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Multi-zone model for diesel engine simulation based on chemical kinetics

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Article  in  Applied Thermal Engineering · April 2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.04.090

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 Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Multi-zone model for diesel engine simulation based on chemical

kinetics mechanism
E. Neshat a,⇑, Damon Honnery b, Rahim Khoshbakhti Saray a
a
Sahand University of Technology, Sahand New Town, Tabriz, Iran
b
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

h i g h l i g h t s

A new multi zone model is developed to diesel engine simulation.

Chemical kinetics mechanism is coupled to multi zone model.

The model considers the heat and mass transfers between the zones.

Fick’s law is used to calculate the rate of diffusion mass transfer.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The main purpose of this study was to develop a new multi-zone model for simulating the diesel engine’s
Received 7 November 2016 closed loop. The proposed multi-zone model is based on chemical kinetics and uses a semi-detailed
Revised 4 April 2017 chemical kinetics mechanism containing 76 species and 327 reactions to calculate the fuel burning rate
Accepted 20 April 2017
at each time step. This chemical kinetics mechanism contains 6 reactions to simulate soot formation and
Available online 21 April 2017
14 reactions to simulate NOx formation. Prior to fuel injection, the combustion chamber is divided into
three zones: inner zone, boundary layer zone, and crevice zone. The model considers the heat and mass
Keywords:
transfers between the zones. Convective and radiation heat transfers are considered between the bound-
Diesel engine
Multi-zone model
ary layer zone and combustion chamber walls. When fuel injection begins, the spray is modeled and a
Chemical kinetics mechanism zone is formed that contains the fuel jet. The geometry of the fuel jet zone is estimated using the
spray-cone angle, and the length of this zone (fuel jet) is estimated using the Higgin’s correlation. The
spray-cone angle is calculated using the Reitz and Bracco’s correlation. Fuel spray penetration into other
zones is calculated using the Wakuri’s relation. Fick’s law is used to calculate the diffusion rate of differ-
ent species in each zone. The model results are in good agreement with experimental data in predicting
the in-cylinder pressure, the start of the combustion time, combustion duration, and emissions. The max-
imum error of model for predicting soot and NOx are 17% and 12%, respectively.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction of experimental research, a computational tool represents a more

The main task of internal combustion engines is converting
chemically bound energy into mechanical energy. Since diesel
engines are mainly used for heavy duty transport, researches on
diesel engines are of utmost importance. In diesel engines, ignition
occurs when diesel fuel is injected into hot air. The spray formation
and fuel–air diffusion have critical effects on the quality of the die-
sel fuel combustion. Numerous experimental and numerical stud-
ies have been conducted on diesel engines. While time-consuming
design approaches and high equipment costs limit the practicality
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: e_neshat@sut.ac.ir (E. Neshat).
efficient and less expensive approach for predicting diesel engine
performance and emissions [1,2].
Numerical models that have been developed to simulate diesel
engines can be divided into three main groups: single-zone mod-
els, multi-zone models, and multi-dimensional models. Single-
zone modeling is the simplest approach for diesel engine simula-
tion. In this model, the in-cylinder temperature and composition
are considered to be homogeneous. Experiment-based correlations
are used to estimate the fuel burn rate in single-zone models. This
model cannot predict engine emissions and over-predicts engine
in-cylinder peak pressure [3–5].
Multi-dimensional models utilize computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) methods to simulate engine processes. If suitable chemical

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.04.090
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
352 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360

Nomenclature

A area (m2) U internal energy (J)

