Ignition Delay and Combustion Characteristics of Gaseous Fuel Jets

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Gaseous fuels, such as hydrogen and natural gas, are utilized in internal combustion engines for spark-ignition operation. To improve thermal efficiency and to ensure control at good heat-release rates, combustion systems with direct-injection and spontaneous-ignition operation may be preferable. The main objective of this research was to provide fundamental data for the ignition and combustion of hydrogen, natural gas, and methane. Experiments were conducted in a constant-volume combustion vessel to investigate the effects of ambient temperature on ignition delay and combustion characteristics for various injector and ambient conditions. Experimental results showed that all gaseous fuels exhibited similar ignition-delay trends: ignition delay () increased as ambient temperature (T_i) decreased. Among these fuels, hydrogen jets exhibited much shorter than natural gas and methane jets at the same T_i and could be ignited at a lower temperature, T_i=780  K. A shorter ignition delay of hydrogen may be attained by controlling the mixture formation by lowering the injection pressure (p_j), enlarging the nozzle-hole diameter (d_N), increasing the ambient pressure (p_i), and increasing the oxygen mole fraction (r_O2). In contrast, the methane jet exhibited the longest over the whole range of T_i and suffered from misfiring at a higher T_i of 910 K. For natural gas, ignition delay was observed to be shorter than that for methane, owing to a small amount of butane with good ignitability. More specifically, the ignition delay of natural gas differed slightly when d_N and p_j varied but changed drastically when p_i and r_O2 decreased. Based on these data, the feasibility of gaseous fuels for compression-ignition engines is discussed from the viewpoint of mixture formation and chemical reaction.

©2010 American Society of Mechanical Engineers