Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical

Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile

Engineering
http://pid.sagepub.com/

Optimization of stratification combustion in a spark ignition engine by double-pulse port fuel injection
T Wang, Z Peng, S-L Liu, H-D Xiao and H Zhao
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering 2007 221: 845
DOI: 10.1243/09544070JAUTO376
The online version of this article can be found at:
http://pid.sagepub.com/content/221/7/845

Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalf of:

Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Additional services and information for Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering
can be found at:
Email Alerts: http://pid.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts
Subscriptions: http://pid.sagepub.com/subscriptions
Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav
Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
Citations: http://pid.sagepub.com/content/221/7/845.refs.html

>> Version of Record - Jul 1, 2007

What is This?

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

845

Optimization of stratication combustion in a spark

ignition engine by double-pulse port fuel injection
T Wang1, Z Peng2*, S-L Liu1, H-D Xiao1, and H Zhao1
1State Key Laboratory of Engines, Tianjin University, Peoples Republic of China
2Department of Engineering and Design, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
The manuscript was received on 5 June 2006 and was accepted after revision for publication on 30 March 2007.
DOI: 10.1243/09544070JAUTO376

Abstract: The potential of lean burn in a spark-ignition (SI) engine with optimized fuel
injection was experimentally investigated and numerically simulated. The experiments were
carried out on a production SI engine which has a port fuel injection (PFI) system. The previous
port electronic fuel injection system was modied and the technique of double-pulse fuel
injection (DFI) was employed. By regulating injection timings and proportions of DFI, the
airfuel mixture stratication was signicantly improved and the expected lean burn was
implemented. The experimental results showed that the reduction of fuel consumption with
DFI could be above 10 per cent over quite a wide load range, compared to single fuel injection.
With optimized fuel injection timings and double-pulse proportions, the ideal engine performance and emissions can be achieved with a two to three times higher airfuel ratio (AFR) than
single fuel injection.
With numerical simulation, the eects of mixture stratication formed by dierent fuel
injection amounts and timings were analysed using a phenomenological model. The mixture
in the cylinder was divided into dierent regions that distribute spherically around the spark
plug and consist of a central region of stoichiometric airfuel mixture and a gradually leaner
outside region. Simulation results demonstrated that the improvements in fuel economy and
emissions with DFI were mainly attributed to increased stratication zones and a reduced AFR
gradient in the stratication zones.
Keywords: lean burn, charge stratication, SI engine, airfuel ratio, emissions

1 INTRODUCTION
Lean-burn combustion has been widely developed
as one of the main ways for spark ignition (SI)
engines to improve fuel economy and carbon dioxide
emissions [1]. This will diminish the green-house
eect in comparison with conventional stoichiometric
engines. The advantages of lean-burn SI engines
are implemented mainly by reducing pump losses
associated with part-load operation and heat losses.
Therefore, it is always expected to run the airfuel
charge as leanly as possible. However, there are
certain drawbacks associated with the lean-burn

* Corresponding author: Department of Engineering and Design,

University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. email: z.peng@sussex.ac.uk

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

engines: large cyclic variations, long combustion

duration, and unreliable ignition of the mixture in
some cycles. Large proportions of excess air/EGR
when mixed with the combustible airfuel mixture
would also lead to higher HC and CO emissions [2].
Some eective technologies have been developed
for overcoming the problem of lean-burn combustion
of SI engines. These include charge stratication,
hydrogen-enhanced [3], HCCI [4, 5], pre-chamber
lean-burn [6], etc. For the use of charge stratication,
in this way, a near stoichiometric airfuel mixture
can be maintained around the spark plug with a
leaner mixture at a greater distance from the spark
plug. This is a very eective way to extend the
lean limit and improve the engine eciency of SI
engines and in the meantime to prevent knocking
combustion [7]. However, it is necessary to optimize
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

846

T Wang, Z Peng, S-L Liu, H-D Xiao, and H Zhao

the mixture stratication pattern for charge stratication. Otherwise, excessive stratication may cause
increased NO emissions owing to possible local high
x
combustion temperatures.
Stratied charge engines may be implemented in
two main ways. The rst technology is realized
mainly by direct injection of fuel [711] and normally
is referred to as gasoline direct injection (GDI) or
spark ignition direct ignition (SIDI). Currently, GDI
has been conducted with wall-guided, air-guided,
and spray-guided technologies. All concepts are
based on the formation of a stable, ignitable mixture
cloud around the spark plug. Whilst GDI was mainly
completed by fuel injection inside the combustion
chamber, signicant eort is necessary to optimize
the fuel injection system, combustion system, and
their integrations in order to help the formation of
mixture stratication. In some GDI engines, particularly, the fuel spray needs to be transported by the
bulk ow to the vicinity of the spark plug at the right
time. If the bulk ow is too strong, too weak, or if
there are too many cycle-to-cycle variations, the
initial ame kernel between the gaps of the spark
plug may not be formed or may be moved about,
leading to a poor combustion process or large
cycle-to-cycle combustion variation. Therefore, it is
necessary to have precise control of those gas ows
in the combustion chamber for GDI engines.
The second approach for stratication combustion
is to introduce the airfuel mixture during the intake
process with port fuel injection (PFI) [6, 1216].
Considering that the PFI SI engine is still by far the
most widely used engine of passenger cars in the
USA [9] and still one of the main sectors in Europe,
the possible approach of using PFI stratication
combustion to implement lean burn will produce
signicant benets for reducing CO emissions and
2
the fuel consumption of passenger cars.
Some previous studies have demonstrated the
potential of PFI stratication combustion on CO
2
emission and fuel consumption improvements. The
accurate turning and integration of the intake ows
and fuel injection are critical for forming the essential
charge stratication for PFI lean burn. One widely
investigated is axial stratication, which consists of
stratication of the cylinder charge along the vertical
axis of the combustion chamber. It is found that such
stratication can be achieved through a combination
of swirl and fuel injection timing [17]. The best
results were obtained with injection occurring late in
the intake stroke, realizing a richer mixture around
the spark plug and a lean mixture towards the piston.
Moriyoshi et al. [12] implemented axial stratication
by adjusting the injection timing of PFI and measured

