Analyzing of in-cylinder flow structures and cyclic variations of partially premixed combustion in a light duty engine

Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) strategy offers the potential for simultaneously reduction of NOx and soot emissions with high efficiency. This low temperature combustion strategy involves a proper mixing of fuel and air prior to auto-ignition. During ignition delay (ID) the exact amount of premixing is crucial for the combustion behaviour and emission formation.
In this article, high-speed particle image velocimetry (HS-PIV) has been applied to characterise the in-cylinder flow and cycle-to-cycle variations in a light-duty optical engine during fired conditions. The engine is operated at 800 rpm and at a constant CA 50 (~ 8 CAD aTDC). Multiple injections strategies (single, double and triple injections) have been applied to investigate their influence on the flow inside the piston bowl and squish region. The 2D velocity fields are evaluated and investigated over a range of crank angles in the compression and expansion strokes in order to understand the cycle-to-cycle variations. To investigate the problem of cyclic- variations on in-cylinder flows the phase-invariant proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) technique was used. The POD decomposition technique provides a classification method based on an energy criterion by which the mean flow is seen as a superposition of coherent structures. From their temporal coefficients it is possible to characterize its dynamical behaviour.