B ratio of internal energies of fuel and air u specific internal energy (J/kg)
CAD crank angle degree V volume (m3)
cv specific heat constant at constant volume (J/kg K) vel characteristic velocity of engine
CD discharge coefficient W work (J)
D cylinder diameter (m) z distance between zone center and injector (m)
Dm mass diffusivity (m2/s) Y mass fraction
dn nozzle hole diameter (m)
dis distance between centers of different zones (m) Greek symbols
h convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) a constant
H enthalpy (J/kg) h spray cone angle
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) j Von Karman constant
L length of combustion chamber (m) l viscosity (kg/ms2)
Lb fuel jet length (m) q density (kg/m3)
ln length of nozzle holes (m) x_ molar rate of production (mole/m3 s)
m mass (kg)
MW molecular weight Subscripts
n number of zones
a air
nn number of nozzle holes BL boundary layer
ns number of species d downstream
P pressure (Pa) f fuel
Q heat (J)
i ith zone
r radius of zones (m) j jth species
ra area fraction Lam laminar
Re Reynolds number Tran transferred
Ru universal ideal gas constant (J/mol K)
Tur turbulent
S stroke (m) U upstream
T temperature(K)
t time (s)
thick thickness (m)

kinetics mechanisms are employed, these models can accurately
predict engine combustion, performance, and emission character-
istics. However, these models are costly because their computa-
tions are time consuming. The use of these models is widely
reported in the literature [6–9].
Multi-zone models divide the combustion chamber into multi-
ple zones. These models are not time consuming, and they can
accurately predict the engine combustion, performance, and emis-
sion characteristics. The main parameters in multi-zone models are
the configuration of the zone geometries, heat and mass transfer
sub-models, spray penetration, and the air-fuel mixing model
[10–12].
Diesel combustion has two phases: premixed combustion and
diffusion combustion. Premixed combustion is a rapid uncontrol-
lable combustion whereas diffusion combustion is slow. The com-
plicated nature of diesel combustion has resulted in the fuel
burning rate being calculated using experiment-based correlations.
Some of the fuel burning rate correlations that have been widely
used are the simple Wiebe functions [13], the alternative and more
complex approaches of Watson [14] or Woschni-Anisits [15], and
the more fundamental approach of Whitehouse-Way [16,17].
Shahed et al. developed a multi-zone model for simulating die-
sel engines, in which correlations are used to calculate the fuel
atomization and to model fuel vaporization and spray. The authors
used experiment-based correlations to calculate air penetration
and fuel burning rates [18,19]. Kono et al. developed another
multi-zone model for direct-injection diesel engines. They divided
the jet into conical zones and then solved the mass, momentum
and energy equations for each zone. Their model assumes that
the combustion rate is related only to the total amount of air
entrainment and is independent of the fuel-air mixing [20]. Hiroy-
asu and colleagues proposed a comprehensive multi-zone model
for diesel engine simulation. They divided the jet into zones in
the radial and axial directions. This model depends heavily on cor-
relations for calculating the spray-cone angle, spray break-up
length, and spray penetration. In addition, they assumed that the
fuel and air react only stoichiometrically during premixed combus-
tion [21,22]. Jung and Assanis developed a multi-zone model for
diesel engine simulation, which divides the fuel spray into a num-
ber of zones, and in which mass and energy can be exchanged
between zones. This model calculates the combustion rate, ignition
delay, and air penetration rate using experiment-based correla-
tions [23]. Rakopoulos and colleagues developed a multi-zone
model for diesel engines and completed the model over a number
of years. In their model, the spray is divided into a number of zones
in the axial and radial directions, and a number of correlations are
used for calculating the fuel burning rate, ignition delay, and air
penetration rate [11,12,24].
In previous studies, experiment-based correlations have been
widely used in diesel engine simulations. In addition to the spray
characteristics, experiment-based correlations have been used to
estimate exhaust emissions. Typically two equation models are
used for soot prediction [25] and the Zeldovich model is used to
estimate NOx exhaust [26].
The objective of this study is to develop a new multi-zone
model for simulating the diesel engine. A semi-detailed chemical
kinetics mechanism is coupled to a multi-zone model to simulta-
neously solve the chemical kinetics and energy equations. The fuel
burning rate and ignition delay are calculated by solving the gov-
erning equations. Fick’s law is used to calculate the air penetration
rate, using any experimental correlation. In addition, the engine
 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360 353

