Validation of in-cylinder flow structure of controlled auto-ignition engine

Numerical calculations have been carried out to investigate the in-cylinder transient flow structure of a controlled auto-ignition (CAI) engine running at speeds of 1,500rpm and 2,000rpm. The calculated turbulent flow structure and velocities are validated against published laser doppler anemometry (LDA) experimental data. The experimental data were re-processed to represent the time dependent mean velocities for all measured points. The actual geometry configuration of the engine is imported into the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code used in this study. The simulations take into account the movement of the inlet, exhaust valves and the piston. The CFD simulations replicate the experimental work where only air was inserted into a driven optical engine. Also, to simulate an engine in controlled auto-ignition (CAI) mode, the same valve timing that allows 36% internal exhaust gas recirculation (IEGR) was applied for the air intake. The calculated results are found to agree well with the LDA measurements with an overall agreement of 75.06% at 1,500 rpm and 73.42% at 2,000 rpm.