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Abstract
1. Introduction
Combustion is the most important process taking place in spark-ignition (SI) engines,
through which chemical energy of fuel is converted into sensible internal energy of the
0960-1481/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2006.03.017
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H. Bayraktar / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 758–771 759
Nomenclature
Greek letters
Subscripts
b burned gases
bl blend
E pure ethanol
F conditions at the end of flame propagation process
f flame
G gasoline
s stoichiometric
u unburned gases
cylinder charge [1]. During this process, a turbulent flame,which is a roughly spherical in
shape, propagates across the combustion chamber and burns the premixed fuel–air
mixture [2,3]. Therefore, combustion can be considered as a turbulent flame propagation
process. Details of the flame propagation have substantial effect on combustion, and
therefore on energy conversion process [4]. If the flame propagation becomes faster, i.e.
faster burning is achieved, more efficient engine operation can be obtained.
Faster burning can reduce engine knock, because there would be less time for
spontaneous ignition to develop. Reduced knock can lead to operation with higher
compression ratios and with leaner mixtures; thus, higher efficiency, higher power output
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760 H. Bayraktar / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 758–771
and more stable engine operation could be obtained [5]. Furthermore, improved
combustion and operation with leaner mixtures may also reduce hydrocarbon emissions
from the engine. Two methods are commonly suggested for faster burning. The first is to
generate a more turbulent charge motion via the use of intake flow restrictions or
combustion chambers with large ‘‘squish’’ regions [6]. The second is to increase the flame
front area by minimizing the contact between the flame and chamber walls. This requires
using a more compact (small surface-to-volume ratio) combustion chamber and moving
the spark plug electrodes toward the chamber center [7]. It is obvious that such methods
necessitate some modifications on intake system and combustion chamber design.
However, using fuels such as hydrogen [8] and alcohols [9], which have higher octane
number and higher flame speeds compared to conventional gasoline, could allow operation
with higher compression ratios without any modification on engine design and fuel system.
Among the various alcohols, ethyl alcohol is suggested as the most suited one for use in
SI engines [10]. It can be produced from renewable energy resources, such as agricultural
feedstocks, and it has some relevant properties, such as high knock resistance, high flame
speed and low stoichiometric air–fuel ratio [9–11]. Ethanol can be used in SI engines as
pure fuel or as gasoline–ethanol blends. Although using it alone requires some
modifications on engine design and fuel system [12,13], it can be used without any
modification by blending with gasoline at appropriate proportions [14,15]; the engine
performance and exhaust emissions can be improved by this way [15–19].
The purpose of this study is to theoretically investigate turbulent flame propagation
process in an SI engine fueled with gasoline, ethanol and various gasoline–ethanol blends
using a quasi-dimensional SI engine cycle model previously developed by the author
[15,19]. The variations of geometrical features of the spherical flame, burned mass fraction,
combustion duration, and cylinder pressure and temperature are determined depending on
the crank angle for each fuel and different blends.
The combustion model used here is originally based on the model developed by Blizard
and Keck [21], and later extended by Keck [22] and the author [15,20]. The burning of
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ðme mb Þ
_ b ¼ ru Af S l þ
m , (2)
tb
where the dots denote the differentiation with respect to time t or the crank angle y. These
equations are coupled with the thermodynamic cycle model mentioned above. The
following assumptions, which are essentially based on the experimental observations
[2–5,8,22] are made. During the early stage of the combustion, the ignition delay period,
the expansion speed of the flame front is close to that of laminar flame [3,8,22] and
therefore, laminar combustion is assumed (Ut ¼ 0; me ¼ mb). After this period, the main
stage of combustion starts and the flame becomes turbulent due to the interaction with in-
cylinder flow field [4]. In this case, instantaneous values of Ut and lt are determined using
empirical correlations given by Keck [22]. Experimental findings have also suggested that
combustion continues after all the charge in the chamber has been fully entrained into the
flame front [4,22]. This stage of combustion is approximated by the following
exponentially decreasing burning rate:
m_b
¼ eðyyF Þ=tb . (3)
_ bF
m
In all the cases, the instantaneous specific volumes of the unburned and burned gases, and
corresponding densities, are supplied from the thermodynamic model. The flame front area
is calculated from the geometric sub-model whose details are given below, and the laminar
flame speed Sl is determined using correlations for isooctane, ethanol and isooctane–etha-
nol blends given by Gülder [9] and Bayraktar [15,19].
