Abstract:

Considering the energy crises and pollution problems today, investigations have concentrated on decreasing fuel consumption by using renewable alternative fuels and on lowering the concentration of toxic components in combustion products. A simulative model for establishing the performance parameters of spark ignition engines fueled with a range of fuels (gasoline, ethanol, or hydrogen) and their mixture is presented. The incidence of pre-ignition and its relative intensity as well as cyclic variations are also accounted for. The 2-zone incorporates a procedure for deriving an estimate of the effective duration of combustion and the associated mass burning rate for various operating conditions and fuels. A system of first-order ordinary differential equations was obtained for the pressure, mass, volume, temperature of the burned and unburned gases, heat transfer from the burned and unburned zone, mass flow into and out of crevices, and the composition of combustion products. The mathematical and simulation model has been developed, tested, and verified against the experimental data to simulate a 4-stroke cycle of a spark ignition engine fueled with gasoline, ethanol, or hydrogen as a single fuel or their mixture. The results obtained from the present study have shown the capability of the model to predict satisfactorily the performance and emissions including the incidence of pre-ignition at various engine-operating conditions. A good agreement was obtained between the results of the present model and the experimental results.

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