  
exhaust emissions are predicted well by applying the chemical p 2 4V tot
Vðn  1Þ ¼ V tot  ðD  2tickBL Þ  2tickBL : ð5Þ
kinetics. 4 pD2
The nth zone is the crevice zone. The volume of this zone is con-
2. Description of multi-zone model stant and considered as 3 percent of the clearance volume. The
temperature of this zone is also constant and equals to the temper-
The proposed multi-zone model was used to simulate the ature of the walls. The volume of the zone numbered n  2 can be
closed portion of a diesel engine cycle. The combustion chamber calculated using Eq. (6):
is divided into a number of zones, and the mass and heat transfers X
are considered between these zones. Temperature and composi- Vðn  2Þ ¼ V tot  VðiÞ: ð6Þ
tion are assumed to be uniform in each zone and pressure is i–n2

assumed to be uniform throughout the cylinder at each time step.

The multi-zone model is coupled to a semi-detailed chemical
kinetics mechanism, which was developed at Chalmers University,
Sweden, and contains 75 species and 327 reactions [27]. The mech-
anism contains six reactions for simulating soot formation, and 14
reactions for simulating NOx formation.
2.1. Zone configuration
2.2. Governing equations
Prior to fuel injection, the first law of thermodynamics is solved
for all of the zones. Eqs. (7)–(11) show the first law of thermody-
namics and its various terms. Because of the presence of residual
gases in the cylinder mixture, the chemical kinetics equations are
solved simultaneously.

Fig. 1 shows the zone configuration in the developed multi-zone dU i dmin dmout dW i dQ i
¼ Hin  Hout  þ ð7Þ
model. As shown in the figure, the combustion chamber is divided dt dt dt dt dt
into n zones. The zones numbered 1 to n  3 are spherical seg-
dU i dT i Xns
dY j X ns
dmi
ments, whose volumes can be calculated using Eq. (1). In the first ¼ civ mi þ mi uj þ uj Y j ð8Þ
zone, r is equal to the break-up length of the fuel jet. The break- dt dt j¼1
dt j¼1
dt
up length is calculated using the approach of Higgins et al. [28].
The Higgins’s correlation is shown in Eq. (2). The spray-cone angle dW i dV i
¼P ð9Þ
is calculated using Reitz and Bracco’s correlation (Eq. (3)) [29]. dt dt
phrðiÞ3 X
i1
VðiÞ ¼  VðjÞ i ¼ 1; n  3 ð1Þ dQ i dQ i;cond dQ i;conv dQ i;rad
180 ¼ þ þ ð10Þ
j¼1 dt dt dt dt

 a dY k;i x_ k;i Mwk

qf ¼ ð11Þ
rð1Þ ¼ Lb ¼ 0:62dn Bb ð2Þ dt qi
qa
When injection begins, the rate at which fuel enters the com-
 0:5 pffiffiffi  
4p ql 3 ln bustion chamber is calculated at each time step, using Eq. (12) [5]:
tanðhÞ ¼ where A ¼ 3:0 þ 0:28 ð3Þ
A qa 6 dn !0:5
dm pd 2
2 DP
To calculate the radiuses of zones 2 to n  3, Eq. (4) is used. ¼ CD q nn ð12Þ
dt 4 f qf
  
