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LES Calculations of a Four Cylinder Engine

Conference Paper  in  SAE Technical Papers · April 2011

DOI: 10.4271/2011-01-0832

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LES Calculations of a Four Cylinder Engine
Olivier Laget, Benjamin Reveille, Lionel Martinez, Karine Truffin, Chawki Habchi and
Christian Angelberger
IFP Energies nouvelles
ABSTRACT
A full 3D Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of a four-stroke,
four-cylinder engine, performed with the AVBP-LES code, is
presented in this paper.
The drive for substantial CO2 reductions in gasoline engines
in the light of the global energy crisis and environmental
awareness has increased research into gasoline engines and
increased fuel efficiencies. Precise prediction of
aerodynamics, mixing, combustion and pollutant formation
are required so that CFD may actively contribute to the
improvement/optimization of combustion chamber, intake/
exhaust ducts and manifold shapes and volumes which all
contribute to the global performance and efficiency of an
engine.
One way to improve engine efficiency is to reduce the cycle
to cycle variability, through an improved understanding of
their sources and effects. The conventional RANS approach
does not allow addressing non-cyclic phenomena as it aims to
compute the average cycle. LES on the other hand is
particularly well suited to study unsteady flow effects and
grants access to the description of cyclic variations. When
considering multi-cylinder engines, cylinder to cylinder
interactions are crucial issues. Consequently, the whole
engine has to be represented for a fully realistic simulation.
The present study aims at illustrating the innovative usage of
LES to reproduce and understand unsteady flow interactions
between the cylinders of a four cylinder gasoline engine. To
achieve this purpose, more than nine cycles of the full engine
were computed. The computational domain covers the whole
geometry, including four combustion chambers as well as the
intake and exhaust ducts and manifolds. Details on the
2011-01-0832
Published
04/12/2011
Copyright © 2011 SAE International
doi:10.4271/2011-01-0832
methodology used - based on the AVBP LES code - and on
the results obtained are given. Cylinder to cylinder and cycle
to cycle discrepancies are shown and Fourier analysis is used
to understand the cylinder to cylinder influence.
INTRODUCTION
The aim of the present study was to perform, using AVBP
[1], [2], the LES computation of a multi-cylinder engine so as
to gain access to information pertaining to cycle to cycle and
cylinder to cylinder discrepancies. This paper describes the
methodology which was set up in order to perform such
computations along with several results and post-processings
highlighting LES's ability to provide insight on engine
variability. Prior to the realization of this computation much
work was needed to set up the multi-cylinder meshes,
boundary and initial conditions. It is described hereafter.
The present study benefits greatly from the work performed
by O. Vermorel [3], [4], [5], which was dedicated to LES
computations of a single cylinder engine (with AVBP). The
family of single cylinder meshes generated during this
previous study was used as a basis for the set up of the
present geometry and was completed in order to build the
multi-cylinder mesh family. Indeed, considering the multi-
cylinder engine and several specificities of such an engine
imposed several choices in terms of mesh generation
methodology and the number of requested meshes. The
various stages of the work are detailed in the present paper.
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ENGINE CHARACTERISTICS AND Table 2. Multi-cylinder specificities

MULTI-CYLINDER SPECIFICITIES
GEOMETRICAL DATA
The engine used to perform the computations is a naturally
aspired in-line four cylinder engine with four valves by
cylinder as illustrated in Figure 1. It is representative of
powertrains sold in current vehicles. The geometrical
characteristics are given in Table 1:

