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Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "I2: Energy and Combustion Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 February 2023) | Viewed by 19310

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Prof. Dr. Maria Cristina Cameretti

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio, 21, 80125 Naples, Italy
Interests: internal combustion engines; gas turbines; combustion modeling; CFD; thermodynamic solar plant; hybrid propulsion
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Dr. Roberta De Robbio

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio, 21, 80125 Naples, Italy
Interests: CFD; internal combustion engines; gas turbines; dual fuel; optical diagnostic; hydrogen; hybrid vehicles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Dear Colleagues,

In the last decade, more stringent regulations have forced a significant reduction in the levels of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere; nevertheless, internal combustion engines and gas turbines still represent the most widely operated energy conversion systems. Experimental investigations play a fundamental role in allowing better understanding and limiting of the processes that are responsible for noxious species formation. Indeed, only experimental activities can provide basic data to deeply analyze the phenomena occurring inside combustion chambers.

On the other hand, experimental facilities require high cost of maintenance and operation and, therefore, the same data can be used in the validation of numerical models. The latter are helpful to predict the behavior of engines and gas turbines under a wide range of operating conditions or to test their operation in innovative combustion concepts.

For this Special Issue, we invite you to submit papers involving combustion computational models and their methodologies of validation, covering a wide range of applications and solutions.

Some of the topics of interest for publication include but are not limited to:

Compression ignition engines
Spark ignition engines
Gas turbines
Experimental data processing and analysis

Combustion modeling
Model validation
Computational fluid dynamics
0D/1D codes
Innovative fuels
Innovative combustion concepts

Papers submitted to this Special Issue will be selected after a rigorous peer review procedure with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Prof. Dr. Maria Cristina Cameretti
Dr. Roberta De De Robbio
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

compression ignition engines
spark ignition engines
gas turbines
experimental data processing and analysis
combustion modeling
model validation
computational fluid dynamics
0D/1D codes
innovative fuels
innovative combustion concepts

Related Special Issue

Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines, Volume II in Energies (2 articles)

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 10742 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Direct Numerical Simulation of a Reacting Turbulent Hydrogen/Ammonia/Nitrogen Jet in an Air Crossflow at 5 Bar

by Eugenio Giacomazzi, Donato Cecere, Matteo Cimini and Simone Carpenella

Energies 2023, 16(23), 7704; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16237704 - 22 Nov 2023

Viewed by 853

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the fluid dynamics and combustion characteristics of a non-premixed flame burning a fuel mixture derived from ammonia partial decomposition injected in an air crossflow. Nominal pressure (5 bar) and inlet air temperature (750 K) conditions are typical of [...] Read more.

NO

generation in laminar non-premixed counter-flow flames are initially explored. Then, the whole three-dimensional fluid dynamic problem is investigated by setting up a numerical experiment: it consists of a Direct Numerical Simulation, based on accurate transport, chemical, and numerical models. The flow topology of the specific reacting jet in crossflow configuration is described in terms of its main turbulent structures, like shear layers, ring, and horse-shoe vortices, as well as of its leeward recirculation region anchoring the flame. The reacting region is characterized by providing instantaneous spatial distributions of temperature, heat release, and some transported chemical species, including

NO

, and calculating the Flame Index to identify non-premixed and premixed combustion local conditions. The latter is quantified by looking at the distribution of the volume fraction associated with a certain Flame Index versus the Flame Index and at the distribution of the average values of both the Heat Release Rate and

NO

versus the Flame Index and the mixture fraction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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16 pages, 3069 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dimensioning Air Reactor and Fuel Reactor of a Pressurized CLC Plant to Be Coupled to a Gas Turbine: Part 2, the Fuel Reactor

by Wang Lu, Pietro Bartocci, Alberto Abad, Aldo Bischi, Haiping Yang, Arturo Cabello, Margarita de Las Obras Loscertales, Mauro Zampilli and Francesco Fantozzi

Energies 2023, 16(9), 3850; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16093850 - 30 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1383

