A numerical investigation of the effects of combustion parameters on the performance of a compression ignition engine toward NOx emission reduction

In this paper, a detailed multi-dimensional simulation based on fuel chemical reactions has been presented to investigate the effects of the most important parameters on performance and emission of a reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine. The different characteristics of combustion phasing such as start of combustion, combustion duration, and 10%-90% of mass fraction burned (MFB) for iso-octane/n-heptane fuels have been studied. The effects of each important parameter such as amount of fuel delivered by varying fuels ratio, engine load and speed, injection timing, equivalence ratio, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) application, boost pressure, injection pressure as well as combination of these different parameters and improved fuel octane number at higher compression ratios were evaluated to discover the most effective parameter on performance and emission of an RCCI engine. Distribution and coefficient of variation (COV) of equivalence ratio were examined in base cases to evaluate the influence of high reactivity fuel on distribution points. In addition, to acquiring a comprehensive perception, the results highlighted that by concurrently applying different parameters with diverse effects, new corridors to significantly abate nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollutant can be achievable depending on the specific situations. Generally, the parameters that prolong the combustion duration demonstrated positive effects on combustion process leading to cleaner combustion with lower engine-out NOx. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.