the ame speed of optimized stratication combustion to be as fast as premixing combustion.

Noticeable improvements were observed in fuel
consumption, NO emissions, and EGR tolerance.
Oh et al. tested to inject fuel when the intake valve
was open and when the intake valve was closed and
very dierent fuel distributions were obtained in the
cylinder [18]. When the fuel was injected when the
intake valve was open, the in-cylinder fuel distribution was favourably stratied in both the axial and
radial directions. But with closed valve injection, a
slightly leaner mixture was observed around the
spark plug and richer fuel near the bottom of the
cylinder. Yamato et al. [13] explored the eects of
dierent injection positions and optimized inlet
ports (one swirl and one straight), and achieved
dierent charge stratications on a PFI gasoline
engine. Their CFD and LIF measurement results
showed that dierent injection positions resulted in
the charge ignitability around the spark plug being
very dierent and this would change the total air
fuel ratio (ARF) limit of lean-burn.
For lean-burn combustion, it is necessary to control
the mixing method and combustion system design
so as to achieve optimal combustion performance
and emissions. Appropriate fuel concentration near
the spark plug and stratication gradient across
the combustion chamber should be accurately
calibrated to achieve an ideal ame speed and
the lowest emissions. As demonstrated by Aleiferis
et al. [17, 19], most important in the stratication
combustion mixture preparation is to produce a
good mixing and AFR around the spark plug so
as to maintain a good combustion. Note that for
stratication lean burn, it is essential to sustain an
initial ame growth for the rst 5 per cent of fuel
burnt. Their results showed that the rst 5 per cent
mass fuel burnt (MFB) duration was signicantly
aected by the initial ame-kernel growth, which
then controlled the level of cyclic variability and
limited the operating range of lean-burn SI engines.
In addition to the fuel distribution around the
spark plug, the AFR in the lean area and the total
AFR are also restricted for reaching acceptable
combustion performances [20, 21]. Lumsden et al.
[20] showed that NO formation would increase
x
signicantly if the total relative AFR exceeds 1.15.
This is due to the NO formation mechanism being
x
a balance between oxygen availability and temperature. Although an increased AFR can reduce the
combustion temperature, it will increase the oxygen
concentration, which is one of the principal variables
for controlling NO formation. From this point of
x

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Optimization of stratication combustion in an SI engine

view, the AFR must be compromised between maximum combustion temperature and appropriate
oxygen concentration so as to achieve ideal NO
x
emissions.
In the current study, new charge stratication SI
combustion was explored with double-pulse fuel
injection on a PFI SI engine. With this method, it
was attempted to examine the eects of injection
parameters on charge stratication and lean burn on
a modied production gasoline engine. To achieve
double-pulse fuel injection and a variable fuel amount
and timing, a purpose-built electronic control system
for fuel injection was developed. Then a double-pulse
fuel injection (DFI) in the inlet port of SI engines was
used to form the inhomogeneous mixture. The total
amount of fuel needed for each cycle was divided
into two parts and injected at dierent timings.
The rst injection was designed to deliver in conventional timing to format a homogeneous mixture
in the whole cylinder. Then the second injection
was injected at an optimum moment to provide a
spherical charge stratication that formed a relatively
rich mixture in the spark plug region.
Compared with simply adjusting the timing of
the single fuel injection, DFI can form a better
charge stratication for maintaining a good initial
ame growth and a good combustion speed and
temperature in order to obtain reduced fuel consumption and emissions. Experimental investigations
were conducted and emphasis was placed on the
eects of fuel amounts and injection timings of two
injection pulses on fuel consumption and NO , HC,
x
and CO emissions. Experimental results showed that
the proposed lean-burn method can extend the leanburn limit of the AFR and can reduce the specic
fuel consumption and exhaust emission noticeably.
To understand the mechanism of good charge
stratication formation with DFI, numerical analysis
was undertaken. Using a phenomenological model,
the mixture in the cylinder was assumed to be
distributed spherically around the spark plug and to
consist of a central region of stoichiometric airfuel
mixture and a gradually leaner outside region. The
volume of the central region and the AFR gradient
of the outside region can be regulated in order to
analyse the inuence of charge stratication level on
SI engine performance and NO emissions. Results
indicate that both reducing the central region
volume and the outside region AFR gradient can
reduce fuel consumption and NO emissions, but that
there is a minimum central region volume and a
lowest outside region gradient for maintaining the
benets of charge stratication combustion.
JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

