OPTIMIZING THE SHAPE OF A COMPRESSION-IGNITION ENGINE COMBUSTION CHAMBER BY USING SIMULATION TESTS

Abstract

Modern solutions used in compression-ignition internal combustion engines are quite similar to each other. The use of high-pressure, direct fuel injection results in high combustion rates with controlled exhaust emissions. One of the combustion system quality criteria is to obtain adequately high thermodynamic indicators of the combustion process, which are obtained through, among others, the right combustion chamber geometry. Its shape influences the fuel atomization process, turbulence of fuel dose, evaporation and the combustion process. Optimizing the combustion chamber shape is one of the decisive factors proving the correct execution of the combustion process. This article presents the methodology of choosing the combustion chamber shape (changes of three selected combustion chamber dimensions) by using the optimization methods. Generating multidimensional data while maintaining the correlation structure was performed by using the Latin hypercube method. Chamber optimization was carried out by using the Nelder-Mead method. The combustion chamber shape was optimized for three engine load values (determined by the average indicated pressure) at selected engine operating conditions. The presented method of engine combustion chamber optimization can be used in low and high speed diesel propulsion engines (especially in maritime transport applications).