Table 1. Engine geometrical data

Figure 2. Valve lifts (2 intake valves & 2exhaust valves

per cylinder) and piston motion

Figure 1. Global view of the multi-cylinder engine
geometry
MULTI-CYLINDER SPECIFICITIES
If the cylinders are numbered from 1 to 4 considering their
position on the crank shaft, the conventional firing order is
1-3-4-2 with an angular shift of 180°CA between cylinders.
That implies that if the firing of the first cylinder occurs at the
crank angle 0 then the firing of the cylinder 3 will occur
180°CA later, that of cylinder 4 360°CA later and finally that
of cylinder 2 will occur 540°CA after the spark ignition of the
cylinder 1. The opening and closing of the valves along with
the piston position are completely defined by the firing order.
As a consequence, the multi-cylinder meshes are built by
assembling the diphased (firing order) and translated (93mm
between each cylinder center) single cylinder meshes as
illustrated in Table 2:
Figure 2 gives the lifts of all the valves and the kinematics of
the pistons during an engine cycle centered on the
combustion TDC of the cylinder 1. Diphased by 360 CA,
cylinders 1 and 4 possess the same kinematics, as do
cylinders 2 and 3.
It may be noticed that even if the architecture of the studied
engine is really conventional, the geometry is not the one of
an existing engine. It was created for the study. It is a virtual
configuration representative of real engine configurations. No
experimental data are available. The development of the
methodology and the realization of the computations were the
aim of the study.
OPERATING POINT
The operating point selected for the simulation is a 2000
RPM medium load fueled with propane. The fuel/air mixture
is supposed homogeneous at a fuel/air equivalence ratio equal
to 0.7. This mixture is fixed as the fresh gas at the inlet of the
computational domain.
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Figure 3. Simulation decomposition into iso-topological phases for mesh movement.
AVBP SOFTWARE SPECIFICITIES
AND DEVELOPMENTS
Computations are performed with version 6.0 of the AVBP
code [6] which is co owned and co developed by CERFACS
and IFP Energies nouvelles. AVBP is a fully compressible
and explicit code that solves the multi-species reactive
Navier-Stokes equations with realistic thermochemistry on
hybrid unstructured, moving grids. AVBP is particularly well
suited for exploiting the potential of massively parallel
machines, using a domain decomposition method based on
MPI.
For the present calculations, convective terms were
discretized using a second order finite volume Lax-Wendroff
scheme. Sub-grid stresses were modeled by a constant
coefficient Smagorinsky model. Premixed combustion was
addressed using the ECFM-LES model [1,4], combined with
an evolution of the spark ignition model AKTIM-LES [1, 8].
The code also includes Eulerian [10, 11, 12] and Lagrangian
models for liquid sprays, which were not needed in the
present computations.
For the multi-cylinder application major evolutions of the
code were required and implemented by the CaMPaS Project
partners:
• An algorithm for the mesh movement of an arbitrary
number of pistons and valves
• A parallel high order 3D solutions interpolator from one
mesh to another
• An ignition model capable of multi-location ignitions
ISSIM-LES [8]
MESH MOVEMENT ALGORITHM AND
REMAP STRATEGY
The complexity of 3D modeling of a multi-cylinder engine
lies partly in the good representation of the motions of all the
mobile parts while maintaining an adequate mesh (fine
enough and not too deformed). Mesh movement in AVBP is
based on the CTI algorithm which interpolates between 2 iso-
topology meshes during a phase (c.f. Figure 3). The engine
cycle is therefore decomposed into a certain number of
phases. The exact number of phases depends mostly on 2
things:
• The number of maximal kinematic positions: maximum
valve lift angles, TDC and BDC of each piston;
• The number of topological changes required;
◦ one per IVO, IVC, EVO, EVC;
◦ one per addition or substraction of cell layers in the
valve curtains or squish region (between piston and
cylinder head) to take into account deformation