847

2 EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS
2.1 Test engine
The experiment was conducted on a three-cylinder
production gasoline engine that is tted with a PFI
system and has 0.33 l swept volume per cylinder
(76 mm bore, 73 mm stroke), 9.5 : 1 compression ratio.
The rated speed is 6000 r/min. The maximum torque
and brake power are 76 Nm (0.96 MPa b.m.e.p.) and
39 kW respectively. The relevant specications of the
engine are listed in Table 1. In the table, the valve
timing unit CAD stands for crank angle. In order
to reduce confusion for using the gas change TDC
and compression or combustion TDC, 0 or 720 CAD
is used as the compression or combustion TDC,
while 360 CAD is used for the gas change TDC in all
following descriptions, whilst some negative values
of crank angle are used for timing those events that
take place during the last cycle.
To meet the requirements of charge stratication
combustion on in-cylinder ow, the intake port
shape was modied slightly and swirl and tumble
strengths were increased. To compensate for the
reduction of ow coecient due to those port
modications in order to maintain a similar peak
torque and power, the cross-section area of the inlet
port, the inner diameter of the valve seat, and the
inlet valve diameter were slightly increased. A series
of experiments was carried out at a steady state ow
rig to evaluate the performance of the inlet port that
was optimized among ve inlet port model versions.
The ow performance including ow coecient,
swirl ratio, and tumble ratio was measured using
the method suggested by Ricardo [22]. In Table 2,
specications and ow performance of the original
intake system and the modied intake systems are
listed.
To intensify in-cylinder air motion is helpful for
forming necessary charge stratication, while the
volumetric eciency should not be reduced to
Table 1 Specications of the test engine
Cylinder number
Bore
Stroke
Swept volume per cylinder
Compression ratio
Valve number per cylinder
IVO (intake valve open)
IVC (intake valve closed)
EVO (exhaust valve open)
EVC (exhaust valve closed)
Fuel injection
Rated engine speed
Peak torque
Peak power

3
76 mm
73 mm
0.33 l
9.5 : 1
2
341 CAD
591 CAD
129 CAD
379 CAD
Port fuel injection
6000 r/min
90 Nm
40 kW

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

848

T Wang, Z Peng, S-L Liu, H-D Xiao, and H Zhao

Table 2 Comparison of the original and the modied inlet port

Exit diameter of inlet port (mm)

Inner diameter of valve seat insert (mm)
Diameter of inlet valve (mm)
Port shape
Flow coecient
Swirl ratio
Tumble ratio

maintain the maximum power and torque of the

engine. Hopefully, these modications can help to
set up a good base for realizing lean burn through
organizing an adequate airfuel mixture distribution
or stratication.
2.2 Test rig
The test bed is shown in Fig. 1. It consists mainly of
the test engine, which has a modied intake system
and improved fuel injection system, dynamometer,
exhaust gas analysers (for NO , HC, and CO),
x
in-cylinder pressure measurement, and an analysis
system. A UEGO sensor was tted on the exhaust
pipe for AFR ratio measurement.
Most original parts of the fuel injection system
were used, except for the electrical control unit
(ECU), which was replaced by a control PC. With
these modications, exible fuel injection including
more than one injection pulse, variable amount
and timing for each injection pulse was supplied.
In-cylinder pressure was measured by a Kistler 7061B
pressure transducer and was recorded and real-time
analysed by a data acquisition system based on
National Instruments LabviewA system. NO , HC,
x
and CO emissions were measured with Signal gas
analysers. A NGK TL7111-W1 UEGO sensor, which has
a 10.030.0 eective AFR range (or 0.682.05 eective
lambda range), was used for AFR measurement.

Fig. 1 Experimental set-up for stratication combustion

measurement

Original port

Modied port

31
35
36
Plain
0.405
0.595
0.492

32
36
37
Tangential
0.430
0.916
1.123

Recorded in-cylinder pressure data was used for

analysing heat release, i.m.e.p., etc. In this study, a
10 per cent coecient of variation of indicated mean
eective pressure (COV
) was used for dening
i.m.e.p.
the lean-burn limit of the AFR.
Initial experiments showed that the optimum
advanced ignition for the modied engine inlet port
could be shortened by 3 to 8 CAD at an engine speed
of between 3500 and 5600 r/min, compared to the
original inlet port. This was due to the intensied
in-cylinder air motion, which could lead to higher
turbulence intensity, higher ame propagation
speed, and higher combustion speed. The increased
volumetric eciency resulted in a somewhat higher
peak power output and a somewhat lower fuel
consumption.

3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Lean-burn experiment with single injection
3.1.1 Eect of fuel injection timings
The emphasis of this study is to explore the DFI of
PFI gasoline engines and its eects on lean burn. In
order to evaluate the charge stratication characteristics and engine performance of DFI and to compare
those with single injection, the rst part of the
experiment was to investigate the eects of single
injection on lean-burn engine performance and
emissions. Both this part of the experiment and the
following DFI test were carried out with the modied
inlet port.
Figure 2 shows the eects of the injection timings
on brake specic fuel consumption (BSFC) and
exhaust emissions when the engine runs with single
fuel injection at lean-burn conditions. The measurement was xed at 3000 r/min engine speed and
0.3MPa brake mean eective pressure (b.m.e.p.). This
operating point was selected owing to the speed and
torque being among the most common operating
regions of the engine. AFR was set at 20 and the spark
ignition timing for dierent fuel timing was always
calibrated at minimum ignition advance for best

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Optimization of stratication combustion in an SI engine