At any crank angle, geometrical features of the spherical flame are determined as
follows. The total enflamed volume Vf can be determined using the known values of mb,
me, and ru:
me mb
Vf ¼ Vb þ . (4)
ru
The sphere radius Rf corresponding to this volume is determined by means of
Newton–Raphson iteration method. The initial value of Rf is chosen approximately. At
any iteration step, the flame front area Afi and enflamed volume Vfi for a given Rfi are
calculated from the following geometric model.
The calculation method applied here is similar to that given in Refs. [6,21,23] and is
described in detail by the author in Ref. [15]. The spherical flame within a disc-shaped
combustion chamber is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1. The chamber is a right circular
cylinder of diameter D and variable height h. In calculating the flame geometry, for the
case of Rfipa and when the chamber is fully enveloped by the flame, Afi and Vfi can easily
be determined. When the flame is at the position shown in Fig. 1, Afi and Vfi are defined
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762 H. Bayraktar / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 758–771
y Rf
h
flame front
α β
Z X D2
V fi ¼ ½p a þ 0:5 sinð2aÞ R2fi y2 þ ½2b sinð2bÞ dy, (6)
0 8
where variable x varies depending on Rfi (x ¼ Rfi for Rfiph and x ¼ h for other cases),
while angles a and b can easily be obtained from the geometric relations. Here, integrals (5)
and (6) have been calculated numerically by using the Simpson’s integration method.
After Vfi is determined in this fashion, it is compared with its exact value calculated from
Eq. (4). If there exists an acceptable agreement between Vf and Vfi, Rf is taken as Rfi and
iteration is terminated; otherwise, Rf is estimated again as follows:
Vf Vf i
Rf iþ1 ¼ Rfi . (7)
Af i
Rfi is taken as Rfi+1 and the above procedure is repeated until convergence is achieved.
Once Rf is determined, exact value of the flame front area for this radius can be calculated
from the geometric model given above.
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During the entire cycle computation, Eqs. (1)–(3) are solved in conjunction with the
thermodynamic cycle model. The combustion calculation is started at the spark angle
before TC toward the end of the compression stroke. The first approximation to the mass
fraction burned and the mass burning rate is obtained by using the cosine burn rate
formula [15]. The initial value of the burned gas temperature is determined as the adiabatic
flame temperature [15]. After the combustion calculation is started, the mass of burned gas,
the cylinder pressure, and temperatures of the burned and unburned gases are determined
assuming two thermodynamic regions to exist in the combustion chamber. At each
calculation step, thermodynamic properties, such as specific volumes of burned and
unburned gases, and corresponding densities, are supplied from the thermodynamic
model. After calculating the instantaneous enflamed volume from Eq. (4), the geometrical
properties of the flame are obtained from the geometric sub-model given above. During
early stage of combustion (the ignition delay period), laminar-like burning is assumed and
this process is considered to continue along the time for burning an eddy of radius lt. After
the ignition delay period is terminated, Eqs. (1) and (2) are solved regarding the fully
developed flame propagation process. When the enflamed volume Vf equals that of total
chamber volume, the final stage of the combustion initiates and the mass burning rate is
calculated from Eq. (3). The combustion calculation is completed when 99% of the total
mass within the cylinder is burned. In this model, governing equations have been
numerically integrated by using the Euler–Predictor–Corrector method taking the crank
angle increments as 11 [15].
3. Numerical applications
In this section, initially the accuracy and the validity of the presented model are verified.
