Using Machine Learning to Analyze Factors Determining Cycle-to-Cycle Variation in a Spark-Ignited Gasoline Engine

Abstract

In this work, we have applied a machine learning (ML) technique to provide insights into the causes of cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV) in a gasoline spark-ignited (SI) engine. The analysis was performed on a set of large eddy simulation (LES) calculations of a single cylinder of a four-cylinder port-fueled SI engine. The operating condition was stoichiometric, without significant knock, at a load of 16 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP), at an engine speed of 2500 rpm. A total of 123 cycles was simulated. Of these, 49 were run in sequence, while 74 were run in parallel. For the parallel approach, each cycle is initialized with its own synthetic turbulent field to generate CCV, as a part of another work performed by us. In this work, we used 3D information from all 123 cycles to compute flame topology and pre-ignition flow-field metrics. We then evaluated correlations between these metrics and peak cylinder pressure (PCP) employing an ML technique called random forest. The computed metrics form the inputs to the random forest model, and PCP is the output. This model captures the effect of all inputs, as well as interactions between them owing to its decision-tree structure. The goal of this work is to demonstrate (as a first step) that ML models can implicitly learn complex relationships between the pre-ignition flow-fields, the flame shapes, and the eventual outcome of the cycle (whether a cycle will be a high or a low cycle).