Effects of Swirl Motion on Methane Homogeneous Combustion in the AVL Tri- flow® System

The main challenge of the internal combustion engine industry is strongly related to the development of products that satisfy both the current and future legislation standards for pollutant emission and the increasing market demand for high efficiency energy solutions [1, 2]. In this sense, the usage of fuels such as natural gas and ethanol along with the development of high-efficiency combustion systems represent an important option to meet those requirements.

In this study, three-dimensional numerical calculations were done considering a regular piston geometry and the AVL tri-flow® system. Three levels of swirl were generated during the intake stroke aiming to evaluate its influence over the flow features at spark timing, comparing the initial flame kernel development and flame front propagation.