4V tot
pD2
 2thickBL  Lb Following injection, zone 1 is considered to be full of fuel, with
rðiÞ ¼ þ rði  1Þ i ¼ 2; n  3 ð4Þ
n3 no other species present. Then Eq. (13) is used to compute the mass
of fuel that enters the zones numbered 2 to n  3 [30]. The mass of
The n  1th zone is the boundary layer zone in this study. This
injected fuel that enters zones n  3 to n is considered to be zero in
zone is nearest to the combustion chamber walls and convective
this step.
heat is transferred from this zone to the walls. The volume of this
sffiffiffiffiffiffi
zone can be calculated using Eq. (5): mair 2 tanðhÞ qa z
¼ pffiffiffiffiffi ð13Þ
mfuel Ca qf dn
Then, the first law of thermodynamics and chemical kinetics
equations are solved for each zone to compute the net production
rate of each of the species for each zone. We note that the temper-
ature of the zones and the mass fraction of the species within the
zones are initially unknown, and are calculated by solving these
equations.
After solving the first law of thermodynamics and chemical
kinetics equations for all zones, the in-cylinder pressure is calcu-
lated using Eqs. (14)–(17). It can be seen from Eq. (17) that the
in-cylinder pressure can be computed if the characteristics of all
the zones are known, such as the volume, temperature, mass,
and composition. While the estimated pressure is constant
throughout the combustion chamber, it varies over time.
PV i ¼ Ru molei T i i ¼ 1; . . . nz ð14Þ
 
Vi mi
P ¼ Ru i ¼ 1; . . . nz ð15Þ
Ti Mwi
Fig. 1. Geometry of zones.
354 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360

X
nz
Vi Xnz
mi Next, the mole difference for each zone, Dmolei is calculated. If
P ¼ Ru ð16Þ the Dmolei value is greater than zero, this indicates that moles
i¼1
Ti i¼1
Mw i
from other zones have entered the ith zone. If this value is less than
P z mi zero, some moles have left the ith zone, and if it is equal to zero,
Ru ni¼1 Mw
P ¼ Pnz V i ð17Þ there was no mass transfer between the ith zone and the other
i
i¼1 T i zones. Mass transfer occurs only between zones that are in direct
contact with each other. Eqs. (25)–(36) explain the mechanism of
mass transfer between zones. Thus, the moletran,(j,i) value indicates
2.3. Mass transfer
the moles transferred between the jth and ith zones. The computa-
tional procedure begins when i is equal to 1, and in the first step,
A significant amount of the injected mass enters zone 1, causing
the total mole changes of this zone is calculated. Then, the trans-
the cylinder mixture to be inhomogeneous. Inhomogeneity leads to
ferred mass between this zone and each of the neighboring zones
mass diffusion from each zone into the others, and also causes air
is estimated. In the next step, the share each of the neighboring
to diffuse into zone 1 and fuel to diffuse from zone 1 into the other
zones in the mass transfer is specified. The total transferred mass
zones. Fick’s law of diffusion is used to calculate the rate of mass
is divided into two parts, with the first part entering (or leaving)
diffusion between the different zones [31]. Eq. (18) is Fick’s law
zone 2, and the second part entering (or leaving) zone n  2. The
of mass diffusion, which is used in this study. Eq. (19) is used to
quantity of each part is estimated by the ratio of the interface area
calculate the rate of diffusion of mass transfer.
between that zone and zone 1. After calculating the transferred
dm dq mass between these three zones, the equations are solved for zone
¼ ADm ð18Þ
dt dx 2 and for the other zones. A similar mass transfer sub-model was
used previously to calculate the bulk mass transfer between zones
dmði; j; kÞ ðmði;kÞ
VðiÞ
 mðj;kÞ
VðjÞ
Þ [32,33].
¼ Aði; jÞ  Dm ðj; kÞ  ð19Þ
dt disði; jÞ
Dmolei ¼ molei;new  molei;old ð25Þ
In Eq. (19), I and j refer to ith and jth zones, respectively, and k
!
refers to the kth species. The density gradient of the kth species in X
i1
the ith and jth zones causes its movement between these zones. if Dmolei  moletranðj;iÞ < 0 then
After calculating the diffusion of each species from each zone into j¼1

