Effect of Injection Strategies on Particulate Matter Emissions From
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EFFECT OF INJECTION STRATEGIES ON PARTICULATE MATTER EMISSIONS FROM HPDI NATURAL-GAS ENGINES by EHSAN FAGHANI B.Sc., The University of Tehran, 2005 M.Sc., Sharif University of Technology, 2008 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Mechanical Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2015 © Ehsan Faghani, 2015 ABSTRACT Internal combustion engines produce emissions of NOx and particulate matter (PM). Westport Innovations Inc. has developed the pilot-ignited high-pressure direct-injection (HPDI) natural gas (NG) engine system. To ignite the natural gas, HPDI uses a small diesel pilot injection (~5% of total fuel energy), which is normally injected before the NG. Although HPDI engines produce less PM than diesel engines, further reductions of engine- out PM emissions are desired in order to meet future regulations. The goal of this project is to reduce PM from HPDI engines and study the drawbacks of the injection strategies in terms of engine performance or other emissions. This thesis proposes mechanisms for two injection strategies useful in PM reduction: Late Post Injection (LPI) and Slightly Premixed Combustion (SPC). Tests on LPI and SPC were performed in the UBC Single Cylinder Research Engine (SCRE). In LPI, a second natural gas injection (10-25% of total fuel mass) is injected into the cylinder later in the cycle. In SPC, more premixing of NG is achieved by injecting NG before the diesel injection and engine operating parameters are adjusted to minimize the effect on other emissions. Both of the injection strategies show significant PM reduction (over 75% on the SCRE) with small effects on other emissions and engine performance. Westport’s computational fluid dynamics package, “GOLD”, was used to help to understand the mechanisms of the new injection strategies. The PM reductions from LPI and SPC were captured by GOLD. A phenomenological model (Transient Slice Model, TSM) has been developed in this study to provide better insight into the PM reduction process, using the Hiroyasu model with a transport equation for soot. TSM results show good agreement in the prediction of pressure trace and heat release rates in most cases. Engine-out PM trends with changing engine parameters are well-captured in the TSM for exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), equivalence ratio (EQR), load and natural gas (NG) flow. TSM cannot predict the effect of NG injection pressure. For the new injection strategies, TSM can predict the PM trends for LPI, relative gas-diesel timing and the SPC injection strategy. ii PREFACE The doctoral candidate identified and/or developed the injection strategies, designed test matrix, performed the experiments, performed data analysis and presented of the results. All test matrix designs were reviewed by the thesis committee and engineers at Westport Innovations Inc. (Drs. McTaggart-Cowan and Wu, and Mr. Bronson Patychuk). The doctoral candidate is the primary and corresponding author of the technical papers which were published as part of this thesis. The technical papers are referred to in the bibliography [1], [2]. Figure 2-5 and Figure 4-1, from momentum measurement study [2], are included in this thesis with permission from SAE International. The co-authors of the published technical papers made contributions as a supervisory committee or expert in a specific area of the current work. The supervisory committee provided direction and support. The technical papers have been reviewed by the co-authors prior to submission by providing critical evaluation of the publication; however, the candidate was responsible for the writing and the final content of these manuscripts. Pooyan Kheirkhah performed the CFD simulations using the Westport CFD package (GOLD), the results are discussed in sections 4.3.4 and 5.3.5. Post processing of CFD results, evaluating the concept and comparing the experiments with CFD results was jointly performed by Pooyan Kheirkhah and the PhD candidate. Christopher Mabson performed the TEM image analysis (sections 4.1.3 and 5.3.4) with support from Ramin Dastanpour. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... ii PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................ iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................. xii NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................................................................................. xvii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................... xx 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 HPDI Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation for PM Reduction .......................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Combustion and PM Formation in Direct-Injection Engines .............................................. 7 1.4 Injection Strategies in DI Engines .............................................................................................. 11 1.4.1 Late Post Injection (LPI) in Diesel Engines .................................................................... 13 1.4.2 Partially Premixed Combustion ......................................................................................... 15 1.5 Phenomenological Modeling for DI Engines .......................................................................... 21 1.6 Thesis Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 25 1.7 Thesis Structure ................................................................................................................................ 27 2 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS .................................................................................................................. 29 2.1 Single Cylinder Research Engine ................................................................................................ 29 2.1.1 Operating Modes ...................................................................................................................... 39 2.1.2 Measurement Variability in SCRE Experiments .......................................................... 40 2.2 Momentum Measurement Method ............................................................................................ 44 3 MODELLING METHODS .......................................................................................................................... 47 3.1 Overview of Transient Slice Model (TSM) .............................................................................. 47 3.2 The Jet Model...................................................................................................................................... 51 iv 3.2.1 Injection Specifications .......................................................................................................... 53 3.2.2 Transport of Scalars ................................................................................................................ 55 3.2.3 Radial Distribution of Velocity ............................................................................................ 56 3.2.4 Radial Distribution of Mixture Fraction .......................................................................... 57 3.2.5 Mixture Fraction Maps ........................................................................................................... 57 3.2.6 Ignition and Flame Propagation ......................................................................................... 61 3.2.7 Jet Integral Calculations ........................................................................................................ 64 3.3 Cylinder Thermodynamics Model .............................................................................................. 65 3.3.1 Initial Conditions at SOS ........................................................................................................ 65 3.3.2 Cylinder Volume ....................................................................................................................... 66 3.3.3 Cylinder Mass Balance ........................................................................................................... 66 3.3.4 Cylinder Energy Balance ....................................................................................................... 66 3.3.5 Cylinder Wall Heat Transfer ................................................................................................ 67 3.3.6 Motored Pressure and Temperature ................................................................................ 68 3.4 Soot Model