Gasoline Engine Development using CFD

The drive for substantial CO₂ reductions in gasoline engines in the light of the Kyoto Protocol and higher fuel efficiencies has increased research on downsized, turbocharged engines. Via a higher intake air pressure, an increase in specific power output can be reached on a comparatively smaller sized engine, in order to ensure high torque capabilities, while allowing a fuel saving of about 20%. This fuel efficiency benefit includes the advantages of direct injection (DI) technology which avoids crossflow of fuel.

This paper presents the capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics to aid in the development of such engines. Particularly, the IFP-C3D code offers several recently developed models which permit to estimate, with good accuracy, the evolution of the combustion under given working conditions. Moreover, the capability of the model to predict knock occurrence is very helpful for engine designers within the framework of development of new downsized turbocharged engines.