849

Fig. 2 Eects of the injection timing of single injection on emissions and fuel consumption
(3000 r/min, b.m.e.p. 0.3 MPa, AFR 20, spark ignition timing at MBT)

torque (MBT) timing. The valve timings are plotted

in the gure with four vertical dashed lines.
From Fig. 2, it can be seen that the injection timing
suitable for low fuel consumption is just after the
intake valve opening under lean-burn conditions. It
is assumed that swirl and tumble pushed the fuel
to have an optimum distribution for stratication
in the cylinder when the fuel was injected just
after the intake valve was opened. Compared to the
injection happening as the intake valve is closing,
fuel injection happening after the inlet valve opens
can lead to a reduction of BSFC by 12 per cent. This
is because those fuels injected during the closed
intake valve are easily pushed to the bottom area of
the cylinder, thereby reducing the fuel amount
around the spark plug and restricting the initial
ame development. For single injection, the main
adjustable parameter is the injection timing, if the
evaluation is concentrated on a xed engine speed
and torque. However, with a xed AFR, reduced BSFC
with optimized injection timing will need the throttle
to be closed a little.
The AFR used for the single injection experiment
is 20. For this lean-burn condition, the combustion
speed is relatively low compared to conventional SI
combustion. It is possible to form a favourable AFR
stratication by adjusting the injection timing, which
would enrich the spark plug region locally when the
fuel is injected during the induction process. This
would lead to a stable combustion, a shorter combustion period, and a reduced BSFC. The variation
of BSFC with a dierent single injection timing was
not found in those experiments with a stoichiometric
mixture (14.7 AFR). This suggests that injection
timing will be much more important for lean-burn
than conventional SI engine combustion.
For emissions, NO was still kept under an
x
acceptable range when the injection started just
after intake valve opening; but suddenly increased if
JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

the injection timing was continuously retarded. HC

emission showed a similar trend. For CO emission,
the level was high for the injection timing just after
intake valve opening. When the single injection
happened close to IVO, CO was the highest compared
to the other injection timings, but it gradually
decreased from injection timing at IVO until the
lowest BSFC was achieved during the intake valve
open period.
3.1.2 Eect of AFR
Figure 3 shows the eects of AFR on the BSFC and
exhaust emissions with 3000 r/min engine speed
and 0.3 MPa b.m.e.p. The injection timing is xed at
TDC. From those results, it can be seen that the fuel
consumption, HC, and CO emissions were all kept
reduced when the mixture changed from rich to lean.
Around 1618 AFR, they all had their lowest levels.
But NO had a reverse trend with AFR. On further
x
examination, it can be found that around 20 AFR, all
BSFC, NO , HC, and CO emissions had very good
x
levels compared to the stoichiometric condition.
With lean burn, the benet of BSFC comes mainly
from the following two criteria: reduced pumping
loss and higher thermal eciency; the former owing
to wider throttle open due to more air being needed;
the latter owing to the reduced combustion temperature reducing the heat loss from combusted charge
to coolant and hence more complete combustion
with rich oxygen. However, as the AFR increases
continuously, the ame speed clearly slows and the
combustion period lasts longer. The advance of the
ignition timing has to be increased and the negative
power from compression therefore increased. All
the above considerations cause the BSFC to increase.
In Fig. 4, the increased combustion duration with
increased AFR is demonstrated; but from AFR
1719, the combustion ame speed has no obvious
reduction.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

850

T Wang, Z Peng, S-L Liu, H-D Xiao, and H Zhao

Fig. 3 Eects of AFR on emissions and fuel consumption (3000 r/min, b.m.e.p. 0.3 MPa, injection
timing at 0 CAD, spark ignition timing at MBT)

Fig. 4

Combustion durations for dierent

(3000 r/min, b.m.e.p. 0.3 MPa)

AFR

For NO emission, because it is formed with high

x
combustion temperatures and rich oxygen, too rich
or too lean a mixture is benecial for its reduction.
This can be found from Fig. 3. Lower than 14 AFR
reduces the oxygen concentration for forming NO
x
and over 20 AFR produces a low combustion temperature of lean burn which signicantly reduces the
formation of NO . HC and CO emissions are high
x
with a rich mixture (AFR less than 15). This is due to
inadequate oxygen causing incomplete combustion.
When the mixture becomes lean, HC and CO have
the lowest emissions of around 1617 AFR. Also, too
lean a mixture reduces the combustion temperature,
resulting in high HC and CO emissions.
Figure 5 shows the results of the engine load performance at 3000 r/min and the reduced BSFC
after optimizing the single injection timings. The
AFRs for optimized conditions are based mainly on
consideration for the lowest BSFC. It can be seen that
at the optimized AFR condition the BSFC has been
considerably reduced compared to the stoichiometric
mixture condition, though just with the single
injection. On the test engine, the maximum BSFC
reduction is greater than 10 per cent.

Fig. 5 Load performance with optimized AFR by single

injection (3000 r/min, near line number is AFR)

3.2 Charge stratication experiment with DFI

The motivation for using DFI to optimize charge
stratication for lean burn is to produce a more
suitable fuel distribution in the cylinder and to
improve the AFR gradient for improving emissions.
If some fuel is injected into the inlet port at TDC of
the compression or expansion strokes, there will be
enough time and heat for the fuel to atomize and
vaporize to form a homogeneous mixture. Then
the second injection can be delivered during the
induction stroke and it is possible to generate
some range of AFR stratication with the help of
in-cylinder swirl and tumble ow.
3.2.1 Mixture stratication formed by DFI
Figure 6 attempts to display AFR distributions for
dierent injection strategies. To better demonstrate
those characteristics created by conventional gasoline
engines, single injection for charge stratication, and
DFI for charge stratication, only stratication in the
axial direction is shown. In Fig. 6(a) is a typical homogeneous mixture formed by conventional gasoline port
fuel injection. In Fig. 6(b), the charge stratication

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Optimization of stratication combustion in an SI engine

851

the homogeneous mixture part can be increased.

