In a previous study, we demonstrated that the isobaric combustion cycle, achieved with a split injection strategy, can be more suitable for the double compression expansion engine concept than the conventional diesel combustion cycle. The present work is focused on understanding the effect of different injection strategies on the heat release, efficiency, and emissions of isobaric combustion at the peak cylinder pressure of 150 bar. In situ injection rate measurements are performed to improve our understanding of the heat release rate shape and pollutant formation. A variation of load is performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the isobaric combustion cycle at higher loads, and the means of achieving them. The thermal efficiency reduces at lower loads because of heat losses. It peaks at a medium load point before reducing again at higher loads because of exhaust losses. The effect of altering the injection strategy on the isobaric combustion cycle is also studied at a constant equivalence ratio. The alteration of injection strategy is proven to have minimal effect on efficiency, loss mechanisms, and emissions when more than one injection is used.

The split injection strategy holds a potential for high pressure combustion engines. One advantage of such strategy is the capability to control the heat release rate, which also implies the use of multiple split-injections with relatively short dwell intervals. Most injection rate measurement techniques require installment of the injector on a dedicated test rig. However, these techniques fail to accurately reproduce real-engine operating conditions. Using the spray impingement method, this paper investigates the injection rate of a high flow-rate solenoid injector while being operated on the engine. The aim is to have an experimental configuration as similar as possible to the real engine in terms of the acoustics and the fuel temperature within the injection system. The assumption of spray force proportional to the spray momentum is used to measure the injection rate. The spray momentum is measured while the injector is mounted on the Volvo D13 engine and connected to the in-series fuel rail and pump. A high-natural-frequency piezoelectric pressure transducer is mounted perpendicularly at 4 mm from one of the nozzle holes. The injector and sensor are contained within a specially designed collector for the injected fuel, which is maintained at atmospheric pressure and temperature. Experiments with single injection are conducted varying the Duration of Injection (DOI) from 400 up to 2000 µs. The tests with split double-injections are conducted with fixed DOI of 500 µs while the dwell time are varied from 100 up to 1000 µs. All tests are performed at the rail pressures of 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 bar while the engine is operated at 1200 rpm. Results show that the injection rate shape of single injections is highly dependent on the rail pressure profile. With double split-injections, the rate of the second injection as well as the total fuel mass injected increases when the dwell time is shortened. Short dwell intervals boost the fuel quantities as a result of the altered needle response. Long dwell time between two equally-long injections generate similar injection rates. The injector hydraulic delay was more pronounced when dwell time was kept long enough. Overall, higher injection pressure advances the effective start of injection while retarding the effective end of injection.

The effect of compression ratio (CR) and intake air temperature on the combustion characteristics of fuels with different octane ratings were investigated on a single-cylinder heavy duty engine. The study focused on Primary Reference Fuels (PRFs) and commercial grade diesel with octane numbers ranging from 0 to 100. The engine was configured at a CR of 11.5:1, which is lower than typical heavy-duty compression ignition CI engines. This aims to compare the fuels' burning regime with recently reported measurements at CR17:1. Experiments were performed at different intake air temperatures of 20 to 80 °C and net indicated mean effective pressure (IMEPNet) of 5 to 20 bar. The injection rates have been characterized to determine the hydraulic delay of the injector and thus define the actual ignition delay time. At low loads, diesel-like fuels were found to burn in partially premixed combustion (PPC) mode whereas high octane fuels did not ignite. At high loads, fuels combustion becomes diffusion driven regardless of their RON or MON values. The effect of intake air temperature on the combustion characteristics depended on the combination of the octane ratings and the engine load. At high loads, fuels with low octane numbers were insensitive to the change of the intake air temperature. The ignition delay time was short enough to maintain a diffusion driven combustion. At lower loads, it is more challenging to reach conditions where the combustion characteristics are invariant regardless of the fuel's RON and MON values (Fuel Flexible). At the low tested compression ratio of 11.5:1, the extent of fuel flexibility is limited to only high loads (IMEPNet = 20 bar) whereas it is extended to intermediate loads (IMEPNet = 10 and 15 bar) at CR17:1.

Multiple injection strategies can be used for controlling the heat release rate in an engine, particularly in compression ignition engines. This can mitigate the heat transfer losses and overcome the limitation related to the maximum pressure allowed for a particular engine. Controlling heat release with repetitive injections requires precise characterization of the fuel injection rates. In such a configuration, the injector used should be characterized for its hydraulic delay, rate of injection, and the effect of dwell timing with multiple injections. This study investigates the fuel injection behavior of a high-flow-rate solenoid injector operated with single and double injections. Two characterization methods, the momentum flux, and the Bosch tube are used and compared to investigate their suitability with the multiple injection strategies. Experiments with single injection are conducted by varying the Energizing Timing (ET) from 0.5 up to 2 ms. The tests with multiple injections (i.e., double injections) are conducted with a fixed ET of 0.5 ms, while the dwell times (δt) are varied from 0.1 up to 1 ms. All tests are performed at 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 bar rail pressures. Depending on the injection pressure, the injector’s needle could not fully close with short dwell times and the injections are merged. The momentum flux method has faster ramp-up and decaying and more oscillations in the quasi-steady-state phase compared to the Bosch tube method. The effective duration of injection is overpredicted with the Bosch tube method. The momentum flux method is demonstrated to be more suitable for measuring the ROI of multiple injection strategies.