Abstract

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) technologies are fundamental to reach negative CO₂ emissions by removing it from the atmosphere and storing it underground. A promising solution to implement BECCS is pressurized Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC), which involves coupling a pressurized CLC reactor system to a turboexpander. The typical configuration chosen is to have an air reactor and a fuel reactor based on coupled circulating fluidized beds. The fluidization regime in both reactors is preferred to be fast fluidization to enhance gas particle contact and solids circulation among reactors. To design the two reactors, Aspen Plus software was used, given that the new version has a module for fluidized bed modeling. At first, the oxygen carrier was designed ex novo, but given that it is a composite compound mainly made by nickel oxide freeze-granulated on alumina (Ni40Al-FG), the molecular structure has been inserted in Aspen Plus. Then, based on the power of the gas turbine, the power output per kg of evolving fluid (in this case, depleted air) is calculated using Aspen Plus. Once the nitrogen content in the depleted air is known, the total air at the inlet of the air reactor is calculated. The fuel reactor is modeled by inserting the reduction reactions for nickel-based oxygen carriers. The paper presents a useful methodology for developing pressurized Chemical Looping Combustors to be coupled to gas turbines for power generation. The provided data will be cross-validated with 0D-models and experimental results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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18 pages, 4167 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Linear Model of a Turboshaft Aero-Engine Including Components Degradation for Control-Oriented Applications

by Teresa Castiglione, Diego Perrone, Luciano Strafella, Antonio Ficarella and Sergio Bova

Energies 2023, 16(6), 2634; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062634 - 10 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1391

Abstract

The engine fuel control system plays a crucial role in engine performance and fuel economy. Fuel control, in traditional engine control systems, is carried out by means of sensor-based control methods, which correct the fuel flow rate through correlations or scheduled parameters in order to reduce the error between a measured parameter and its desired value. In the presence of component degradation, however, the relationship between the engine measurable parameters and performance may lead to an increase in the control error. In this research, linear models for advanced control systems and for direct fuel control in the presence of components degradation are proposed, with the main objective being to directly predict and correct fuel consumption in the presence of degradation instead of adopting measurable parameters. Two techniques were adopted for model linearization: Small Perturbation and System Identification. Results showed that both models are characterized by high accuracy in predicting the output engine variables, with the mean errors between model prediction and data below 1%. The maximum errors, recorded for shaft power, were about 6% for Small Perturbation and lower than 3% for System Identification. A simple correlation between engine performance and components degradation was also demonstrated; in particular, the achieved results allow one to conclude that the Small Perturbation approach is the best candidate for controller development when a prediction of components degradation is included. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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18 pages, 7610 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Improved In-Cylinder Combustion Characteristics with Chamber Modifications of the Diesel Engine

by Arun Teja Doppalapudi, Abul Kalam Azad and Mohammad Masud Kamal Khan

Energies 2023, 16(6), 2586; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062586 - 9 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1406

Abstract

This study numerically analyses the effects of chamber modifications to investigate the improvement of in-cylinder combustion characteristics of the diesel engine using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Five different modified chambers, namely, the double swirl combustion chamber (DSCC), bathtub combustion chamber (BTCC), double toroidal re-entrant combustion chamber (DTRCC), shallow depth combustion chamber (SCC), and stepped bowl combustion chamber (SBCC) were developed and compared with a reference flat combustion chamber (FCC). The effects of chamber modifications on temperature formation, velocity distribution, injection profiles, and in-cylinder turbulent motions (swirl and tumble ratio) were investigated. During the compression stroke, near top dead centre, the SCC showed a peak temperature of 970 K, followed by the FCC (968 K), SBCC (967 K), and DTRCC (748 K to 815 K). The DSCC and the SCC showed a high swirl ratio above 0.6, whereas the DTRCC and the BTCC showed a high tumble ratio of approximately 0.4. This study found that the SCC, BTCC, and DSCC have better combustion rates than the FCC in terms of temperature, heat release rate, and velocity distribution. However, the DTRCC showed poor temperature formation rates and rapid heat release rates (approx. 150 J/°CA), which can lead to rapid combustion and knocking tendencies. In conclusion, the DSCC and the SCC showed better combustion rates than the other chambers. In addition, turbulent motions inside the chambers avoided combustion in crevice regions. This study recommends avoiding chambers with wider bowls in order to prevent uneven combustion across the cylinder. Furthermore, split bowls such as the DSCC, along with adjusted injection rates, can provide better results in terms of combustion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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14 pages, 4132 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Modeling and Simulation of a Spark-Ignition Engine Fueled with Ammonia-Hydrogen Blends

by Gabriele D’Antuono, Davide Lanni, Enzo Galloni and Gustavo Fontana

Energies 2023, 16(6), 2543; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062543 - 8 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2056

