Numerical simulations by detailed chemistry and experimental measurements of Diesel combustion in a light duty common rail direct injection engine

Present paper couples the use of a modified version of the KIVA-3V code including a model for detailed chemistry to an experimental investigation performed on an optically accessible diesel engine. The engine is equipped with a commercial four valves cylinder head and a Common Rail injection system. Digital images and UV-visible flame emission measurements are compared with the visualization of the numerical results. The diesel fuel surrogate is considered within the numerical code, namely a blend consisting of n-heptane and toluene, approximating the physical and ignition properties of the diesel oil. Products, soot and NOx formation is described by a chain of 283 reactions involving 69 species. The Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) assumption is adopted to maintain the computational cost within acceptable limits. The collections of digital images of the spray evolution, the mixture formation and the combustion processes are undertaken by running the engine at 1000 rpm. Commercial diesel fuel is injected by using a single injection.