Extensive validation of a combustion and pollutant emission model of a pre-chamber engine including different pre-chamber geometries

In this work, a 0D/1D model of a single-cylinder pre-chamber spark ignition (PCSI) engine is extensively validated with experimental data in terms of performance, combustion, and emissions by varying the pre-chamber geometry and operating conditions.

In the first stage, an experimental study is carried out on the PCSI engine at 1600 rpm and wide-open throttle, exploring different pre-chamber (PC) designs and various relative air/fuel (A/F) ratios, λ, in the main chamber.

In the second stage, a phenomenological combustion model for PCSI engines is coupled with additional user-defined sub-models of in-cylinder turbulence, heat transfer, and pollutant emissions. These are integrated into a 1D engine model and used to reproduce a set of 16 measured data for a reference PC geometry. The model adequately describes the performance, pollutant production, and burn rate in both the pre- and main-chamber considering the effects of jet-induced turbulence and distributed multiple flame kernels in the main chamber.

The predictive capability of the 1D model is further tested on an extended dataset composed of 163 points, including variations in the PC geometry, proving to satisfactorily reproduce experiments in terms of performance, combustion, and emissions. This last aspect represents the novelty of the present work, demonstrating the reliability of the physical background included within the in-cylinder sub-models.