Numerical Investigation of Soot Emission in Direct-Injection Spark-Ignition Engines Using a Detailed Soot Model Framework

The soot emission in direct-injection spark-ignition engines under various operating conditions was numerically investigated in the present study. A detailed soot model was used to resolve the physical soot process that consists of polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbon (PAH) formation and soot particle dynamics. The primary propagating flame in partially-premixed field was described by G-equation model, and the concentrations of burned species as well as PAH behind of the flame front were determined from the laminar flamelet library that incorporates the PAH chemical mechanism. The particle dynamics in post-flame region include nucleation, surface growth, coagulation, and oxidation were modeled by method of moments. To improve the model predictability, a gasoline surrogate model was proposed to match the real fuel properties, and the input of droplet size distribution of fuel spray was obtained from Phase-Doppler Particle Analyzer. The model was validated with the experimental data from single cylinder research engine equipped with side-mounted injector. Also the model sensitivity was examined by varying the air-fuel ratio. With the qualitative and quantitative investigation on the air-fuel mixing and the soot processes, the causes of soot emission level reduction via injection pressure were analyzed in detail.