(expansion or compression of cells due to the various
patch movements) while maintaining correct cell sizes (to
capture the physical phenomena at stake) and quality.
Due to the symmetry of the intake and exhaust valve laws the
number of phases for this particular application can be
reduced.
In between phases, the new parallel high order 3D
interpolator is used to project the solution from the end of the
current phase to the initial mesh of the next phase (see Figure
3).
The CTI algorithm, a weighted pseudo-Laplacian solver,
already present in AVBP was upgraded so as to iterate on the
grid node velocities with an improved weight function and
stronger conditioning. The main benefits of the upgrade are:
• Cope with an arbitrary number of moving patches (which
was required given the 16 valves and 4 pistons);
• Improve mesh movement stability (i.e. reduce CPU cost of
the iterative algorithm);
• Improve mesh deformation quality especially during valve
closing. This has a doubly beneficial impact as better quality
is better for the solver stability and also helps increase the
time steps (due to the fact that AVBP is explicit) which
directly impact on CPU time/cost.
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Figure 4. Example of group and part definition considering the multi-cylinder engine
ISSIM-LES IGNITION MODEL
ISSIM-LES [8] is a spark ignition model for LES of aero-
engines and piston engines. It is based on the flame surface
density (FSD) approach ECFM-LES [8] developed for LES
of premixed turbulent flames. Unlike its predecessor model
AKTIMEuler [4], ISSIM-LES is fully based on a continuous
description of premixed spark-ignition and combustion. This
allows it to describe multi-spark ignitions, the effect of
convection and turbulence stretch in a more realistic way.
Besides, an electrical circuit model, based on the description
provided by AKTIM 9], defines the electrical power
transferred to the gas during the spark life as well as the
initial burnt gases profile. After the spark timing, the reaction
rate is directly controlled by the flame surface density
equation (FSD) the source terms of which are modified to
correctly represent the flame surface growth. During early
ignition, the flame radius remains smaller than the
combustion filter size. For this reason the flame kernel is
described at the subgrid scale level so that the FSD creation
by the subgrid scale curvature must be appropriately
accounted for. For this purpose, the FSD equation is modified
so that the resolved contribution is replaced by an appropriate
subgrid model. A spark source term is also added to account
for the flame holder effect as long as a spark exists. As the
flame kernel size increases, the standard FSD equation is
progressively recovered.
POST-PROSSESSING BY PART
A specific post processing is needed for the multi-cycle
simulation of a full engine. For this purpose, the mesh has
been divided into groups. Six groups have been created for
this simulation: intake, exhaust and one group for each
cylinder. Each group is then subdivided into parts. There are
five parts for each cylinder. The subdivision is presented in
Figure 4. This post-processing permits to easily compare data
(mean, maximum and minimum) such as aerodynamics or
combustion between groups and/or parts on each cycle. It is
then possible, for example, to analyze the discrepancies of
volumetric efficiency, tumble or mean pressure between the
cylinders. The results presented in this work use this post-
processing.
MESH GENERATION
To reduce as much as possible the meshing work performed,
the choice was made to generate the meshes of the multi-
cylinder configuration by assembling 4 single cylinders with
the plenum and the exhaust manifold (this assembling was
carried out using the tool HIP developed by J. Mueller and
the CERFACS). This methodology insures that all the
cylinders are identical and allows to build only one family of
single-cylinder meshes, that required for a complete cycle.
For each instant of the multi-cylinder cycle the 4
corresponding instants for each cylinder is taken from the
single-cylinder mesh family and dispatched in the adequate
geometrical position, using HIP. In order to do so it is
