Auto-Ignition of a Hexadecane Droplet Mixed with Different Octane Number Fuels at Elevated Pressures to Investigate the Pre-Ignition Behavior
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Clean Combustion Research CenterMechanical Engineering Program
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
high-pressure combustion (HPC) Research Group
Date
2019-11-24Online Publication Date
2019-11-24Print Publication Date
2020-01-16Embargo End Date
2020-11-24Submitted Date
2019-07-31Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/661323
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Pre-ignition is an abnormal combustion event that may occur in boosted direct injection gasoline engines, where one or more auto-ignition events are observed before spark ignition. Due to the direct injection of fuel into the cylinder, some liquid fuel may splash off the walls, pulling lubricating oil with it. The auto-ignition of liquid fuel/lubricant droplets is considered as one of the possible sources of pre-ignition. To assess this stochastic phenomenon in a controlled way, the auto-ignition of a single droplet of a hexadecane-fuel mixture was investigated, with hexadecane serving as a surrogate for the lubricating oil. This experiment included suspending a single hexadecane-fuel mixture droplet on a thermocouple bead in preheated air, at a temperature of 300 ± 4 °C, in a constant volume chamber over a wide range of pressures (4-30 bar). Four different fuels with a range of research octane number (RON) between 70 and 120 were mixed with hexadecane at a volume percentage of 75% hexadecane to 25% fuel to investigate the time to ignition of the droplet, designated as TI. The TI was measured by recording the droplet temperature history simultaneously with high-speed droplet imaging. The droplet ignition is triggered by the auto-ignition of the combustible mixture formed by the hexadecane-fuel mixture's vapor that mixes with the hot ambient air around the droplet. An empirical model was proposed to predict the TI in terms of pressure and the mixture's RON. At constant pressure, the rate of evaporation of the mixture's droplet increases with increasing RON. The time to ignition is seen to increase exponentially as the fuel's RON used in the mixture increases. On the other hand, for a given fuel RON, the time to ignition decreases with increasing ambient pressure. The empirical model shows that at pressures above 20 bar, the dilution of hexadecane by the different fuels has no significant effect on delaying the auto-ignition of the droplet.Citation
Mitsudharmadi, H., Maharjan, S., Elbaz, A. M., Qahtani, Y. A., & Roberts, W. L. (2019). Auto-Ignition of a Hexadecane Droplet Mixed with Different Octane Number Fuels at Elevated Pressures To Investigate the Pre-Ignition Behavior. Energy & Fuels, 34(1), 806–816. doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02540Sponsors
The research reported in this publication was supported by the Saudi ARAMCO in collaboration with the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under the FUELCOM II project. The authors express their appreciation to Mr. Adrian Montiano for his help in setting up the experimental rig and collecting the experimental data.Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)Journal
Energy & FuelsAdditional Links
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02540ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b02540