Computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays

While low-temperature combustion (LTC) strategies have been found to mitigate nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions in diesel engines, studies have also associated LTC with an increase in unburnt hydrocarbons. With more recent studies on diesel after end-of-injection (AEOI), combustion re...

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Main Authors: Arguelles, FJ, Fagade, MD, Mehra, J, Xu, C, Sekularac, N, Fang, XH
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025
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author Arguelles, FJ
Fagade, MD
Mehra, J
Xu, C
Sekularac, N
Fang, XH
author_facet Arguelles, FJ
Fagade, MD
Mehra, J
Xu, C
Sekularac, N
Fang, XH
author_sort Arguelles, FJ
collection OXFORD
description While low-temperature combustion (LTC) strategies have been found to mitigate nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions in diesel engines, studies have also associated LTC with an increase in unburnt hydrocarbons. With more recent studies on diesel after end-of-injection (AEOI), combustion recession is identified as a phenomenon where at near nozzle region, high-temperature ignition (HTI) combustion can propagate back to the nozzle tip consuming the unburnt hydrocarbons AEOI. Current literature has suggested that combustion recession is controlled by auto-ignition. However, high-fidelity simulations and detailed analysis of such a mechanism are missing. In this study, comprehensive Large Eddy Simulations of a reacting spray at “Spray A” conditions are performed, where detailed analysis of combustion recession concerning flame morphology and propagation modes are included. In particular, this study demonstrated for the first time that while combustion recession is mainly auto-ignition dominated (consistent with the literature), a cool flame was found to deflagrate towards the richer regions of the mixture, promoting mixing and increasing the mixture temperature. This leads to HTI kernels, which then grow and develop as deflagrative waves, therefore sustaining the combustion recession process. The study also detailed the extinction mechanism of combustion: the entrainment wave will overlean the near-nozzle mixtures, rendering it unable to support HTI, which leads to the extinction of the upstream flame AEOI in lower reactivity mixtures. Combustion recession is also observed to be contingent on the chemical and diffusion processes, even at low scalar dissipation rates. Finally, a new criterion for combustion recession based on chemical explosive mode is proposed and validated with previous combustion recession index to quantify the extent of HTI in near-nozzle mixtures AEOI. The newly developed metric combined with a previous experimentally-based metric can provide simple but valuable measurements of the degree and propensity of the upstream flame AEOI.
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spelling oxford-uuid:e316fa4c-fcf0-4bbc-bd11-26ca9ab935a42025-02-17T09:52:35ZComputational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel spraysJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e316fa4c-fcf0-4bbc-bd11-26ca9ab935a4EnglishSymplectic ElementsElsevier2025Arguelles, FJFagade, MDMehra, JXu, CSekularac, NFang, XHWhile low-temperature combustion (LTC) strategies have been found to mitigate nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions in diesel engines, studies have also associated LTC with an increase in unburnt hydrocarbons. With more recent studies on diesel after end-of-injection (AEOI), combustion recession is identified as a phenomenon where at near nozzle region, high-temperature ignition (HTI) combustion can propagate back to the nozzle tip consuming the unburnt hydrocarbons AEOI. Current literature has suggested that combustion recession is controlled by auto-ignition. However, high-fidelity simulations and detailed analysis of such a mechanism are missing. In this study, comprehensive Large Eddy Simulations of a reacting spray at “Spray A” conditions are performed, where detailed analysis of combustion recession concerning flame morphology and propagation modes are included. In particular, this study demonstrated for the first time that while combustion recession is mainly auto-ignition dominated (consistent with the literature), a cool flame was found to deflagrate towards the richer regions of the mixture, promoting mixing and increasing the mixture temperature. This leads to HTI kernels, which then grow and develop as deflagrative waves, therefore sustaining the combustion recession process. The study also detailed the extinction mechanism of combustion: the entrainment wave will overlean the near-nozzle mixtures, rendering it unable to support HTI, which leads to the extinction of the upstream flame AEOI in lower reactivity mixtures. Combustion recession is also observed to be contingent on the chemical and diffusion processes, even at low scalar dissipation rates. Finally, a new criterion for combustion recession based on chemical explosive mode is proposed and validated with previous combustion recession index to quantify the extent of HTI in near-nozzle mixtures AEOI. The newly developed metric combined with a previous experimentally-based metric can provide simple but valuable measurements of the degree and propensity of the upstream flame AEOI.
spellingShingle Arguelles, FJ
Fagade, MD
Mehra, J
Xu, C
Sekularac, N
Fang, XH
Computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays
title Computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays
title_full Computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays
title_fullStr Computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays
title_full_unstemmed Computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays
title_short Computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays
title_sort computational diagnostics and characterization of combustion recession in diesel sprays
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