necessary to insure that the surface meshes at the end of the
exhaust and intake pipes are all identical from one mesh to
the other. Moreover, the location of these surface meshes
nodes must coincide with the corresponding nodes on the
extremity of the pipes on the intake plenum and exhaust
manifold (see Figure 5). This guarantees a precise (because
the node coincide) assembly of the single-cylinder meshes
with the intake plenum and the exhaust manifold and the
interchangeability cylinder to cylinder for the generation of
the multi-cylinder meshes.
The single cylinder meshes were built on the basis of an
existing mesh family already used by Vermorel et al [4] in
the European project LESSCO2 (first LES multi-cycle single
cylinder computations). The original family of meshes
consisted of 20 phases (i.e. 40 meshes). In order to take into
account the multi-cylinder specificities (cylinder to cylinder
evolution of topology and cell size of meshes with an angular
shift as described before), this mesh family was modified and
several different stages were added corresponding to
noticeable events occurring in each single cylinder and their
consequences on the three other diphased cylinders. The
following table (Table 3) shows the different existing phases
(black), the new phases (red) and those which were reused (in
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Figure 5. Schematic representation of the multi-cylinder meshes building. Assembling single cylinder meshes with those of
intake and exhaust plena
green). In all, 18 new phases were added (25 new single
cylinder meshes) to the group of meshes used to compute a
single cylinder engine cycle. Thus, the multi-cylinder engine
cycle is divided into 36 phases and consequently 72 different
meshes.
Table 3. Meshes needed for single cylinder computation
and consequences on the three other cylinders of the
multi-cylinder engine
Listing the single cylinder meshes which are necessary to
compute a multi-cylinder engine adds up to 36 phases and 54
different meshes for the representation of a single cylinder
engine cycle (some phases do not need re-meshing i.e. the
mesh at the end of a phase can be the same as the initial of
the next one for example when a maxima is reached for a
patch movement). Consequently a multi-cylinder engine
cycle will be described by the same 36 phases but needs 72
different multi-cylinder meshes (re-meshing of at least one
single cylinder at each stage). The validity of the single
cylinder meshes was tested during the computation of a
single cylinder engine cycle before building the multi-
cylinder meshes (not presented in the present paper). The
multi stage mesh assembly of the multi-cylinder meshes is
described below:
• Translation of the single cylinders in order to place them in
the frame of the multi-cylinder engine (3 translations for each
multi-cylinder mesh);
• Modifying the name of each boundary faces in order to
distinguish the boundary conditions of each cylinder
individually (4 pistons, 16 valves);
• Assembling the meshes of the intake plenum the exhaust
manifold and each modified single cylinder (translated and
boundary patch names modified);
• Reorganization for each complete mesh of the order of the
40 boundary patches.
Hereafter are given the numbers of cells for the different parts
of the multi-cylinder mesh:
• Number of hexahedral cells of each single cylinder:
◦ BDC=610 000 cells
◦ TDC=255 000 cells
• Intake plenum = 48 000 cells
• Exhaust manifold=327 000 cells
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All the different meshes are constituted with cells with edges ◦ Cylinder 4 : TDC Combustion, burnt gases, P=19.138
of length lower than the millimeter and a mean volume bar, T=1156K
included between 0.5 and 1 mm3. ◦ Intake Plenum : fresh gases, P=0.528 bar, T=304K
The multi-cylinder meshes (an example is shown in Figure 6) ◦ Exhaust manifold: burnt gases, P=0.972 bar, T=813K
possess a number of cells varying between the two following
extrema: The different zones are geometrically identified with
separating planes located at the ends of the pipes.
• Maximum : 2.7 Millions of cells
• Minimum : 2.4 Millions of cells
• Mean : 2.5 Millions of cells