Numerical applications have been performed for an automotive SI engine with a disc-
shaped combustion chamber. The geometric specifications of this engine are: the bore
D ¼ 86.4 mm, the stroke H ¼ 67.4 mm, the distance between the spark plug and the
chamber center a ¼ 14.44 mm and the compression ratio e ¼ 9.2. All the computations
have been carried out for the nominal speed nN ¼ 5800 rpm and fuel–air equivalence ratio
for gasoline-fuelled engine fG and the spark advance ys at this speed are taken as 1.15 and
281, respectively. The molecular formula of gasoline is assumed to be C7H17 and the
values of (F/A)sG, LHVG and rG for this fuel are in turn taken as 0.0659, 44 MJ kg1 and
0.690 g cm3. The values of (F/A)E, LHVE and rE for the pure ethanol (C2H5OH) are
taken as 0.1111, 27 MJ kg1 and 0.785 g cm3, respectively. Calculations have been
performed for gasoline, ethanol and gasoline-ethanol blends containing 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 25, 50
and 75 vol% ethanol. The properties of the blends, such as the stoichiometric fuel–air
ratio, the lower heating value and the density, are calculated based on the concentrations
of gasoline and ethanol as in Ref. [19]. The fuel–air equivalence ratios for different blends
have been determined from the following formula given by Bayraktar [15,19]:
rffiffiffiffiffiffi
ðF =AÞsG rbl
fbl ¼ fG . (8)
ðF =AÞsbl rG
The values of fbl calculated for different blends under consideration are shown in Fig. 4.
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3.1. Validity of the combustion model and the geometrical flame propagation model
The accuracy of the computer model is verified by comparing the predicted results with
those given in Refs. [7,21]. Fig. 2 compares the predicted dimensionless flame front area
Af/D2 versus dimensionless flame radius Rf/D with that given by Poulos and Heywood [7].
Fig. 3 compares the variation of the burned mass fraction by the crank angle with that
given by Blizard and Keck [21]. As seen, there exists a good agreement.
0.45
Ref. [7]
Model
0.30 a = 40 mm
= 8.5
Af / D2
0.15
0.00
-0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Rf /D
Fig. 2. Comparison of the predicted dimensionless flame front areas with those given in literature.
1.0
Ref. [21]
0.8 Model
Mass fraction burned, Xb
a = 21 mm
0.6 =5
n = 2100 rpm
s =-30°
0.4
0.2
0.0
-40 -20 0 20 40
Crank angle, deg.
Fig. 3. Comparison of the predicted mass fraction burned with those given in literature.
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The fuel–air equivalence ratios of different blends under consideration were determined
by means of Eq. (8) and variation of fbl with XE is plotted in Fig. 4. This figure clearly
indicates that ethanol addition to gasoline leads to leaner operation. As shown, fbl
approaches unity as the proportion of ethanol closes to 25 vol%. Therefore, combustion
may become more complete or more stoichiometric at this blending ratio. Consequently,
improvements in combustion characteristics may be anticipated.
Results predicted for gasoline, ethanol and various gasoline–ethanol blended fuels are
compared in Figs. 5–14. The flame radii and the flame front areas predicted for gasoline,
ethanol and different blends are compared in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. As shown, during
1.2
1.1 G = 1.15
1.0
bl
0.9
0.8
0.7
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
100
60
40
20
-20
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
15
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
the initial burning phase or ignition delay period (around y ¼ 101), the flame size is not
considerably affected by the fuel type. However, after this period (i.e. along the faster
burning phase and at the final stage of combustion), ethanol addition to gasoline has
noticeable influence on the flame geometry. At TC and 10o after TC, ethanol addition to
gasoline up to 25% increases the flame radius. The flame front areas predicted at y ¼ 101
and TC increase up to 25% ethanol. As seen from Fig. 1, as the flame grows, it is
intersected by the chamber walls, due to which the flame front area gradually decreases
while the enflamed volume increases. This is clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 7. In both figures,
101 after TC, which corresponds to nearly the last stage of combustion, Af decreases and Vf
increases as the ethanol proportion approaches 25%. Decrease in Af is a result of faster
flame propagation. Namely, the flames of the gasoline–ethanol blends make contact with
the cylinder walls earlier than those of gasoline alone. Briefly, it can be concluded that the
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1.0
Gasoline
0.8
0.4 E50
E75
0.2 Ethanol
0.0
-40 -20 0 20 40 60 80
Crank angle, deg.
