Engine Research Center
Modeling of Engine Processes
The Engine Research Center (ERC) of University of Wisconsin-Madison has worked on the numerical model development and computer simulations of engine processes for many years. The numerical models range from the simplified phenomenological model to the comprehensive fluid dynamics-based model to study the engine flow and combustion process in details. The Computer models developed at ERC are categorized into the following:
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Zero-Dimensional: uses a simple model to estimate the residual gas fraction;
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One-Dimensional: uses the method of characteristics to study the flow exchange process within the entire engine system.
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Multi-Dimensional: includes the flow, spray and combustion model development and applications using KIVA, KIVA3V_lite and STAR-CD.
It has proven to be successful to combine the use of two or more of these models. For instance, the zero-dimensional model may be used to estimate initial values for a multi-dimensional simulation. The one-dimensional model, which uses the method of characteristics, gives higher accuracy than the zero-dimensional model but is more difficult to use. Multi-dimensional models, such as the spray and combustion models, give a detailed picture of the engine processes of interest for improving engine performance and reducing emissions.
Spray Technology Short Course by Prof. Rolf. D. Reitz.
ERC Spray and Combustion Model Library
The Engine Research Center has put together major spray and combustion models developed at ERC into the form of a library to make them more accessible to the users. Note that the users must have purchased the standard KIVA-3V code from DOE. The ERC model library is available only to the research sponsors. Other users can make use of the coarse mesh version, KIVA3V_lite, for their purpose. To know more about the ERC models, please enter the ERC spray combustion model library
The Engine Research Center has also developed reaction mechanism of n-heptane to simulate diesel fuel chemistry. The method used for mechanism development isa combination of SENKIN, XSENKPLOT and Genetic Algorithm (see SAE 2004-01-0558). The mechanism can be used efficiently for multi-dimensional engine CFD modeling of diesel engines. The mechanism can be found in the following table.
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n-heptane mechanism (29 species and 52 reactions) (see SAE 2004-01-0558) and thermodynamic data file
Other useful resources related to reaction mechanisms, please refer to the above FAQ for the ERC version of KIVA-3V and other useful resources by Dr. Randy Hessel
The computational resources can be found at the following links.