Figure 7. Pressure initialization

Figure 6. Example of multi-cylinder mesh

INITIAL AND BOUNDARY

CONDITIONS
INITIAL CONDITIONS
Concerning the initiation, it was chosen, for simplicity
reasons, to set uniform initialization in each cylinder
(composition, temperature and pressure…). These values
were chosen in order to be in accordance with the conditions
encountered in the engine when the intake valve opening
occurs in the 1st cylinder. They were taken from mean values
obtained during the single-cylinder computation performed
before. The conditions in the intake and exhaust manifolds Figure 8. Temperature initialization
were then extrapolated from experimental data (single
cylinder with close geometry) and smoothed to be in good
agreement with the conditions set in the different cylinders. BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
Finally, the fluid is considered at rest at the beginning of the The boundary conditions, wall temperatures of pipes and
computation. As a convention the cylinders are numbered combustion chambers, were set identical to those of the
from 1 to 4 starting from the cylinder furthest from the intake single-cylinder computation [1]. The intake plenum, is
plenum inlet. The different conditions are summarized below: supposed to be cooler due to the fresh gases flowing through
it and the exhaust manifold, maintained at a high temperature
• Fluid at rest (null velocity)
by the exhaust hot gases flow is supposed to be warmer.
• Pressure, temperature and gas composition specific to each Smoothing functions (c.f. below) are used along the intake
“zones” (locally uniform see Figure 7 and Figure 8): and exhaust pipes to connect wall temperatures between the
cylinders and the intake plenum and exhaust manifold.
◦ Cylinder 1 : IVO (−355°CA), Burnt gases, P=0.751 bar,
T=813K
The conditions in terms of pressure and temperature at the
◦ Cylinder 2 : BDC Intake, fresh gases (no residual burnt entrance (intake plenum) and the exit (exhaust manifold) of
gases), P=0.501 bar, T=304 K the computational domain were extrapolated from single-
cylinder experimental data and are listed below:
◦ Cylinder 3 : BDC Exhaust, burnt gases, P=1.001bar,
T=813K • Pressure, temperature at entrance and exit:
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◦ Intake plenum entrance: P=0.528 bar, T=304 K, Fresh
gases (Homogeneous mixture of propane and air at F/A
equivalence ratio=0.7). The intake pressure is below
atmospheric pressure as partial load operating point is
modeled here. The conditions set at the entrance of the
computational domain are close to real conditions which
can be encounter on similar engine just after the throttle
valve used to control the gas flow rate admitted in the
engine.
◦ Exit : P=1.115 bar, T=813 K, Burnt gases (resulting
from a complete ideal combustion of the propane and air
mixture at a Fuel/air equivalence ratio equal to 0.7).
• Wall temperature conditions (see Figure 9):
◦ Intake Plenum = 329 K
◦ Exhaust manifold = 500 K
◦ Cylinder liner, cylinder head and pipes = 450 K
◦ Piston = 500 K
◦ Smoothing for the transition from pipes to intake
plenum or exhaust manifold using a hyperbolic tangent
function between given planes as exposed below:
Where for the intake side: a = 0.94, c = 0.34, d = −127.09,
Tmoy = 389.5 et ΔT = 60.5 And for exhaust side: a =
−0.93, c = 0.36, d = −129.25, Tmoy = 475 et ΔT = 25
Figure 9. Boundary conditions in terms of wall
temperatures. Showing the smoothing from the pipes to
the plena
COMPUTATIONS AND RESULTS
SET UP
38 numerical probes were distributed in the computational
domain (Figure 10), so as to gain access to local
thermodynamic information, located as follows:
• Intake and exhaust pipes of each cylinder
• Intake plenum : entrance of pipes, inlet and contraction
• Exhaust manifold : junctions from 4 to 2 pipes, expansion
and exit
• Each cylinder (spark plug)
Figure 10. Location of numerical probes
As a first step, 3 motored engine cycles (without combustion)
were computed. The aim being to initiate the dynamics in the
computational domain set at rest at the beginning of the
computation. At the end of these 3 first cycles, the ignition
model ISSIM was activated and fictitious species (needed for
combustion model) added. Then the computations were
carried on until the 6th cycle with combustion (in all 24
ignitions) giving at the present time a total of 9 engine cycles
computed.
RESULTS AND SOME EXAMPLES OF
POST-PROCESSING
The 3D velocity field during the motored cycles shows a
strong backflow at the opening of exhaust valves. Indeed, the
fact that there is no combustion induces that there is no
pressure increase in the combustion chamber and
consequently a low pressure (∼equal to that of the intake) at
the end of expansion stroke. Hence, at the exhaust valve
opening the combustion chamber there is a pressure drop
between the exhaust manifold and the combustion chamber,
the “exhaust gases being therefore readmitted. When
combustion is activated the exhaust occurs directly at the
exhaust valve opening. In Figure 12 the combustion is in
progress in cylinder 2 and the exhaust valve opening is in
progress in cylinder 4. The velocity field on the exhaust side
of cylinder 4 can be compared at the crank angle degree of
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the engine cycle with that obtained during the last motored
cycle (Figure 11).

Figure 13. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with

combustion)

Figure 11. Velocity field during the 3rd cycle (last

motored cycle)

Figure 14. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with

combustion)

Figure 12. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with

combustion)

Figure 13, Figure 14, Figure 15, Figure 16, Figure 17, Figure
18, Figure 19, Figure 20 illustrate the evolution of
combustion in cylinder 2 (10°CA between the figures) during
the 9th cycle (6th cycle with combustion) along with the
other phenomena in the entire domain due to the activity in
the other cylinders. The 1st cylinder is at the end of the intake
stroke (the velocity is low in the intake pipes, the pressure Figure 15. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with
between the intake manifold and the combustion chamber is combustion)
almost at the equilibrium). The 3rd cylinder is at the “valve
overlap” (end of exhaust stroke and beginning of the intake
stroke). The velocity in the exhaust pipes of this cylinder
decreases (exhaust valve closure at 5575°CA) and the
progressive increase of the velocity on the intake side (Intake
valve opening at 5595°CA) can be observed from the
cylinder propagating toward the plenum). The 4th cylinder is
at the beginning of the exhaust stroke. The high velocities
generated in the exhaust pipes of cylinder 4 gradually disturb
the flow in the pipes of cylinder 1 (Figure 13 and Figure 14)
but also of cylinder 3 where the valves remain open from the
beginning of the sequence to 5575°CA.
Figure 16. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with
combustion)
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Figure 17. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with

combustion)

Figure 18. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with

combustion)

Figure 21. Flame front 25 CAd before combustion TDC

in each cylinder during the 6th and 9th cycles.

