Numerical Prediction and Validation of Fuel Spray Behavior in a Gasoline Direct-Injection Engine

Analysis of flow field and charge distribution in a gasoline direct-injection (GDI) engine is performed by a modified version of the KIVA code. A particle-based spray model is proposed to simulate a swirl-type hollow-cone spray in a GDI engine. Spray droplets are assumed to be fully atomized and introduced at the sheet breakup locations as determined by experimental correlations and energy conservation. The effects of the fuel injection parameters such as spray cone angle and ambient pressure are examined for different injectors and injection conditions. Results show reasonable agreement with the measurements for penetration, dispersion, global shape, droplet velocity and size distribution by Phase Doppler Particle Anemometry(PDPA) in a constant-volume chamber. The test engine is a 4-stroke 4-valve optically accessible single-cylinder engine with a pent-roof head and tumble ports. Parametric study is performed with respect to the fuel injection timing,spray cone angle and injector position. It is shown that the current numerical methods are capable of reproducing the proper qualitative trend of mixture distribution against visualization images by pulsed-laser Mie scattering.