other zones, the total mass and composition of each zone are !
recalculated. X
i1
mtranði;iþ1Þ ¼ raðiÞMwðiÞ Dmolei  moletranðj;iÞ ð26Þ
In addition to the mass transfer by the diffusion mechanism, the
j¼1
bulk mass transfer between adjacent zones is considered. This type
of mass transfer occurs when a temperature gradient exists !
X
i1
between zones. When chemical kinetics and thermodynamics mtranði;nz 1Þ ¼ ð1  raðiÞÞMwðiÞ Dmolei  moletranðj;iÞ ð27Þ
equations are solved, the new values for the in-cylinder pressure, j¼1
zonal temperature, and composition are obtained. Then, the new
mass of all the zones, using the equation of state can be calculated mtranði;iþ1Þ
moletranði;iþ1Þ ¼ ð28Þ
by means of the new pressure and temperature values. The trans- MwðiÞ
ferred mass between adjacent zones is equal to the difference
between the old and new zonal mass values. mtranði;nz 1Þ
Eqs. (20)–(24) are used to estimate the mole transfer between
moletranði;nz 1Þ ¼ ð29Þ
MwðiÞ
zones. First, the new moles are calculated for each zone. Due to
the lack of any chemical reaction during mass transfer, the total Ai;iþ1
moles in the combustion chamber remain constant. Therefore, raðiÞ ¼ ð30Þ
ðAi;iþ1 þ Ai;nz 1 Þ
the summation of the new moles of all the zones is equal to that
of the old moles of all the zones. The quantity of new moles of
!
X
i1
the core zone can be calculated using Eq. (24), and the quantities if Dmolei  moletranðj;iÞ > 0 then
of those of other zones are estimated by applying Eq. (23). j¼1
 
mi;new
PV i ¼ Ru Ti i ¼ 1; . . . n ð20Þ mtranði;iþ1Þ mtran;ði;nz 1Þ X
i1
Mwi;new þ ¼ Dmolei  moletranðj;iÞ ð31Þ
Mwði þ 1Þ Mwðnz  1Þ j¼1
Vi V1
  ¼  ð21Þ
mi;new
Ti
m1;new
T1 raðiÞ
Mwi;new Mw1;new mtranði;iþ1Þ ¼ mtranði;nz 1Þ ð32Þ
ð1  raðiÞÞ
mi;old  P 
molei;old ¼ ð22Þ raðiÞ Dmolei  i1
Mwi;old j¼1 moletranðj;iÞ
mtranði;iþ1Þ ¼ raðiÞ ð1raðiÞÞ
ð33Þ
Mwðiþ1Þ
þ Mwðn z 1Þ
T1
molei;new V1
¼ ð23Þ
mole1;new Ti
ð1  raðiÞÞ
Vi mtran;ði;nz 1Þ ¼ mtranði;iþ1Þ ð34Þ
raðiÞ
Xnz
mi;old Xnz
mi;new T1 X nz
Vi
¼ ¼ mole1;new ð24Þ mtranði;iþ1Þ
Mw i;old Mw i;new V 1 Ti moletranði;iþ1Þ ¼ ð35Þ
i¼1 i¼1 i¼1 Mwði þ 1Þ
 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360 355

mtranði;nz 1Þ where C1 is constant and equals to 0.42e8. The radiation heat
moletranði;nz 1Þ ¼ ð36Þ
Mwðnz  1Þ transfer is calculated separately for all zones.

