1D Engine Simulation of a Small HSDI Diesel Engine applying a predictive combustion model

The paper analyses the operations of a small HSDI turbocharged Diesel engine by means of a parallel experimental and computational investigation. As far as the numerical approach is concerned, an in-house 1D research code for the simulation of the whole engine system has been enhanced by the introduction of a multi-zone quasi-dimensional combustion model, tailored for multi-jet direct injection Diesel engines. This model takes into account the most relevant issues of the combustion process: spray development, air-fuel mixing, ignition and formation of the main pollutant species (nitrogen oxide and particulate). The prediction of the spray basic patterns requires the previous knowledge of the fuel injection rate. Since the direct measure of this quantity at each operating condition is not a very practical proceeding, an empirical model has been developed in order to provide reasonably accurate injection laws from a few experimental characteristic curves. The results of the simulation at full load are compared to experiments, showing a good agreement on brake performance and emissions. Furthermore, the combustion model tuned at full load has been applied to the analysis of some operating conditions at partial load, without any change to the calibration parameters. Still, the numerical simulation provided results which qualitatively agree with experiments.