Simultaneous Application of Exhaust Gas Recirculation and Non-Constant Injection Rates to Reduce NOx and Soot Emissions in Diesel Engines

A combination of EGR and variation of injection rate has been used to keep both NOx and soot emissions at an acceptable level. To do so, a two-dimensional multi-zone phenomenological diesel engine combustion model has been developed. The model consists of several sub-models for spray development, fuel atomization, evaporation, combustion, and emission formation. The fuel spray is divided into several small packets called zones, and consequently, the equations for conservation of mass and energy are solved for each individual zone at each time step, from which the cylinder temperature and pressure are calculated. Additionally, the formation of emissions is tracked as soon as the combustion starts. Moreover, parallel processing programming techniques have been utilized, which reduce the computational time of the model considerably, making it a fast and reliable tool for combustion simulation. Using the model, different rates of EGR are applied, which as expected shows a noticeable decrease in NOx emissions. Thanks to the modular design of the model, injection profile can be changed easily. Instead of using a constant rate injection, three different injection patterns are used. First, an upward step profile is used, in which fuel is initially injected with a lower and then with a higher rate. After that, a downward step profile was applied, which injects the fuel first with a lower and then a higher rate. Finally, a combination of the above profiles is used, i.e., the fuel is injected initially at a low rate, and then, the injection rate is increased, and finally decreased again. It is shown that use of EGR with a combined injection pattern at the same time can keep the NOx and soot emissions of the diesel engine at an acceptable level.