2.4. Heat transfer 2.5. Experimental set-up

In the developed model, heat transfer has three main categories. Experimental data were obtained from the Monash University
The first is a mechanism similar to conduction, which occurs engine research facility. The test engine was an industrial HINO
between neighboring zones, and Fourier’s law is used to calculate W04D diesel engine—a fully instrumented, four-cylinder, four-
the conductive heat transfer between zones. Eq. (37) is employed stroke, water-cooled, direct injection, and naturally aspirated
to compute the conductive heat transfer quantity between zones. engine. The engine was coupled to a Heenan & Froude eddy-
In this equation, ktot is the total conductivity of the zones, which current dynamometer and a Froude-Hofmann V4 dynamometer
is the sum of the laminar and turbulence conductivities. this controller, and the engine specifications are shown in Table 1.
parameter is calculated using Yang and Martin’s method, which The experimental setup has been described in detail in previous
has been used previously for internal combustion engines papers [17,35].
[33,34]. Eqs. (38)–(43) are used to calculate ktot. In these equations,
a is a constant equal to 0.06, j is a Von Karman constant equal to 2.6. Problem-solving algorithm
0.41, and C is the proportionality constant, which yields the char-
acteristic velocity from the engine speed and is equal to 0.015. The multi-zone model was developed to simulate the engine’s
closed loop. The model starts to work at the intake valve closing
dQ i;cond @T (IVC). At each time step, first, the total amount of the injected fuel
¼ ktot A ð37Þ
dt @x is calculated. If injection has not yet started or if it has finished, the
total amount of injected fuel will be equal to zero. The injected fuel
ktot ¼ klam þ ktur ð38Þ
is distributed between the different zones and the total amount of
fuel in these zones is calculated. Then, the first law of thermody-
Prlam ltur
ktur ¼ k ð39Þ namics and chemical kinetics equations are solved simultaneously
Prtur llam lam and the temperature and composition of all the zones are calcu-
ltur   lated. In the next step, the diffusion and bulk mass transfer subrou-
¼ jrþn 1  expð2ajrþn Þ ð40Þ tines and heat transfer subroutine are called and the new
llam
composition of each zone and the energy transfer due to the mass
Z and heat transfers are calculated.
v el rn
r þn ¼ qdrn ð41Þ As mentioned above, the test engine was a four-cylinder engine
lnz 1 0
without exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The developed multi-zone
model is a single-cylinder model, and the experimental exhaust
S
v el ¼ crpm ð42Þ pressure and temperature cannot be used in the numerical model.
30 As such, it is not possible to calculate the initial condition using a
  gas-exchange model. To calculate the in-cylinder pressure, temper-
Prlam þ  
ktot ¼ klam 1 þ jrn 1  expð2ajrþn Þ ð43Þ ature, and composition at IVC, the percentage of the in-cylinder
Prtur
internal EGR is calculated using the experimental values of volu-
The second part of the heat transfer process is convection. Con- metric efficiency. To calculate the composition of the internal
vective heat transfer occurs between the fuel and air mixture in the EGR, the multi-zone model results at the exhaust valve opening
boundary layer zone and the wall of the combustion chamber. The (EVO) was employed. Therefore, the multi-zone model was run
convective heat transfer is zero for all other zones. Eq. (44) is twice for each case. First, the in-cylinder composition was consid-
employed to estimate the convective heat transfer. The main ered to be pure air and the model was run from IVC to EVO. In the
parameter in this equation is h, the convective heat transfer coef- second loop, the in-cylinder composition was corrected using the
ficient. In this study, the convective heat transfer coefficient is cal- in-cylinder composition at the EVO of the previous loop and the
culated using Annand’s correlation, as expressed in Eq. (45). percentage of the internal EGR. This problem-solving algorithm is
! shown in Fig. 2.
dQ BL;conv pD2 4V tot
¼ hðT w  T BL Þ þ ð44Þ
dt 2 D
3. Results and discussion

k C2 The developed model was validated against experimental data

h ¼ C1 Re ð45Þ
D to determine its accuracy. Three different operating conditions of
C1 and C2 are constants equal to 0.48 and 0.7, respectively. Rey- the experiments conducted on the HINO engine were selected to
nolds number is calculated using boundary layer characteristics
and piston mean speed. Two random cases of engine operating
Table 1
conditions are used for estimating C1 and C2. Engine specifications.
The third part of the heat transfer process is radiation. Particu-
late matter may be produced during combustion and expansion in Engine type Hino

the diesel engines, therefore the use of a radiation heat transfer Displacement volume (l) 4.009
sub-model is necessary to simulate the operation of diesel engines. Number of cylinders 4
Bore (cm) 10.4
In this study, we used the radiation correlation shown in Eq. (46): Stroke (cm) 11.8
! Needle opening pressure (bar) 215
dQ i;rad pD2 4V tot Compression ratio 17.9
¼ C 1 ðT 4w  T 4i Þ þ i ¼ 1; n  1 ð46Þ Nozzle holes (mm) 5  0.29
dt 2 D
Combustion chamber Bowl in piston
356 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360

