Experimental investigation of turbulence-chemistry interaction for flame kernel development in a spark-ignition (SI) engine

• Applicant: Brian Peterson, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Hydraulic and Turbo Engines and Piston Engines ; Energy Process Engineering
• Term: from 2013 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 225906170

With increasing energy and environmental concerns, there is an evident need to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions from internal combustion (IC) engines. There is an evident need to resolve turbulent-chemistry interactions of developing flame fronts in spark-ignition (SI) engines to better understand and improve combustion performance in IC engines. Advanced laser based diagnostic techniques are at the leading edge of combustion research and provide non-intrusive measurement techniques to resolve multi scalar and vector processes within combustion environments. In particular particle image velocimetry (PIV) and OH planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) are among the leading techniques that have been combined to investigate the important turbulence-chemistry coupling with turbulent combustion. Previous findings within open flame configurations have provided notable contributions to the understanding of turbulent-flame interaction, particularly in regards to local flame extinction. Although previous studies have been motivated by applications such as the SI engine, all previous experiments have been limited to open flame environments. To this end, the subject of this proposal is to develop high-speed PIV and OH PLIF techniques to measure flow field and flame front properties that characterize flame development and local flame extinction in an optical SI engine. The proposed measurement campaigns are anticipated to provide notable efforts to improve combustion performance, realize the feasibility of next generation injection and combustion strategies, and provide valuable data set resolving turbulent flame development in SI engines that aid in the development of predictive IC engine simulations used for further combustion and engine development.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Persons: Dr.-Ing. Benjamin Böhm; Professor Dr. Andreas Dreizler