Therefore, with DFI, the AFR distribution can be
better adjusted and optimized. In the following
section are introduced those DFI test results.
3.2.2 Optimization test of DFI

Fig. 6 AFR distributions formed by the rst injection,

by the second injection and by both: (a) if
just the rst injection; (b) if just the second
injection; (c) if simultaneously using both the
rst and the second injections

by single injection is plotted and the charge stratication by DFI is shown in Fig. 6(c). Compared to
single injection, DFI would be possible to form a
lower AFR gradient: the charge stratication by DFI
is like the combination of homogeneous mixing with
single injection stratication.
For a high AFR gradient created by single
injection, when the engine load is changed and the
injected fuel needs to be increased or decreased, it
is inevitable that overlean or over-rich regions tend
to occur because there is only one chance for the
fuel injection. At the over-rich region, high combustion temperatures and soot are easily generated.
At the overlean region it is easy to form HC emissions.
It is anticipated that DFI can help to reduce both
over-lean and over-rich regions.
With DFI, the charge stratication parameters for
lean burn can be optimized with more variables.
This can assist the engine to work in more optimal
conditions than with single injection. For a comparison, see Fig. 7. With DFI, when the engine load
needs to be decreased and the homogeneous part of
the mixture cannot be leaner, the fuel amount for
the stratied mixture part can be reduced. When the
engine load needs to be increased and the stratied
mixture part cannot be richer, the fuel amount for

Fig. 7 Adjusting parameters and resulted AFR mixture

type by single injection and DFI
JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Compared to only the one parameter being adjusted

for lean burn by the traditional single injection, there
are three parameters to be adjusted with DFI for lean
burn SI engines, as shown in Fig. 7. The rst test for
evaluating the engine performance of DFI was the
adjusting of the injection timing of the rst injection.
The result is shown in Fig. 8 in which the eects
of the timings of the rst injection on the engine
performance and emissions are demonstrated. The
adjusting range of the rst injection timing varies
between 145 CAD before the combustion TDC of the
last cycle (here, a negative CAD is used for representing the crank angle belonging to the last cycle) and
70 CAD of the current cycle. The second injection
timing and the fuel amount proportion were kept
constant for this part of the test. The engine was still
run at 3000 r/min and 0.3 MPa b.m.e.p. From Fig. 8,
it can be seen that there is a suitable rst injection
timing around 030 CAD where BSFC, NO , HC, and
x
CO all lie at an acceptable level. This suggests that
the rst injection timing in this area can provide the
best integration with the second injection at this
engine operating condition. Compared to the results
of single fuel injection shown in Fig. 3, it can be
noted that the best BSFC is reduced from 291 g/kWh
to 274 g/kWh simply by adjusting the timing of the
rst injection of DFI.
In Fig. 9, the eects of the second injection timing
on the fuel consumption and emissions are shown.
The rst injection timing was xed at TDC of the last
combustion cycle (0 CAD in Fig. 8). Two fuel proportions were tested. They are 30 per cent and 60
per cent of the second injection respectively.
From Fig. 9, it can be seen that BSFC is clearly
improved when the second injection is delivered at
the beginning of induction (360 CAD). Compared
to the second injection at 300 CAD when the inlet
valve has not opened, the reduction of BSFC can
be up 10 per cent. For this operating condition, the
fuel injection duration was about 50 CAD. If the
second injection starts at around TDC (360 CAD),
the injection will complete around 410 CAD when
the inlet valve is completely opened. The fuel spray
follows the intake airow to form a rich mixture, then
the mixture moves with the in-cylinder air motion to
reach the upper part of the cylinder, resulting in a
favourable stratication for the ignition and the
lean burn.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

852

T Wang, Z Peng, S-L Liu, H-D Xiao, and H Zhao

Fig. 8 Eects of the rst injection timing on fuel consumption and emissions. 0 CAD is TDC of
the last combustion cycle. (3000 r/min, 0.3 MPa b.m.e.p., AFR 20, the rst injection 60
per cent fuel amount, the second injection timing at 410 CAD, ignition timing at MBT)

Fig. 9 Eects of the second injection timing on fuel consumption and emissions; 360 is TDC of
intake stroke. (3000 r/min, 0.3 MPa b.m.e.p., AFR 20, the rst injection timing at TDC
of the last cycle combustion stroke)

Although 360 CAD of the second injection timing

is not good for NO emissions, the increase of NO
x
x
at 360 CAD can be reduced if the fuel amount proportion is optimized. As there is a trade-o between
NO emissions and BSFC, it is necessary to test what
x

fuel amount proportion is the most suitable for DFI

lean burn under dierent operating conditions.
In Fig. 10, the eects of the fuel amount proportion
of two injections on fuel consumption and emissions
are shown. For fuel consumption, the variations