Figure 19. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with

combustion)

Figure 22. Cycle to cycle and cylinder to cylinder

pressure evolution.

Figure 20. Velocity fields during the 9th cycle (with

combustion)
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frequency of 15170 Hz. Figure 24 shows that all the cylinders

possess the same frequency content. Indeed, the frequencies
constituting the pressure signals are multiples of half the
frequency due to the engine velocity (33 Hz). This half
frequency is the results of 4 valve openings occurring
homogeneously every 2 engine revolutions. The amplitude of
the harmonics decreases when the frequency increases. The
amplitudes of cylinders 3 and 4 (close to intake plenum inlet)
are larger (whatever the considered frequency) than those
observed for cylinders 1 and 2 (The 2nd cylinder being that
which possesses the lowest energy content i.e. the worst in
terms of volumetric efficiency). Such an analysis can help
redesign the intake plenum (pipe positions etc…) in order to
homogenize each cylinder's volumetric efficiency.

Figure 23. Cycle to cycle and cylinder to cylinder Figure 24. FFT of the pressure signals of each cylinder
evolution of cylinder pressure (Crank angle modulo
720°CA, low-pass filter 500hz)
The evolutions of the pressure and the axial velocity in the
first exhaust pipe of the first cylinder (numerical probe 4, cf.
The evolution of the cylinder pressures cylinder to cylinder Figure 10) highlight the transition between motored and fired
and cycle to cycle (Figure 22 and Figure 23) show some conditions. Indeed, when looking a 100°CA width sliding
heterogeneities during the motored engine stage. Then once mean values, an increase of the exhaust pressure (Figure 25)
combustion is activated, these heterogeneities are when switching from motored to fired is clearly identified.
exacerbated. Figure 23 shows the envelope and mean value of Moreover, the backflow observed on the 3D fields at EVO
the 24 pressure traces from the computed combustion cycles. during motored cycles switches to a pressure drop induced
The heterogeneities observed on the in-cylinder pressure exhaust flow when the engine is fired before being followed
traces are partly due to the way the combustion occurs in by a piston motion driven exhaust.
each cylinder and during each engine cycles. The flame fronts
in the various cylinders are shown in Figure 21 during the 6th
and the 9th engine cycles at the exact same moment in the
cycle: 25°CA before combustion TDC and illustrate the
cylinder to cylinder and cycle to cycle variations of the flame
propagation.

