The Fifth International Symposium on Diagnostics and Modeling of Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines

(COMODIA 2001), July 1•4, 2001, Nagoya

(3-27) Vortex Promotion in a DI Diesel Engine Combustion

Chamber with Bluff Bodies
*Hideaki Tanabe(1), Satoshi Kato(2), Tetsuro Hirai(2), Ryoichi Shimooka(2), G.Takeshi Sato(2)

(1) Gunma University

4-2 Aramaki-machi, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-0044 Japan
(2) Kanazawa Institute of Technology
 
Key Words : Diesel Engine, Combustion, Bluff Body, Vortex, Vortex Generation
 

ABSTRACT

Turbulence plays an important role on the mixture formation and combustion processes, and consequent emission
formation. In this study, the bluff body was set as a vortex generator in the combustion chamber of a DI diesel engine. A 2-
dimensional unsteady computer simulation was carried out to clarify the effect of the size and shape of the bluff body and of the
air stream velocity on the vortex characteristics. The computed results were compared with the experimental results obtained in a
wind tunnel experimentation, where the vortex motion was visualized with smoke tracer method. In the low air velocity
conditions, a recirculation zone is generated in the wake of the bluff body. Karman type of vortices then generated as the air
velocity increases. In the even higher velocity region, the vortices meander and nibbling the outer air stream into the vortex region.
The transition characteristics of above mentioned vortex depend strongly on the shape of the bluff body. A triangular bluff body
requires higher air velocity, while the triangular prism and trapezoid prism shaped bluff bodies lower the transition velocity as
shown in Fig.1. The effects of the bluff body are then tested in a single cylinder DI engine, on the engine performance and
exhaust emissions. In the engine experimentation, several different shapes of the bluff bodies were tested. For bluff body
equipped engine, the smoke emission were reduced by increasing the swirl ratio, which corresponds to the increment of air
stream velocity in the computer simulation and wind tunnel experimentation. The triangular prism bluff body produced lower
smoke than the trapezoid prism bluff body equipped experimentation as shown in Fig. 2

Fig.1 Computed Results of Velocity of

Triangle and Trapezoid prism Bluff Body Fig.2 Test Results of Bluff Body Equipped Engines

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 The Fifth International Symposium on Diagnostics and Modeling of Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines
(COMODIA 2001), July 1•4, 2001, Nagoya

INTRODUCTION (a)Triangle

The mixture formation and consequent combus-

tion are primarily performed by the momentum of the
injected fuel during the injection period in DI diesel.
After the injection terminated, as the momentum is not
supplied by the injection, the mixture formation and
combustion decelerate [1]. Combustion observation
shows that the spray flame is just transferred down-
stream by the swirl, but almost no rotational or eddy
motion in the spray flame region after the injection ends
[2]. The swirl can be approximated as a compound vor-
tex schematically illustrated in Figure 3, and almost
combustion takes place in the outer free vortex region,
(b) Trapezoid
where no vortex exists.

Fig. 5 Flow Visualization of Bluff Body by the Wind

Tunnel

Vortex enhancement would help the mixing and

combustion after the injection ends, and were
experimented with a turbulence generating place in
Compound Vortex
RCM[3] and with CCD[4].
In this paper, the bluff body was employed to
Fig.3 Schematic Illustration of Compound Vortex
generate the vortices for the combustion enhancement
after the injection ends. The characteristics of vortex
were studied both in steady state wind tunnel
visualization and numerical analysis for the various
shapes of bluff body. The bluff bodies were then
equipped in a piston cavity of a DI diesel engine and
exhaust emission analysis was carried out.