Fig. 10 Eects of the fuel amount proportion of two injections on fuel consumption and
emissions. (3000 r/min, 0.3 MPa b.m.e.p., AFR 20, the rst injection timing at TDC of
the last cycle combustion stroke, the second injection timing at TDC of the early
intake stroke)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Optimization of stratication combustion in an SI engine

with the second injection amount of AFR 17 and

AFR 20 are very dierent. With AFR 17, it is clearly
benecial if the second injection amount is low.
However, for AFR 20, it is suggested that a high
second injection amount is delivered for the best
BSFC. This is mainly because a high AFR needs more
charge stratication to form a rich enough mixture
around the spark plug. For AFR 17, charge stratication is not very helpful for BSFC compared with
AFR 20. Considering dierent AFR, in the gure it can
be seen that a 60 per cent second injection amount
can always give an ideal fuel consumption. However,
a low second injection amount is a favourable option
for low NO emissions but a high second injection
x
amount is for low HC emissions. CO emission is
much more dependent on the AFR than on the fuel
amount proportionally of the two injections.
3.2.3 Extension of lean-burn limit of AFR by DFI
With a series adjustment and optimization test, leanburn limits of the test engine were investigated based
on acceptable fuel consumption and emissions. The

853

adjusted parameters include the total AFR, the rst

injection timing, the second injection timing, and the
fuel amount proportion of two injections. Figure 11
shows the lean-burn limits at dierent engine load
and dierent engine speeds. It can be seen that DFI
is clearly benecial for lean burn and extends the
lean-burn limit by about 23 AFR units over quite
wide load and speed ranges. During the test process,
it was also noticed that the potential of increasing
the lean-burn limit by DFI was most apparent with
engine speed ranges from 3000 to 3500 r/min. With
the engine speed increased or decreased from this
speed range, the extent of AFR for lean-burn limit by
DFI was reduced.
In Figs 12 and 13, the load performances and NO
x
emissions at 3000 r/min and 4000 r/min are shown
respectively. The optimized values of AFR for lean
burn are indicated along the curves. From Figs 12 and
13, it can be seen that the fuel consumption can be
reduced signicantly from stoichiometric conditions
to single injection charge stratication conditions. If
using DFI, not only can fuel consumption be further
reduced, but also the NO emissions can be improved
x

Fig. 11 Lean-burn limit for dierent operating conditions

Fig. 12 Load performance and NO emissions at 3000 r/min

x
JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

854

T Wang, Z Peng, S-L Liu, H-D Xiao, and H Zhao

Fig. 13 Load performance and NO emissions at 4000 r/min

x

with a leaner mixture. This should be attributable to

some extent to the greater AFR of lean-burn limits
with DFI. Therefore, DFI provides an easy solution
for lean burn of PFI gasoline engines.
From the above results and discussions, it can
be summarized that lean burn by single injection or
two injections can reduce fuel consumption signicantly over quite a wide load range. The reasons
and principles using DFI for lean burn to reduce
fuel consumption and emissions, particularly NO
x
emissions, will be further analysed in the next section
by numerical simulation methods.

4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION

gas region can be modelled as multiple zones for

improved accuracy in predicting NO formation. In this
study, only NO is calculated, because NO emissions
x
due to NO are negligibly small for spark ignition
2
engines. A more robust numerical method has been
developed to calculate the equilibrium burnt gas
composition using the Olikara and Borman method
[24]. In addition, the model is capable of predicting
the occurrence of knocking combustion by simulating
the chemical reactions in the end gas. The autoignition model is based on the extended Shell
model [25], which includes 15 generalized reaction
steps for each component of a primary reference fuel
(a mixture of iso-octane and n-heptane) and hence 30
reactions are used in the simulation of gasoline fuel
comprising a mixture of n-heptane and iso-octane.

4.1 Model description

To simulate the eects of charge stratication on
lean-burn performance and emissions, an engine
simulation code that has a two-zone combustion
model, with a burnt and unburnt zone, was used. The
model consists of a main thermodynamic model with
which are linked a number of submodels describing
the various engine phenomena, such as heat transfer,
auto-ignition, combustion, and emissions. The combustion processes are divided into four distinct
phases: adiabatic compression, ignition and laminar
burning, development and propagation of a turbulent
ame front, and nal burning of entrapped gas in
the burnt gas region. The ame propagation is
described by the Keck eddy entrainment model [23],
which models ame propagation as a spherical
expansion. Interaction with the cylinder walls and
head is taken into account by a geometric submodel
in a separate subroutine, thereby allowing the eects
of dierent cylinder head geometry to be included.
Heat transfer between in-cylinder charge and
coolant is modelled according to a derivative to
the Woschni heat transfer correlation. The burnt

4.2 Modelling results of spherical stratication

The simulations were carried out based on a singlecylinder test engine with a 0.49 l swept volume.
The specication of the engine is given in Table 3.
Engine speed, compression ratio, and cylinder wall
temperature at intake valve closure (IVC) are set at
1600 r/min, 7.5, and 410 K respectively. The charge
temperature at IVC is assumed to be uniform at
362 K. Wide-open throttle operation is assumed for
Table 3 Input parameters describing engine
conditions
Bore (mm)
Stroke (mm)
Swept volume (litre)
Engine speed (r/min)
Engine load at reference point (b.m.e.p., MPa)
Charge pressure at IVC (bar)
Charge temperature at IVC (K)
Cylinder wall temperature (K)
Compression ratio
Combustible charge (vol %)
Diluent (EGR or excess air) (vol %)
Burnt gas residual (BGR) (vol %)

