Optical investigations of the abnormal combustion in a boosted spark-ignition PFI engine

The flame front propagation in normal and abnormal combustion was investigated. Cycle-resolved flame emission imaging was applied in the combustion chamber of a port fuel injection boosted spark ignition engine. The engine was fuelled with a mixture of 90% iso-octane and 10% n-heptane by volume (PRF90). The effect of fuel injection phasing was studied. The combustion process was followed from the flame kernel formation until the opening of the exhaust valves. Different phenomena correlated to the abnormal combustion were analysed. Detailed information on ignition surfaces, end-gas auto-ignitions and knock were obtained. The appearance of autoignition centres in the end gas was evaluated in terms of timing, location and frequency of occurrence.