Advanced engine flows and combustion

Abstract

The transport sector accounts for a significant part of carbon emissions worldwide, and so the need to mitigate the greenhouse effect of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion, and to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions has been the primary driver for developing cleaner and more efficient vehicle powertrains, and environmentally friendly fuels. As alternatives to combustion engines have yet to overcome technical challenges to attain significant utilisation in the transport sector, piston-driven internal combustion engines and gas turbine aero-engines remain very attractive powertrain options due to their high thermal efficiency. Meanwhile, since the introduction of various emissions standards, that have forced the employment of various aftertreatment systems, the evolution of combustion process has been significant. Advanced combustion strategies have attempted to find in-chamber approaches to either meet these emission standards fully and thus avoid the need to use aftertreatment, or at the very least, to lower the performance demands required from aftertreatment systems and thus reducing their cost and complexity. While the main focus of combustion system development has been recently to lower emissions of CO2, there is also significant interest to lower nitric oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions and other harmful emissions.