1D numerical study on hydrogen injection enabling ultra-lean combustion in a small gasoline Spark Ignition engine

This paper deals with the effects of hydrogen port injection on combustion evolution, efficiency and exhaust emissions of a small turbocharged gasoline Spark-Ignition engine through a 1D numerical code. First, the experiments on the base engine architecture are performed at different speeds and at low/medium loads. The experimental findings are used to validate a 1D model of the whole engine, developed within a commercial code. 1D model is also refined with "user-defined"sub-models for an accurate description of the in-cylinder phenomena, namely turbulence, combustion, heat transfer, and emissions. In a second step, 1D model is virtually modified through the installation of an hydrogen injector in each intake runner, while the combustion sub-model also accounts for the impact of hydrogen addition on the laminar flame speed through a dedicated correlation. 1D simulations are performed at low/medium loads and fixed speed of 2250 rpm with 5% of hydrogen by volume in the intake air. Numerical investigations show that hydrogen addition to gasoline/air mixtures allows relevant efficiency benefits (up to a maximum percent gain of 19%), while the NO emissions are almost eliminated. Consequently, hydrogen-boosted combustion represents a potential solution to achieve very high efficiency and reduced pollutant emissions of gasoline spark ignition engines equipped with a conventional combustion system.