out at four overall equivalence ratios at an engine speed of 2000 rpm., and a fuel injection pressure of 100 bar using a six-hole injector. From the results, it is found that better mixture stratification, higher indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), and lower emissions are obtained for a GDI engine with the conventional intake ports at overall equivalence ratios (ER) of 0.5 and 0.6, whereas they are better in the engine with swirl intake ports at the overall ERs of 0.7 and 0.8.

Preparation of air-fuel mixture and its stratification, plays the key role to determine the combustion and emission characteristics in a gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine working in stratified conditions. The mixture stratification is mainly influenced by the in-cylinder flow structure, which mainly relies upon engine geometry i.e. cylinder head, intake port configuration, piston profile etc. Hence in the present analysis, authors have attempted to comprehend the effect of cylinder head geometry on the mixture stratification, combustion and emission characteristics of a GDI engine. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is carried out on a single-cylinder, naturally-aspirated four-stroke GDI engine having a pentroof shaped cylinder head. The analysis is carried out at four pentroof angles (PA) viz., 80 (base case), 140, 200 and 250 with the axis of the cylinder. The entire CFD simulations are performed at the engine speed of 2000 rev/min., and the overall equivalence ratio (ER) of 0.75. Finally, it is observed that the PA of 140 produced a rise of about 10.5% in indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) and 3% rise in peak heat release rate (HRR) with a compromise of 10.7% higher NOx emissions than that of the base case.