Fuel and combustion stratification study of Partially Premixed Combustion

Relatively high levels of stratification is one of the main advantages of Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) over the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) concept. Fuel stratification smoothens heat release
and improves controllability of this kind of combustion. However, the lack of a clear definition of “fuel and combustion stratifications” is obvious in literature. Hence, it is difficult to compare stratification levels of different PPC strategies or other combustion concepts. The main objective of this study is to define the fuel and combustion stratifications based on the fuel tracer LIF and OH* chemiluminescence images, respectively. A light duty optical engine has been used to perform the measurements. Four experimental points are evaluated, with injection timings in both the homogeneous and the stratified regimes. Twodimensional Fourier transforms of fuel distribution and chemiluminescence images provide the range of spatial frequencies in these images. This method gives the opportunity to separate a specific range of frequencies related to fuel and combustion stratification. The signal energy content in this range is used to define the stratification, using an appropriate normalization procedure. The results indicate that this new definition is a promising method to compare the level of stratification between different experiments.