FLOW OBSERVATION BY WIND TUNNEL

Fig. 4 Model Bluff Body for Wind Tunnel Observation
As the characteristics of the vortex depend on the shape
and dimensions of the bluff bodies as well as on the
flow field parameters, i.e. velocities, density and
viscosity, visualization experiment was made using a
smoke wind tunnel, with test section height of 100mm,
width of 180mm and length of 240mm. And maximum

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 The Fifth International Symposium on Diagnostics and Modeling of Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines
(COMODIA 2001), July 1•4, 2001, Nagoya
velocity of 3m/s. Reynolds’ number around the bluff
body was identical to the one at TDC of a engine
operating condition described later. For wind tunnel
observation, the model bluff bodies of characteristic length
of 100mm were used as shown in Fig. 4.
Typical examples of visualization photographs
were shown in Figure 5. Well-developed airflow enters
right hand, passes the test section and flows left ward in
the figures.
Symmetrical vortices were observed in the wake of triangle
bluff body, on the other hand. The meandering vortices were
observed in the wake of trapezoid bluff body.
NUMERICAL SIMULATION
Following the wind tunnel experimentation, where the flow
field is steady one and it is hard to visualize the transient
vortex generation, a 2-D unsteady numerical simulation for
incompressible viscous flow was carried out to characterize
the transient vortex [5]. The code uses an explicit time
marching technique and convection and viscous terms are
discretized with an upwind and center differentiation
respectively, and equations of continuity and of motion were
coupled according to the HSMAC scheme. Initial
conditions: used are uniform flows one. Both Left and right
walls are treated as slipping wall, and the bluff body surface
is treated as a non-slip wall.
Fig. 6 Computed Results of Velocity Vector and Vorticity
Contours of Triangle Prism Bluff Body
(t =1.0ms and 1.5ms)
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Figures 6 and 7 show examples of the velocity
vectors (a) and the vorticity contours (b) for the triangle
prism and trapezoid, respectively.
Symmetrical vortices can be observed in a wake of
triangle bluff body, as shown Fig. 6(a), similarly to the
window tunnel observation. The vortices expand toward
the downstream as a time proceeds. From figure.6 (b), it
can be seen that the high vorticity generates and
discharges at both side edges of the bluff body.
Symmetrical vorticity can be observed as well. The
vorticy are almost zero in the vicinity of the
longitudinal axis behind the bluff body.
In Fig.7 (a), the meandering vortices were observed
in the wake of the trapezoid bluff body, which can also
seen in the wind tunnel observation. From Fig. 7(b),
high vorticity generates at the corner of the bluff body
and discharges from the both side edges. The vorticities
are unsymmetrical and meandering ones. High vorticity
region, therefore, passes the longitudinal axis behind the
bluff body.
ENGINE TEST
As described above, the bluff body generates vortex
in its wake. It was then applied to a single cylinder DI
diesel engine to characterize its effects. The
specifications of engine used are shown in Table 1.
Fig. 7 Computed Results of Velocity Vector and Vorticity
Contours of Trapezoid Prism Bluff Body
(t =1.0ms and 1.5ms)
 The Fifth International Symposium on Diagnostics and Modeling of Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines
(COMODIA 2001), July 1•4, 2001, Nagoya

Through the test, intake air temperature and
intake air pressure were maintained at 298±0.1 K and
1013.25±0.25 hPa, respectively, and the cooling water
temperature and lubricating oil temperature were
maintained at 353±1 K and 353±2 K, respectively.
Figure 8 shows the dimensions bluff bodies
applied to an engine testing. Four bluff bodies were set
in a piston cavity as shown in Figure 9. The bluff bodies
were set angular location at just before the fuel spray
and radial location at 38-mm diameter of coaxial with
the centerline of cavity.
The swirl ratio (SR) was measured as 2.5 by steady
flow test stand. The compression ratio increases from
16.5 to 16.8 – 16.9 due to the TDC space volume
decrement replaced by the bluff body volume.
The engine speed was fixed at 1320 rpm, 60% of
rated speed, throughout the test. The fuel injection
timing were fixed at -18 deg ATDC which was
determined as optimum timing by the preliminary
experiment.
Figure 10 shows typical examples of the cylinder
pressure and rate of heat release (ROHR) at Brake
Mean Effective Pressure (BMEP) of 0.522 MPa. The
solid line indicates the non-bluff body operation, and
dotted and dashed line show triangle and trapezoid bluff
body operation, respectively. The bluff body operation
shows slightly shorter ignition delay of 1 °CA, and
slightly higher maximum ROHR in the premixed
combustion period.
After the injection ROHR increases on bluff body
equipped operation from that of non bluff body
operation. This means that the vortecities generated by

