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The development of gasoline compression ignition engines operating in a low temperature combustion mode depends heavily on robust control of the heat release profile. Partial fuel stratification is an effective method for controlling the heat release by creating a stratified mixture prior to autoignition, which can be beneficial for operation across a wide load range. In this study, three-dimensional large eddy simulations were used to model a double direct injection strategy for which 80% of the fuel was injected during the intake stroke, and 20% of the fuel was injected at varying timing during the compression stroke. The simulations replicated a set of experiments performed at Sandia National Laboratories on a 1-L single-cylinder research engine using E10 gasoline (gasoline fuel containing 10% vol. ethanol). The objective of this study is to analyze the effects of the double direct injection strategy on the compositional and thermal stratification of the mixture, and understand the best use of this operating strategy. The modeling results indicated that by retarding the start of the second injection, the mixture stratification increases, which can be used to control the autoignition timing and the combustion phasing. Ignition and CA50 (crank angle of 50% mass fraction burned) are dictated by the mass concentration of the richest zones in the combustion chamber, as well as their location. The richer zones have the lowest temperatures before ignition primarily due to evaporative cooling from direct fuel injection. Overall, this study enhances the understanding of partial fuel stratification that can be used for controlling the heat release in gasoline compression ignition engines.

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The operating range of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines is limited to low and medium loads by high heat release rates. Negative valve overlap can be used to control ignition timing and heat release by diluting the mixture with residual gas and introducing thermal stratification. Cyclic variability in HCCI engines with NVO can result in reduced efficiency, unstable operation, and excessive pressure rise rates. Contrary to spark-ignition engines, where the sources of cyclic variability are well understood, there is a lack of understanding of the effects of turbulence on cyclic variability in HCCI engines and the dependence of cyclic variability on thermal stratification. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a 2.0L GM Ecotec engine cylinder, modified for HCCI combustion, was developed using Converge. Large Eddy Simulations (LES) were combined with detailed chemical kinetics for simulating the combustion process. Twenty consecutive cycles were simulated and the results were compared with individual cycle data of 300 consecutive experimental cycles. A verification approach based on the LES quality index indicated that this modeling framework can resolve more than 80% of the kinetic energy of the working fluid in the combustion chamber at the pre-ignition region. Lower cyclic variability was predicted by the LES model compared to the experiments. This difference is attributed to the resolution of the sub-grid velocity field, time averaging of the intake manifold pressure boundary conditions, and different variability in the equivalence ratio compared to the experimental data. Combustion phasing of each cycle was found to depend primarily on the bulk cylinder temperature, which agrees with established findings in the literature. Large cyclic variability of turbulent mixing and spatial distribution of temperature was predicted. However, both of these parameters were found to have a small effect on the cyclic variability of combustion phasing.

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