# The Effects of Fuel Stratification and Heat Release Rate Shaping in Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) Combustion

DelVescovo, D. A. The Effects of Fuel Stratification and Heat Release Rate Shaping in Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) Combustion. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016.

Low temperature combustion strategies have demonstrated high thermal efficiency with low emissions of pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter. One such combustion strategy, called Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI), which involves the port injection of a low reactivity fuel such as gasoline, ethanol, or natural gas, and a direct injection of a high reactivity fuel, such as diesel, has demonstrated excellent control over the heat release event due to the introduction of in-cylinder stratification of equivalence ratio and reactivity.

The RCCI strategy is inherently fuel flexible, however the direct injection strategy needs to be tailored to the combination of premixed and direct injected fuels. Experimental results demonstrate that, when comparing different premixed fuels, matching combustion phasing with premixed mass percentage or SOI timing is not sufficient to retain baseline efficiency and emissions results. If the bulk characteristics of the heat release event can be matched, however, then the efficiency and emissions can be maintained.

A 0-D methodology for predicting the required fuel stratification for a desired heat release for kinetically-controlled stratified-charge combustion strategies is proposed and validated with 3-D reacting and non-reacting CFD simulations performed with KIVA3Vr2 in this work. Various heat release rate shapes, phasing, duration, and premixed and DI fuel chemistries are explored using this analysis. This methodology provides a means by which the combustion process of a stratified-charge, kinetically-controlled combustion strategy could be optimized for any fuel combination, assuming that the fuel chemistry is well characterized.