Fig. 2. Algorithm for problem solving.

be modeled to predict the engine combustion, performance, and
emission characteristics. These conditions are in a wide range of
operating conditions, i.e., engine speeds and air-fuel ratios, as pre-
sented in Table 2.
Fig. 3 shows the experimental and numerical pressure histories
of the examined cases. As indicated in the figure, the model predic-
tions and experimental data are in good agreement. The maximum
model uncertainties for the peak pressure value and its position
predictions are less than 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively. The accurate
prediction of the in-cylinder pressure is attributed to the accurate
calculation of the heat release rate. The heat release rate versus the
crank-angle degree is shown in Fig. 4 for different cases. This figure
 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360 357

Table 2
Engine operating conditions for three considered cases.

Case number rpm PIVC (bar) Air-fuel ratio Volumetric Efficiency

1 1200 1.379 27.22 93.065
2 1600 1.344 37.73 93.28
3 1800 1.343 51.36 96.98

Fig. 4. Variation of heat release rate versus crank position for different cases.

Fig. 3. Comparison of experimental and calculated pressure traces for examined

cases.

shows that there are two steps in the heat release process includ-
ing the premixed heat release and the diffusion heat release. After
an ignition delay, premixed combustion occurs and when it is com-
pleted, the diffusion combustion begins. While premixed combus-
tion is rapid, diffusion combustion happens slowly. As indicated in
Fig. 4, the developed multi-zone model can predict both the pre-
Fig. 5. Heat release rate and pressure traces with and without diffusion mass
mixed and diffusion combustion modes. transfer.
358 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360
Fig. 6. Zonal mass distributions for case 2.
Fig. 7. Zonal fuel distributions for case 2.
This level of accuracy in predicting the in-cylinder pressure is
achieved by using a suitable mass transfer model in the developed
multi-zone combustion model. The inclusion of the mutual pene-
tration of the diffusion mass transfer of fuel and air allows for
the accurate estimation of the fuel mass in different zones. Fig. 5
shows the pressure and heat release rate traces with and without
using the diffusion mass transfer sub-model (Fick’s first law) for
case 2. As shown in this figure, the cumulative heat release is
reduced when the diffusion mass transfer is neglected. Without
diffusion mass transfer, the fuel, which is injected into the different
zones, burns during the premixed combustion phase such that,
using bulk mass transfer, only a small amount of fuel leaves zone
1 and enters other zones, that causes a lower diffusion heat release.
The reduced heat release decreases the in-cylinder peak pressure
and causes a sharp reduction of pressure during expansion.
In addition to the diffusion mass transfer, bulk mass transfer is
considered in the cylinder. When combustion occurs in a zone, its
Table 3
Numerical and experimental values of engine exhaust emissions.
Case number Exp. soot (mg)
1 25.9
2 17.1
3 –
Fig. 8. Soot and NOx traces vs. crank angle degree for case 2.
temperature increases, which causes mass transfer from this zone
to the others. The energy transferred from hot zones to the cold
zones results in combustion in the cold zones. Meanwhile, the bulk
and diffusion mass transfers affect the engine exhaust emissions.
Using the mass transfer sub-model, the mass leaves the hotter
and inner zones due to the rise in the in-cylinder pressure during
the compression and combustion processes, and enters into the
colder zones. In the colder zones, fuel is not ignited due to the
lower temperature. The fuel accumulated in the cold regions
causes soot formation and decreases the predicted NOx values.
Fig. 6 shows the mass distribution in different zones of the com-
bustion chamber for case 2. In addition to the total mass distribu-
tion, the fuel mass distribution in the combustion chamber has a
critical effect on the combustion prediction. Fig. 7 shows the fuel
mass distribution in the different zones, whereby the main portion
