Mixture formation analysis in a direct-injection NG SI engine under different injection timings

This paper investigates into the mixture formation in a direct injection, turbocharged, spark-ignition, CNG engine. The engine features a pent-roof combustion chamber, a bowl in piston and an outward-opening poppet valve injector, which is located centrally in the chamber dome. In the last few years, many studies have been conducted focusing on direct injection natural gas engines, and the end-of-injection timing has been identified as the main parameter affecting the quality and completeness of the mixture formation process. This paper aims at contributing to the progress of this research field, by means of the presentation and discussion of a large number of experimental and numerical data. The results obtained from the authors’ CFD model, which has been developed and validated within the InGAS Collaborative Project of the EC, are in fact introduced and correlated to the outcomes of the experimental activity done by AVL GmbH, Graz, as part of the same research project. This synergy allowed a deep understanding of the mixture formation process, over a wide range of operating conditions. As a matter of fact, the mixture formation process in a direct injection gaseous-fuel engine differs significantly from direct-injection engines fuelled by gasoline. In fact, the gas jet momentum is lower, reducing the penetration, and the mixture formation strongly relies on the charge motion generated during the intake stroke. More precisely, the work presented in this paper showed that several factors exert an influence on the fuel-air mixing process: jet shape, interaction with piston and/or with the charge motion, and time available for mixing between the end-of-injection and the spark timing, and these may combine differently depending on the specific working point. On an average, at low load and low-medium speeds, the injection should better take place during the second part of the induction stroke. On the other hand, at high speed or high load the injection timing needs to be advanced till around 250°-300° CA degrees before firing TDC, in order to increase the time available for mixing as much as possible.