Investigation of turbulence–chemistry interactions in a heavy-duty diesel engine with a representative interactive linear eddy model

Simulations of a heavy-duty diesel engine operated at high-load and low-load conditions were compared to each other, and experimental data in order to evaluate the influence of turbulence–chemistry interactions on heat release, pressure development, flame structure, and temperature development are quantified. A recently developed new combustion model for turbulent diffusion flames called representative interactive linear eddy model which features turbulence–chemistry interaction was compared to a well-stirred reactor model which neglects the influence of turbulent fluctuations on the mean reaction rate. All other aspects regarding the spray combustion simulation like spray break-up, chemical mechanism, and boundary conditions within the combustion chamber were kept the same in both simulations. In this article, representative interactive linear eddy model is extended with a progress variable, which enables the model to account for a flame lift-off and split injection, when it is used for diffusion combustion. In addition, the extended version of representative interactive linear eddy model offers the potential to treat partially premixed and premixed combustion as well. The well-stirred reactor model was tuned to match the experimental results, thus computed pressure and apparent heat release are in close agreement with the experimental data. Representative interactive linear eddy model was not tuned specifically for the case and thus the computed results for pressure and heat release are in reasonable agreement with experimental data. The computational results show that the interaction of the turbulent flow field and the chemistry reduce the peak temperatures and broaden up the turbulent flame structure. Since this is the first study of a real combustion engine (metal engine) with the newly developed model, representative interactive linear eddy model appears as a promising candidate for predictions of spray combustion in engines, especially in combustion regimes where turbulence–chemistry interaction plays an even more important role like, example given, in low-temperature combustion or combustion with local extinction and re-ignition.