of the fuel enters to the first zone (the fuel jet region) and then it
transfers to the other zones from this zone.
Table 3 evaluates the numerical and experimental engine
exhaust emissions for all of the examined cases. It can be
Num. soot (mg) Exp. NOx (mg) Num. NOx (mg)
23.1 1211 1156
16.9 428 484
4.7 348 379
 E. Neshat et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 121 (2017) 351–360
Fig. 9. Zonal temperature distribution of case 2.
Fig. 10. In-cylinder pressure curves for different numbers of zones for case 2.
concluded from this table that the model can accurately predict
exhaust soot and NOx emissions. Fig. 8 shows the variation of in-
cylinder NOx and soot during the engine’s closed loop for case 2.
Soot particulates are generated in the fuel rich regions during
low-temperature reactions and are consumed during high-
temperature reactions. NOx is produced during high-temperature
reactions, and then it is frozen when in-cylinder temperature
decreases.
With respect to the zonal temperatures, as shown in Fig. 9, the
peak temperature is higher in the rich zones (zone 1 and 2), but
combustion starts earlier in the other zones. Fig. 9 indicates that
combustion started in zone 7 earlier than the other zones. Zone 7
is located far away from the fuel jet and premixed combustion
has occurred there. Dec’s conceptual model shows that combustion
first starts in zones far from the fuel jet, and the results of the
developed model are in good agreement with Dec’s model [36].
Selecting, a suitable number of zones, which can predict engine
emissions and performance accurately and needs to lower running
time, different numbers were used as number of zones. Fig. 10
shows in-cylinder pressure trace for three different zone numbers.
As it is shown in this figure, 6, 10, and 16 are used as zone num-
bers. The main purpose of using different zone numbers is produc-
ing results, which are independent of zone number. Results show
that using 10 zones, in-cylinder pressure can be predicted as
359
Table 4
Calculated engine exhaust emissions using different zone numbers for case 2.
nz Soot (mg) NOx (mg)
6 16.51 573
10 16.9 484
16 16.95 468
accurate as using 16 zones. Table 4 shows calculated exhaust emis-
sions comparison to experimental values for different zone num-
bers. A comprehensive review of the results of Table 4 and
Fig. 10 indicates that both 10 and 16 can be used as number of
zones. In addition to accuracy, another important factor is runtime.
Runtime of problem solving for 16 zones is close to 2 times higher
than 10 zones. Trade of between accuracy and runtime, caused to
finally 10 used as number of zones.
4. Conclusion
In this paper, a new multi-zone model was developed for simu-
lating the diesel engine. This model contains the conductive heat
transfer between zones, the convective heat transfer between the
boundary layer and the cylinder walls, and the bulk and diffusion
mass transfers between the zones. A semi-detailed chemical kinet-
ics mechanism containing 76 species and 327 reactions was
employed to calculate the fuel burning rate at each time step. Fick’s
law was used to calculate the diffusion rate of different species into
each zone. The model results were compared with from the corre-
sponding experimental data. In summary, the most important
results of the study are as follows:

The model results are in good agreement with experimental
data in predicting the in-cylinder pressure, the start of combus-
tion, and the engine exhaust emissions containing NOx and soot.

The bulk and diffusion mass transfers affect the engine exhaust
emissions. Using the bulk mass transfer sub-model, the mass
leaves the hotter and inner zones due to the rise in the in-
cylinder pressure during the compression and combustion pro-
cesses, and enters into the colder zones. Using the diffusion
mass transfer sub-model, fuel and air diffuse in each other
and cause diffusion combustion after the end of premixed
combustion.

Multi zone model shows that combustion first starts in zones
far from the fuel jet, and the results of the developed model
are in good agreement with Dec’s model.
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