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

75
111
0.49
1600
0.565
1.1019
362
410
7.5
47.5
47.5
5

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Optimization of stratication combustion in an SI engine

all calculations. The engine simulation starts at IVC

and nishes at exhaust valve opening (EVO).
The simulation assumes that the charge stratication is distributed spherically, which is shown in
Fig. 14. In the core, it is a stoichiometric mixture
with a 14.7 AFR that is symmetrically distributed
around the spark plug. Lean mixture with higher
AFR is also spherically distributed outside of the
stoichiometric mixture. The spark plug is assumed
to be located in the middle of the cylinder head. The
ame propagation is also assumed to be spherical,
so the ame front meets the lean charge at all points
simultaneously. This provides a major simplication
for the modelling of a stratied charge engine cycle
of this type.
In this study, the total charge assumed is that
there are three zones (also named AFR zones): an
inner stoichiometric mixture core region, and outer
annular air region without fuel, and an annular lean
region between them with less than 14.7 AFR. Each
region is specied as a certain volumetric fraction of
the overall cylinder charge. The total fuel is xed,
thereby increasing the stoichiometric zone size results
in that the lean zone must be reduced. This means
increasing the second injection proportion. Also, if
the lean zone size is zero, it means that there is only
the second injection.
Figure 15 shows the eect of the lean zone size
on fuel consumption and NO emissions. With the
increase of the lean zone size, it means the stoichio-

855

metric zone size decreased. This can assume that

the fuel injection changes from single injection to
two injections and the second injection amount is
gradually reduced. From the gure, both fuel consumption and NO emissions are reduced with two
fuel injections compared to only one. With two fuel
injections, there is also an optimal lean zone size
for the lowest fuel consumption and NO emission.
This suggests that the fuel amount proportion and
injection timings of two fuel injections must be
carefully optimized for ideal results.
Figure 16 shows the eects of the lean zone size
on i.m.e.p. and MBT spark timing. As the total fuel
amount is xed for dierent lean zone sizes (also
dierent stoichiometric zone size), it can be seen
that the power output is increased with the optimized
fuel amount proportion of two injections. With two
fuel injections, it is clear that the i.m.e.p. is higher
than with single injection (0 per cent lean zone size).
The simulation also shows that the MBT spark timing
should be adjusted for dierent lean zone sizes.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 14 Schematics of spherical stratied charge

On a modied production engine for examining the

charge stratication combustion of a PFI gasoline
engine, single-pulse fuel injection and double-pulse
fuel injection (DFI) were experimentally investigated
for improving lean-burn performance. It was found
that both single injection and DFI can form charge
stratication for PFI engines, but DFI clearly had
more benets for lean burn, compared to single
injection.
For analysing the eects of two fuel injections,
numerical simulation was also used in this study by
calculating engine performance, fuel consumption,
and NO emission of a spherical charge stratication
combustion. The charge was divided into three
zones: an inner stoichiometric mixture core region,

Fig. 15 Eects of lean zone size on fuel consumption

and NO emissions

Fig. 16 Eects of lean zone size on i.m.e.p. and MBT

spark timing

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

856

T Wang, Z Peng, S-L Liu, H-D Xiao, and H Zhao

and outer annular air region without fuel, and an

annular lean region between them with less than
14.7 AFR.
With these experiments and simulation results, the
following conclusions are reached.
1. Compared with conventional single injection, a
leaner mixture can be used by DFI. With this
method, even more reduced fuel consumption
was reached at a fairly wide engine load range.
The lowest value of BSFC can be lower than
250 g/kWh at 3000 r/min, 0.630.76 MPa b.m.e.p.
(5060 Nm) at the current test engine.
2. NO emissions can also be signicantly reduced
x
with DFI, compared to the single injection method
used for lean burn. In this study, DFI can reduce
NO emissions by 3550 per cent at a load range
x
of 0.250.76 MPa b.m.e.p. (2060 Nm), 3000 r/min.
3. Using DFI for lean burn, the optimized values of
AFR can be higher by 23 units than that of the
single injection method. This directly resulted in
reduced BSFC and improved exhaust emissions.

9
10
11

12

13

14

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The nancial supports from the Natural Science
Foundation of China (NSFC 50576063) and the
Royal Society (China-UK Network) are gratefully
acknowledged.

15

16

REFERENCES
1 Germane, G. J., Wood, C. G., and Hess, C. C. Lean
combustion in spark-ignited internal combustion
engines A review. SAE paper 831694, 1983.
2 Das, A. and Watson, H. C. Development of a natural
spark ignition engine for optimum performance.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part D: J. Automobile
Engineering, 1997, 211(5), 361378.
3 Goldwitz, J. A. and Heywood, J. B. Combustion
optimization in a hydrogen-enhanced lean burn SI
engine. SAE paper 2005-01-0251, 2005.
4 Thring, R. H. Homogenous charge compressionignition (HCCI) engines. SAE paper 892068, 1989.
5 Peng, Z., Zhao, H., Ma, T., and Ladommatos, N.
Characteristics of homogeneous charge compression
ignition (HCCI) combustion and emissions of
n-heptane. Combust. Sci. Technol., 2005, 177(11),
21132150.
6 Rajashekhar Swamy, K., Harne, V, Gunjegaonkar,
D. S., and Gopalkrishnan, K. V. Study and development of lean-burn systems on small 4-stroke gasoline engine. SAE paper 2001-01-1801, 2001.
7 DErrico, G. and Onorati, A. An integrated simulation model for the prediction of GDI engine