0.5
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
Fig. 9. The effects of ethanol concentration on mass fractions burned computed at different piston positions.
growth of the flame becomes faster when gasoline–ethanol blends containing ethanol up to
25% are used.
The effect of the ethanol concentration on the burned mass fraction Xb (which equals the
ratio of the burned mass to the total mass in the chamber) is shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Here,
the letter ‘‘E’’ designates ethanol and the numbers next to E refer to the volume percentage
of ethanol in the blended fuel. At the beginning of combustion (around y ¼ 101), the
mass fraction burned is negligibly affected by the ethanol amount in the blend. However,
during the main stage (around TC) and final stage (around y ¼ +101) of combustion, Xb
substantially increases with increase in ethanol amount up to 25%. The value of the mass
fraction burned Xb predicted at TC and 101 after TC reaches a maximum at about 25%
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768 H. Bayraktar / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 758–771
110
= 9.2
Combustion duration, deg.
100
n = 5800 rpm
s = -28°
90
80
70
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
50
= -10°; TC; = +10°
40
Cylinder pressure, bar
30
20
10
50
30
= 9.2
n = 5800 rpm
s = -28°
20
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
2700
Combustion temperature, K
2500
2300
2100
1900
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
pressure, respectively. Both figures indicate that ethanol addition to gasoline up to 25%
raises combustion pressure. Increasing cylinder pressure can result in higher mean
indicated work and the mean indicated pressure; therefore, engine power output and
thermal efficiency may also increase. Improvements in combustion also result in higher
combustion temperatures. The burned gas temperatures are compared in Figs. 13 and 14.
As stated in Section 2.3, the burned gas temperature at the beginning of combustion is
calculated approximately as the adiabatic flame temperature by neglecting the heat losses.
For this reason, temperatures predicted at 10o before TC are higher and close to those
predicted at TC. As shown, combustion temperatures calculated at each piston position
reach a maximum for the blend of 25 vol% ethanol.
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770 H. Bayraktar / Renewable Energy 32 (2007) 758–771
2800
2600
Peak cylinder temp., K
2400
= 9.2
n = 5800 rpm
2200 s = -28°
2000
0 20 40 60 80 100
Volume percentage of ethanol, %
In summary, above comparisons indicate that blending ethanol with gasoline up to 25%
by volume results in positive effects on the flame development process, and therefore, on
combustion. This can be attributed to relevant combustion properties of ethanol as an
engine fuel. As known, ethanol has high flame speed and blending it with gasoline raises
engine volumetric efficiency and causes leaner operation. For these reasons, combustion
becomes more complete or more stoichiometric when gasoline–ethanol blends are used.
In the present study, the turbulent flame propagation process and combustion in an
automobile SI engine fuelled with gasoline, ethanol and various gasoline–ethanol blends
have been investigated by means of a quasi-dimensional SI engine combustion model.
Comparisons performed between the results obtained from the presented model and those
given by several literatures confirm that this model has an ability of accurately computing
SI engine combustion.
Blending ethanol with gasoline up to 25% by volume positively affects the geometric
properties of flame and the mass burning rate, leading to faster burning. It also produces
higher cylinder pressures and temperatures compared with gasoline. As a result, the mean
indicated work, and therefore engine output power and thermal efficiency, may also
increase.
Higher combustion temperatures can result in higher dissociation rates. Hence, NO
concentrations may increase when gasoline–ethanol blends are used in SI engines. Rising
pressure and temperature can cause damages on engine structural components such as
piston, cylinder and valves. In this case, engine components should be manufactured to
resist higher pressure and temperature.
These results have been obtained theoretically. Therefore, some shortcomings of ethanol
could not be considered here. In an engine operating under real conditions, the
improvements obtained here are somewhat offset by the unfavorable properties of
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ethanol, such as water contamination and volatility problems, leading to phase separation
problem in the blended fuels. If such effects are examined in an actual engine, more
sensitive results would be obtained.
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