Numerical Simulation of Porous Medium Internal Combustion Engine

Porous media (PM) has interesting advantages compared with free flame combustion due to the higher burning rates, the increased power range, the extension of the lean flammability limits, and the low emissions of pollutants. Future internal combustion (IC) engines should have had minimum emissions level, under possible lowest fuel consumption permitted at all operational conditions. This may be achieved by realization of homogeneous combustion process in engine. In this paper, possibility of using PM in direct injection IC engine, with cylindrical geometry for PM to have homogeneous combustion, is examined. A three-dimensional numerical model for the regenerative engine is presented in this study based on a modified version of the KIVA-3V code that is very popular for engine simulation. Methane as a fuel is injected directly inside hot PM that is assumed mounted in cylinder head. Very lean mixture is formed and volumetric combustion occurs in PM. Mixture formation, pressure, temperature distribution in both phases of PM and in-cylinder fluid with the production of pollutants CO and NO, in the closed part of the cycle is studied.