Multidimensional modelling and spectroscopic analysis of the soot formation process in a Diesel engine

Multidimensional simulation of the soot formation process in a diesel engine is realized exploiting quantitative measurements of the soot volume fraction and diameter obtained by optical techniques. Broadband extinction and scattering measurements are performed on an optically accessible 4-stroke engine where a forced air motion allows a strong prevalence of the premixed stage of combustion with respect to the non- premixed one. Two semi-empirical models for soot formation are tested in the numerical simulation, which is performed using a customized version of the KIVA-3 code. The need of furnishing coherent values of the soot particles density and mean diameter to the one of the two models requiring this kind of information, is highlighted and demonstrated to be crucial in avoiding over-prediction of the soot concentration. A good agreement is found between the numerically computed and the experimentally measured temporal evolution of the soot volume fraction and the instantaneous spatial distribution of the soot concentration within the combustion chamber.