In order to compute the fast Fourier transform of the pressure

signals for each cylinder, it was necessary to perform a re-
sampling of the row signals. A simple linear re-sampling was
chosen, decreasing the number of points down to 214 with a
constant time step on 6480°CA at 2000 RPM. This induces a
frequency accuracy of 1.85 Hz and a maximal detectable
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Figure 25. Pressure evolution in the first exhaust duct of
the first cylinder.
Figure 26. Axial velocity evolution in the first exhaust
duct of the first cylinder.
The FFT of the pressure signal was performed first on the 3
first cycles (motored engine, Figure 27) and then on the three
last computed engine cycles with combustion (Figure 28).
For the two post-processings the temporal window was
chosen equal to 2160°CA inducing a frequency accuracy of
almost 5.556 Hz. In both cases the double and quadruple
frequency of the engine velocity (33 Hz) are relevant. That
shows that the exhaust of a given cylinder is influenced by
the opening and the closing of the valves of all the other
cylinders. Moreover, activating the combustion induces the
increase of the energy content of half the engines frequency
(that due only to the exhaust of the corresponding cylinder).
Hence, the cylinder to cylinder interactions on the exhaust
side can greatly influence the exhaust stroke of a given
cylinder.
Figure 27. FFT of the pressure in first exhaust duct of
first cylinder (motored cycles)
Figure 28. FFT of the pressure in first exhaust duct of
first cylinder (3 last engine cycles with combustion)
The evolution of the axial velocity at the intake plenum
entrance (numerical probe 29, cf. Figure 10) is plotted in
Figure 29. Activating the combustion induces an increase
(absolute value) of the velocity. Indeed, the combustion
induces a correct scavenging of the combustion chambers and
as a consequence the increase of the admitted fresh gas
amount.
The frequency content of this velocity signal is simpler than
that observed in the exhaust pipe. The velocity at the entrance
of the computational domain is simply affected by the
opening and the closing of the intake valves of the different
cylinders (4 opening for each engine cycle giving twice the
frequency due to the engine speed).
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Figure 29. Axial velocity evolution at computational
domain entrance.
Figure 30. FFT of axial velocity.
SCALING AND COMPUTATIONAL
TIME
Most of the computations run during the present study were
performed on the CINES' superscalar machine JADE (a 147
Tflop/s SGI Altix ICE 8200 supercomputer consisting of
1536 dual quad-core nodes, i.e. 12288 cores, with an
Infiniband interconnect). The number of processors used was
varied from 128 up to 320 on some engine cycles. The
following table gives the computational return time (elapsed
time) for each engine cycle. The mean number of processors
indicated result from an averaged weighted by the time spent
to compute each stage (always computed with a constant
number of processors) of the engine cycle. Looking at the
mean number of cells of meshes (2500000), it seems that the
optimal number of processors to use is equal to 256 with the
AVBP version used here. Scaling optimizations were then
performed on the software in order to increase the optimal
number of processors (decrease the number of cells
distributed on each processor). These optimizations are now
available in the latest version of AVBP (version 6.1.4) which
is actually tested on the same case of study and shows
promising results by dividing the return times by 2.5 on 512
processors.
Table 4. Return time for each computed cycle (1 to 3
motored engine, 4 to 9 with combustion)
SUMMARY/CONCLUSIONS
In the present study the first multi-cycle LES computation of
a multi-cylinder spark ignited engine is presented. The
methodology used to set it up and the developments of the
LES code that were required to carry out this simulation are
listed below:
• Generating a family of single cylinder meshes compatible
with the multi-cylinder events
• The methodology for building multi-cylinder meshes by
assembling different parts of the engine
• A more stable and generalized mesh movement algorithm
which could cope with an arbitrary number of moving
patches.
• A new multi localization spark plug ignition model
• Set up of realistic boundary and initial conditions
3 motored cycles were computed followed by 6 fired cycles.
The post-processing of the results, even if still partial,
demonstrates the interest of such computations. Indeed, the
cylinder to cylinder influence, which it reveals, cannot be
neglected and intake plenum or the exhaust manifold can be
optimized in order to increase the balance between each
cylinder. Moreover, the cyclic and cylinder to cylinder
variability can be observed. The statistic study of such
phenomena, needed to improve their understanding and to
find their origins requires that more combustion cycles be
computed.
This papers shows that complex systems such as a multi-
cycle multi-cylinder configuration may now be computed
with rapid return times compatible with industry needs while
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providing insight to phenomena that remain yet to master in conditions, 11th ICLASS International Conference on Liquid
order to fine tune engine geometries, performance and Atomization and Spray Systems, (2009)
efficiency.
12. Martinez, L., Benkenida, A., Cuenot, B., “A model for
the injection boundary conditions in the context of 3D
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Parallel Computing of Flows in Complex Geometries - Part The LES multi-cylinder multi-cycle simulation was carried
2: Applications”. Comput. Sci. Disc. 2 015004, (2009) out in the frame of the CaMPaS project under grant ANR-06-
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Validation of the eulerian mesoscopic approach in particle -
charged homogeneous isotropic decaying turbulence in the LES
scope of large eddy simulation of fuel sprays, 11th ICLASS Large Eddy Simulation
International Conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray
Systems, (2009)
TDC
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Large eddy simulation of fuel sprays using the eulerian
mesoscopic approach. validations in realistic engine
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