Reactive computational fluid dynamics modelling methane–hydrogen admixtures in internal combustion engines part II: Large eddy simulation

Fuels based on admixtures of methane/natural gas and hydrogen are a promising way to reduce CO₂ emissions of spark ignition engines and increase their efficiency. A lot of work was conducted experimentally, whereas only limited numerical work is available in the context of three-dimensional modelling of the full engine cycle. This work addresses this fact by proposing a reactive computational fluid dynamics modelling framework to consider the effects of hydrogen addition on the combustion process. Part I of this two-part study focuses on the modelling and crucial considerations in order to predict the mean cycle based on the G-equation combustion model using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. There, the effect of increased burning speed was globally captured by increasing the flame speed coefficient A, appearing in the considered flame speed closure. The proposed simplified modelling of the early flame stage proved to be robust for the conducted hydrogen variation from 0 to 50 vol% H₂ for stoichiometric and lean operation. Scope of this work, Part II, are cyclic fluctuations and the hydrogen influence thereon using large eddy simulation and the proposed modelling framework. The model is probed towards its capabilities to predict the fluctuation of the combustion process for 0 and 50 vol% H₂ and correlations influencing the observed peak pressure of the individual cycle are presented. It is shown that the considered approach is capable to reproduce the cyclic fluctuations of the combustion process under the influence of hydrogen addition as well as lean operation. The importance of the early flame phase with respect to arising fluctuations is highlighted as well as the contribution of the resolved scales in terms of the flame front wrinkling.