Multi-zone diesel fuel spray combustion model for the simulation of a diesel engine running on biofuel

Abstract

A mathematical model for the calculation of the multi-zone diesel fuel spray combustion process in compression ignition engines is refined in order to expand its capability to describe the operation of diesel engines running on different bio-fuel blends. As an illustration of the capacity of the proposed model to accurately describe the working process numerical simulations of a Caterpillar diesel engine operating on diesel oil and different soybean methyl ester (SME) blends are presented in this paper. A comparison of these theoretical results with published experimental data for the SME 20 and 40 per cent blends shows good agreement. As the proposed model provides a fairly accurate prediction of the heat release rate during the combustion process and the levels of NO x and PM emission formations the model may be used for the optimisation of the engine's design and its working process parameters.