Abstract

Carbon-free fuels, in particular ammonia and hydrogen, could play a significant role in the decarbonization of the mobility sector. In this work, the authors assessed the operation of a light-duty spark-ignition engine fueled with an ammonia–hydrogen blend (85% ammonia and 15% hydrogen by volume) using a 1D predictive model. Three-dimensional computations have been used in order to verify the reliability of the 1D model. The addition of hydrogen to the air–fuel mixture allows the operating capacity of the engine to be extended with respect to neat ammonia fueling. The engine can be properly regulated between 1500 rpm and 3000 rpm. Its operating range reduces as engine speed increases, and it cannot run at 6000 rpm. This is due to different engine operating constraints being exceeded. The maximum engine torque is about 240 Nm and is reached at 1500 rpm. The engine efficiency ranges between 42% and 19%, and the specific fuel consumption varies from about 350 g/kWh to about 750 g/kWh. The results provide both performances and operating ranges of the engine allowing us to define optimized engine maps obtained by means of a constrained optimization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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17 pages, 2474 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Data-Driven Model for Real-Time Estimation of NOx in a Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine

by Alessandro Falai and Daniela Anna Misul

Energies 2023, 16(5), 2125; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16052125 - 22 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1885

Abstract

The automotive sector is greatly contributing to pollutant emissions and recent regulations introduced the need for a major control of, and reduction of, internal combustion engine emissions. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms have proven to hold the potential to be the thrust in the state-of-the-art for engine-out emission prediction, thus enabling tailored calibration modes and control solutions. More specifically, the scientific literature has recently witnessed strong efforts in AI applications for the development of nitrogen oxides (NOx) virtual sensors. These latter replace physical sensors and exploit AI algorithms to estimate NOx concentrations in real-time. Still, the calibration of the algorithms, together with the appropriate choice of the specific metric, strongly affects the prediction capability. In the present paper, a machine learning-based virtual sensor for NOx monitoring in diesel engines was developed, based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) machine learning algorithm. The latter is commonly used in the literature to deploy virtual sensors due to its high performance, flexibility and robustness. An experimental campaign was carried out to collect data from the engine test bench, as well as from the engine electronic control unit (ECU), for the development and calibration of the virtual sensor at steady-state conditions. The virtual sensor has, since then, been tested throughout on an on-road driving mission to assess its prediction performance in dynamic conditions. In stationary conditions, its prediction accuracy was around 98%, whereas it was 85% in transient conditions. The present study shows that AI-based virtual sensors have the potential to significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of NOx monitoring in diesel engines, and can, therefore, play a key role in reducing NOx emissions and improving air quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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22 pages, 11627 KiB

Open AccessArticle

EGR and Emulsified Fuel Combination Effects on the Combustion, Performance, and NOx Emissions in Marine Diesel Engines

by Elsayed Abdelhameed and Hiroshi Tashima

Energies 2023, 16(1), 336; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16010336 - 28 Dec 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1972

Abstract

Techniques such as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and water-in-fuel emulsions (WFEs) can significantly decrease NOx emissions in diesel engines. As a disadvantage of adopting EGR, the afterburning period lengthens owing to a shortage of oxygen, lowering thermal efficiency. Meanwhile, WFEs can slightly reduce NOx emissions and reduce the afterburning phase without severely compromising thermal efficiency. Therefore, the EGR–WFE combination was modeled utilizing the KIVA-3V code along with GT power and experimental results. The findings indicated that combining EGR with WFEs is an efficient technique to reduce afterburning and enhance thermal efficiency. Under the EGR state, the NO product was evenly lowered. In the WFE, a considerable NO amount was created near the front edge of the combustion flame. Additionally, squish flow from the piston’s up–down movement improved fuel–air mixing, and NO production was increased as a result, particularly at high injection pressure. Using WFEs with EGR at a low oxygen concentration significantly reduced NO emissions while increasing thermal efficiency. For instance, using 16% of the oxygen concentration and a 40% water emulsion, a 94% drop in NO and a 4% improvement in the Indicated Mean Effective Pressure were obtained concurrently. This research proposes using the EGR–WFE combination to minimize NO emissions while maintaining thermal efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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21 pages, 4152 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Ultra-Lean Premixed Turbulent Combustion: Challenges of RANS Modelling

by Lorenzo Sforza, Suliman Abdelwahid, Tommaso Lucchini and Angelo Onorati

Energies 2022, 15(16), 5947; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15165947 - 17 Aug 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1908