17

18
19

20
21

22

cylinder emissions and exhaust after-treatment

system performance. SAE paper 2004-01-0043, 2004.
Kawahara, N., Tomita, E., Kasahara, D.,
Nakayama, T., and Sumida, M. Fuel breakup
near nozzle exit of high-pressure swirl injector
for gasoline direct injection engine. SAE paper
2004-01-0542, 2004.
Landenfeld, T., Kuerath, A., and Gerhardt, J.
Gasoline direct injection SULEV emission concept.
SAE paper 2004-01-0536, 2004.
Karl, G., Kemmler, R., Bargende, M., and Abtho, J.
Analysis of a direct injected gasoline engine. SAE
paper 970624, 1996.
Hatakeyama, S., Sekiya, Y., Murayama, T., and
Tunemoto, H. A study of lean burn of a 4-stroke
gasoline engine by the aid of low-pressure, airassisted, in-cylinder injection-Part II. SAE paper
1999-01-3689, 1999.
Moriyoshi, Y., Morikawa, H., Kamimoto, T., and
Hatashi, T. Combustion enhancement of very lean
premixture part in stratied charge conditions. SAE
paper 962087, 1996.
Yamato, T., Sekino, H., Hayashida, M., and
Sugahara, K. Stratication of in-cylinder mixture
distributions by tuned port injection in a 4-valve SI
gas engine. SAE paper 2001-01-0610, 2001.
Ortmann, R., Arndt, S., Raimann, J., Grzeszik, R.,
and Wu
rfel, G. Methods and analysis of fuel injection,
mixture preparation and charge stratication in
dierent direct injected SI engines. SAE paper
2001-01-0970, 2001.
Reynolds, C. C. O. B. and Evans, R. L. Improving
emissions and performance characteristics of lean
burn natural gas engines through partial stratication. Int. J. Eng Research, 2004, 5(1), 105114.
Arcoumanis, C., Hull, D. R., and Whitelaw, J. H.
Optimizing local charge stratication in a lean-burn
spark ignition engine. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part D:
J. Automobile Engineering, 1997, 211(2), 145154.
Aleiferis, P. G., Taylor, A. M. K. P., Ishii, K., and
Urata, Y. The relative eects of fuel concentration,
residual-gas fraction, gas motion, spark energy
and heat losses to the electrodes on ame-kernel
development in a lean-burn spark ignition engine.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part D: J. Automobile
Engineering, 2004, 218(4), 411425.
Oh, S., Lee, Y., Kang, K., Woo, Y., and Bae, C.
Stratication in a liquid-phase LPG injection engine.
SAE paper 2003-01-1777, 2003.
Aleiferis, P. G., Taylor, A. M. K. P., Ishii, K., and
Urata, Y. (2004) The nature of early ame development in a lean-burn stratied-charge spark-ignition
engine. Combust. and Flame, 2004, 136(3), 283302.
Lumsden, G., Sykes, R., and Eddleston, D. Comparing lean burn and ERG. SAE paper 970505, 1997.
Einewall, P., Tunestal, P., and Johansson, B. Lean
burn natural gas operation versus stoichiometric
operation with EGR and a three way catalyst. SAE
paper 2005-01-0250, 2005.
Ricardo Consulting Engineers. Analysis of steady
ow tests on inlet and exhaust ports, Dp. 93/0704,
1993.

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

Optimization of stratication combustion in an SI engine

23 Beretta, G. P., Rashidi, M., and Keck, J. C.

Turbulent ame propagation in spark-ignition
engines. Combust. and Flame, 1983, 52, 217245.
24 Olikara, C. and Borman, G. A computer program
for calculating properties of equilibrium combustion
products with some applications to I.C. engines. SAE
paper 750468, 1975.
25 Cox, R. A. and Cole, J. A. Chemical aspects of the
autoignition of hydrocarbonair mixtures. Combust.
and Flame, 1985, 60, 109123.

APPENDIX
Notation
ABDC
ATDC
AFR
BBDC
b.m.e.p.
BSFC
BTDC
CA
CAD
CFD
CO
CO
2
COV

after bottom dead centre

after top dead centre
air/fuel ratio
before bottom dead centre
brake mean eective pressure
brake specic fuel consumption
before the top dead centre
crank angle
crank angle degree
computational uid dynamics
carbon monoxide
carbon dioxide
coecient of variation

JAUTO376 IMechE 2007

COV

i.m.e.p.

CR
DFI
ECU
EGR
EVC
EVO
GDI
HC
HCCI
IC
i.m.e.p.
inj
ISFC
IVC
IVO
LIF
MBT
MFB
NO
NO
x
PFI
SI
SIDI
TDC

857

coecient of variation of indicated

mean eective pressure
compression ratio
double-pulse fuel injection
electrical control unit
exhaust gas recirculation
exhaust valve closure
exhaust valve open
gasoline direct injection
hydrocarbon
homogeneous charge compression
ignition
internal combustion
indicated mean eective pressure
injection
indicated specic fuel consumption
inlet valve closure
inlet valve open
laser induced uorescence
minimum ignition advance for best
torque
mass fraction burnt
nitric oxide
nitrogen oxides
port fuel injection
spark ignition
spark ignition direct injection
top dead centre

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering

Downloaded from pid.sagepub.com at University of Jordan on January 26, 2012