Comparison of Simple and Detailed Soot Models in the Study of Soot Formation in a Compression Ignition Diesel Engine

Application of computational method in studying soot formation and its characteristics has become more preferable in today’s automotive field. Current developments of computer programs with higher precision mathematical models enable simulation results to become closer to the real engine combustion phenomena. In the present study, investigation on soot has been performed using various soot models with different levels of complexity, from simple two-step Hiroyasu-NSC soot model to the detailed-kinetic soot model. Detailed soot models, Particulate Mimic (PM) which is based on methods of moment and Particulate Size Mimic (PSM) which is based on sectional method, are applied in this study. Result of soot mass from Hiroyasu-NSC model provides 120% error compare to experimental result, while both detailed models provide an acceptable error of 7%. In addition, the post-processing effort provide a qualitative information on soot mass distribution inside combustion chamber along simulation time, which almost impossible to be provided by experimental method. Additional analysis on the computational cost also gives some beneficial information to the use of different soot models which can be selected and applied for specific objectives.