Abstract

The main challenge of improving spark ignition (SI) engines to achieve ever increasing thermal efficiencies and near-zero pollutant emissions today concerns developing turbulent combustion under homogeneous ultra-lean premixed mixtures (HULP). This continuous shift of the lean operation limit entails questions on the applicability limits of the combustion models used to date for SI engine design and optimization. In this work, an assessment of flamelet-based models, widely used in RANS SI engines simulations of premixed turbulent combustion, is carried out using an open-source 3D-CFD platform to clarify the applicability limits on HULP mixtures. Two different consolidated approaches are selected: the Coherent Flame Model (CFM) and the Flame Area Model (FAM). Both methodologies are embedded by the authors into the same numerical structure and compared against measurements over a simplified and controlled flame configuration, which is representative of engine-like conditions. The experimental steady-state flame of type “A” of the Darmstadt Turbulent Stratified Flame (TSF) burner is selected for the assessment. This configuration is characterized by flame measurements over a strong shear and mixing layer between the central high-speed CH

_{4}

-air jet and the surrounding slow air co-flow, hence, it represents an interesting controlled condition to study turbulent HULP mixtures. A comparison between computed results and experimental data on trends of mean flow velocity, turbulence, temperature and mixture stratification was carried out. This enabled us to assess that the investigated flamelet-based combustion models failed in providing accurate and reliable results when the flame approaches turbulent HULP mixture conditions, demonstrating the urgency to develop models able to fill this gap. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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21 pages, 17676 KiB

Open AccessArticle

CFD Study of Dual Fuel Combustion in a Research Diesel Engine Fueled by Hydrogen

by Maria Cristina Cameretti, Roberta De Robbio, Ezio Mancaruso and Marco Palomba

Energies 2022, 15(15), 5521; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15155521 - 29 Jul 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2509

Abstract

Superior fuel economy, higher torque and durability have led to the diesel engine being widely used in a variety of fields of application, such as road transport, agricultural vehicles, earth moving machines and marine propulsion, as well as fixed installations for electrical power generation. However, diesel engines are plagued by high emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO_x), particulate matter (PM) and carbon dioxide when conventional fuel is used. One possible solution is to use low-carbon gaseous fuel alongside diesel fuel by operating in a dual-fuel (DF) configuration, as this system provides a low implementation cost alternative for the improvement of combustion efficiency in the conventional diesel engine. An initial step in this direction involved the replacement of diesel fuel with natural gas. However, the consequent high levels of unburned hydrocarbons produced due to non-optimized engines led to a shift to carbon-free fuels, such as hydrogen. Hydrogen can be injected into the intake manifold, where it premixes with air, then the addition of a small amount of diesel fuel, auto-igniting easily, provides multiple ignition sources for the gas. To evaluate the efficiency and pollutant emissions in dual-fuel diesel-hydrogen combustion, a numerical CFD analysis was conducted and validated with the aid of experimental measurements on a research engine acquired at the test bench. The process of ignition of diesel fuel and flame propagation through a premixed air-hydrogen charge was represented the Autoignition-Induced Flame Propagation model included ANSYS-Forte software. Because of the inefficient operating conditions associated with the combustion, the methodology was significantly improved by evaluating the laminar flame speed as a function of pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio using Chemkin-Pro software. A numerical comparison was carried out among full hydrogen, full methane and different hydrogen-methane mixtures with the same energy input in each case. The use of full hydrogen was characterized by enhanced combustion, higher thermal efficiency and lower carbon emissions. However, the higher temperatures that occurred for hydrogen combustion led to higher NO_x emissions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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Review

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37 pages, 8207 KiB

Open AccessReview

Micro Gas Turbine Role in Distributed Generation with Renewable Energy Sources

by Roberta De Robbio

Energies 2023, 16(2), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16020704 - 7 Jan 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2758

Abstract

To become sustainable, the production of electricity has been oriented towards the adoption of local and renewable sources. Distributed electric and thermal energy generation is more suitable to avoid any possible waste, and the Micro Gas Turbine (MGT) can play a key role in this scenario. Due to the intrinsic properties and the high flexibility of operation of this energy conversion system, the exploitation of alternative fuels and the integration of the MGT itself with other energy conversion systems (solar field, ORC, fuel cells) represent one of the most effective strategies to achieve higher conversion efficiencies and to reduce emissions from power systems. The present work aims to review the results obtained by the researchers in the last years. The different technologies are analyzed in detail, both separately and under a more complete view, considering two or more solutions embedded in micro-grid configurations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational and Data-Driven Modeling of Combustion in Reciprocating Engines or Gas Turbines)

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