Table 1 Specification of Test Engine

Fig. 9 Location of Bluff Bodies

Fig. 10 Cylinder Pressure and Rate of Heat Release of the

Fig. 8 Details of Triangle Prism and Trapezoid Base Engine and the Bluff Body (Triangle and
Prism Bluff Body Trapezoid) Equipped Engines

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 The Fifth International Symposium on Diagnostics and Modeling of Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines
(COMODIA 2001), July 1•4, 2001, Nagoya

the bluff body promote the combustion after the

injection ends.
Figure 11 shows typical examples of exhaust
emissions and brake specific fuel consumption, bsfc.
For both bluff body operation, unburned emissions- CO,
THC, NOx, and SOF- are lower than non bluff body
operation at the low load region. The triangle bluff body
engine shows the better results than the trapezoid one.
Figure 12 shows a typical example of the total
unburned carbon emission in g/kWh basis. It was
calculated from the mass of carbon atoms contained in
CO, THC, SOF, and ISF emissions. Fig. 12 The Total Unburnt Carbon Emission of the Base
  Engine and the Bluff Body Equipped Engines

Fig. 11 The Exhaust Emission and Performance of the

Base Engine and the Bluff Body Equipped Fig. 13 The Effect of Swirl Ratio on Exhaust Emission and
Engines Performance

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 The Fifth International Symposium on Diagnostics and Modeling of Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines
(COMODIA 2001), July 1•4, 2001, Nagoya

Total unburned carbon emissions from the bluff body [4] M. Konno et al., Reduction of Smoke and NOx by
operation are lower at low load region than those from Strong Turbulence Generated During the Combustion
non bluff body. This also means that the vorticies Process in D.I. Diesel Engines, SAE Transactions
generated by the bluff body promote the combustion. 920467 (1992).
Smoke and dry soot (difference between total [5] Hirt, C. W., Nichols, B. D., Romero, N. C., A Numerical
particulate and SOF), however, increases at bluff body Solution Algorithm for Transient Fluid Flows, LASL
operation regardless of the engine load. This might be a Report, LA-5885, (1975).
result of insufficient combustion enhancement of the bluff
body.
Figure 13 shows the typical examples of exhaust
emissions with the swirl ratio SR, of 2.5 and 4.0 with
bluff body operation. Results of non bluff body
operation at standard swirl number of 2.5 is also
indicated in the figure as reference. Increment of swirl
ratio from 2.5 to 4.0 reduces smoke and dry soot
(=TPM-SOF) as well as CO and THC. The swirl
enhancement is required to recover the deterioration of
smoke characteristics with bluff body operation.

CONCLUSIONS
A systematic work on the effects of bluff body on
diesel combustion was carried out using a smoke wind
tunnel visualization, unsteady 2-D numerical
calculation for vortex generation, and single cylinder DI
diesel engine for performance and emission validation.
The following conclusions are obtained.
1. The shape of the vortex depends on the bluff body
shape. Triangle bluff bodies produce the symmetric
vortex and trapezoid bluff body generates meandering
vortex.
2. The bluff body promotes the combustion after the
fuel injection ends.
3. The bluff body at low load region can reduce the
unburned exhaust emissions.
4. Smoke and dry soot is not reduced by the bluff body.

REFERENCES
[1] H. Tanabe, H. Sugihara, M. Kawakami, N. Iida, H.
Fujimoto and G.T. Sato., Heat Release Model Based on
Combustion Phenomena, COMODIA 85 , pp383-392.
[2] I. Yamaguchi, T. Nakahara, M. Komori, and S.
Kobayashi, An Image Analysis of High Speed
Combustion Photographs for D.I. Diesel Engine with
High Pressure Fuel Injection, SAE Transactions 901577
(1990).．
[3]Young-Ho Won, Hidenori Kosaka, and Takeyuki
Kamimoto, Enhancement of Fuel-Air Mixing in Diesel-
like Flames via Flame Impingement on a Turbulence-
Generating Plate, The 10th Internal Combustion Engine
Symposium, Japan, (1992-7) (written in Japanese).

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