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The relative effects of fuel concentration, residual-gas fraction, gas motion, spark energy and heat losses to the electrodes on flame-kernel development in a lean-burn spark ignition engine

The potential of lean combustion for the reduction in exhaust emissions and fuel consumption in spark ignition engines has long been established. However, the operating range of lean-burn spark ignition engines is limited by the level of cyclic variability in the early-flame development stage that typically corresponds to the 0-5 per cent mass fraction burned duration. In the current study, the cyclic variations in early flame development were investigated in an optical stratified-charge spark ignition engine at conditions close to stoichiometry [air-to-fuel ratio (A = 15] and to the lean limit of stable operation (A/F = 22). Flame images were acquired through either a pentroof window (‘tumble plane’ of view) or the piston crown (‘swirl plane’ of view) and these were processed to calculate the intra-cycle flame-kernel radius evolution. In order to quantify the relative effects of local fuel concentration, gas motion, spark-energy release and heat losses to the electrodes on the flame-kernel growth rate, a zero-dimensional flame-kernel growth model, in conjunction with a one-dimensional spark ignition model, was employed. Comparison of the calculated flame-radius evolutions with the experimental data suggested that a variation in A/F around the spark plug of Φ(A/F) ≈ 4 or, in terms of equivalence ratio Φ, a variation in Φ ≈ 0.15 at most was large enough to account for 100 per cent of the observed cyclic variability in flame-kernel radius. A variation in the residual-gas fraction of about 20 per cent around the mean was found to account for up to 30 per cent of the variability in flame-kernel radius at the timing of 5 per cent mass fraction burned. The individual effect of 20 per cent variations in the ‘mean’ in-cylinder velocity at the spark plug at ignition timing was found to account for no more than 20 per cent of the measured cyclic variability in flame kernel radius. An individual effect of similar level was attributed to the heat losses to the electrodes, and a much lower effect than that, namely 5-10 per cent at most, could be attributed to cyclic variations in spark-energy release traces. Even when the variations in mean velocity were coupled to both the effects of heat losses to the electrodes and spark-energy release variations, the combined effect was found to account for no more than 40-50 per cent of the observed cyclic variability in flame-kernel radius at the 5 per cent mass-fraction burned timing of 40 ° crank angle after ignition timing.