Numerical Assessment on the Influence of Engine Calibration Parameters on Innovative Piston Bowls Designed for Light-Duty Diesel Engines

Federico Millo, Andrea Piano, Salvatore Roggio, Francesco C. Pesce, Alberto Vassallo and Andrea Bianco
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Federico Millo: Energy Department, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Andrea Piano: Energy Department, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Salvatore Roggio: Energy Department, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Francesco C. Pesce: PUNCH Torino S.p.A., 10129 Torino, Italy
Alberto Vassallo: PUNCH Torino S.p.A., 10129 Torino, Italy
Andrea Bianco: POWERTECH Engineering S.r.l., 10127 Torino, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: The optimization of the piston bowl design has been shown to have a great potential for air–fuel mixing improvement, leading to significant fuel consumption and pollutant emissions reductions for diesel engines. With this aim, a conventional re-entrant bowl for a 1.6 L light-duty diesel engine was compared with two innovative piston designs: a stepped-lip bowl and a radial-bumps bowl. The potential benefits of these innovative bowls were assessed through 3D-CFD simulations, featuring a calibrated spray model and detailed chemistry. To analyse the impact of these innovative designs, two different engine operating conditions were scrutinized, corresponding to the rated power and a partial load, respectively. Under the rated power engine operating condition, a start of injection sensitivity was then carried out to assess the optimal spray–wall interaction. Results highlighted that, thanks to optimal injection phasing, faster mixing-controlled combustion could be reached with both the innovative designs. Moreover, the requirements in terms of swirl were also investigated, and a higher swirl ratio was found to be necessary to improve the mixing process, especially for the radial-bumps design. Finally, at part-load operating conditions, different exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates were analysed for two injection pressure levels. The stepped-lip and radial-bumps bowls highlighted reduced indicated specific fuel consumption (ISFC) and soot emissions values over different rail pressure levels, guaranteeing NO x control thanks to the higher EGR tolerance compared with the re-entrant bowl. The results suggested the great potential of the investigated innovative bowls for improving efficiency and reducing emissions, thus paving the way for further possible optimization through the combination of these designs.

Keywords: diesel engine; innovative piston bowl; computational fluid dynamics; additive-manufacturing-enabled design; stepped-lip bowl; radial-bumps bowl (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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