Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Experimental and computational study on the effects of injection timing T

on thermodynamics, combustion and emission characteristics of a natural
gas (NG)-diesel dual fuel engine at low speed and low load
⁎
Jun Shua, Jianqin Fua, , Jingping Liua, Lei Zhanga,b, Zhichao Zhaoa,b
a
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
b
China Automotive Engineering Research Institute Co., Ltd, Chongqing 400044, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this study, the thermodynamics, combustion and emission characteristics of a NG-diesel dual fuel engine with
Natural gas varying pilot injection degree at low speed and low load were investigated by computational fluid dynamics
Dual-fuel engine (CFD) simulation and bench test. Based on tested in-cylinder pressure, the in-cylinder combustion process of NG-
CFD diesel dual fuel engine was quantitatively analyzed. On this basis, both the one-dimensional and three-dimen-
Injection timing
sional CFD simulated models were built and then validated by tested data, which were used to analyze the
Combustion
combustion and emission characteristics of NG-diesel dual fuel engine. From this study, the effects of advanced
Emission
pilot injection degree (APID) on the thermodynamics, combustion and emission characteristics of NG-diesel dual
fuel engine were found. With the advancing of pilot injection degree, both the SOC and 50% combustion position
are advanced, which leads the maximum in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate (HRR) to increase. The
10–50% combustion duration decreases slightly but the 50–90% combustion duration increases obviously.
Meanwhile, both the effective expansion efficiency (EEE) and the percent of heat transfer loss increase, while
their increase rates are different, which make the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) firstly increase and then de-
crease. The BSNOx increases largely while the BSTHC is almost unchanged with the advance of injection timing.
Although more HC is generated in the early stage as the pilot injection degree is retarded, the post-combustion
becomes clear which accelerates the oxidation of HC. All these have provided theoretical guidance and data
support for improving the performance of NG-diesel dual fuel engine.

1. Introduction
In order to reduce baneful emissions and save energy, many coun-
tries are actively developing new energy technologies and searching for
alternative fuels [1]. Due to the better fuel economy and lower harmful
emissions, NG is considered as one of the most promising alternative
fuels for internal combustion (IC) engines [2]. With the increasingly
stringent emission regulations, various advanced technologies, in-
cluding exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) [3], turbocharging and variable
valve timing (VVT) [4], are applied to NG engines to improve the
combustion and emission performance. It is well known that the
burning rate of NG is relatively slow, thus the heat-work conversion
efficiency and the power performance of NG engine are restricted [5].
Accordingly, there are two major approaches to improve the combus-
tion process of NG engine. One is the NG-hydrogenation and the other is
the diesel induced ignition, and both of them are classified as dual fuel
engine [6]. The dual fuel combustion mode is regarded as one of the
most potential technologies for NG engine, which can improve the fuel
economy and reduce exhaust emissions [7]. In a typical NG-diesel dual
fuel combustion mode, the NG is inducted in the intake manifold, and
then a small quantity of diesel is injected near the top dead center
(TDC) to ignite the NG-air mixture [8]. The pilot liquid fuel, which is
injected by the conventional diesel injection system, is just used to ig-
nite the mixture and contributes only a small fraction in the engine
power output [9,10]. When NG is not available, these dual fuel engines
still maintain full diesel capability. Due to the high octane number, NG

Abbreviations: AFR, airfuel ratio; API, after pilot injection; APID, advanced pilot injection degree; ATDC, after top dead center; BMEP, brake mean effective pressure; BTE, brake thermal
efficiency; CFD, computational fluid dynamics; CI, compression ignition; CNG, compressed natural gas; DDM, droplet discrete model; DI, direct injection; ECU, electronic control unit;
EEE, effective expansion efficiency; EER, effective expansion ratio; EGR, exhaust gas recirculation; EVO, exhaust valve opening; HRR, heat release rate; IC, internal combustion; IVC,
intake valve closure; LNG, liquefied natural gas; NG, natural gas; PES, percent energy substitution; PRR, pressure rise rate; RCCI, reactivity controlled compression ignition; RGF, residual
gas fraction; SOC, start of combustion; TDC, top dead center; VVT, variable valve timing; WHSC, world harmonized steady-state cycle; WHTC, world harmonized transient cycle
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fujianqin@hnu.edu.cn (J. Fu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.01.047
Received 21 October 2017; Received in revised form 27 December 2017; Accepted 20 January 2018
0196-8904/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Shu et al.
is more suitable for compression ignition (CI) engines which usually
operate with a relatively high compression ratio [11]. Because of the
multiple advantages mentioned above, NG-diesel dual fuel combustion
mode has received considerable attention from researchers [12].
In recent years, the NG-diesel dual fuel operating mode has been
presented in numerous literatures [13]. Papagiannakis et al. [14] in-
vestigated the effects of the total air-fuel ratio (AFR) and diesel sup-
plementary ratios on the efficiency and pollutant emissions of a CI
engine, and the results are helpful for applying this technology on ex-
isting direct injection (DI) diesel engines. Carlucci et al. [15] converted
a single-cylinder diesel engine into a dual-fuel engine to operate in
different values of engine load and speed and displayed the effect of
these parameters on engine performance, in terms of specific emission
levels and fuel consumption. Nwafor et al. [16] examined the effect of
advanced injection timing on the emission characteristics of dual-fuel
engine and the results revealed that CO and CO2 emissions were re-
duced through advanced injection timing. Xu et al. [17] studied the
effects of pre-injection timing on combustion and emission in a CI NG
engine, and indicated that close pre-injection operations lead to the
advance of SOC which intensified the combustion of in-cylinder mix-
ture, thereby resulting in higher cylinder pressure, HRR and pressure
rise rate (PRR), as well as higher NOx emissions and lower HC and CO
emissions. Yang et al. [18] investigated the effects of NG injection time
on engine combustion performance and emissions, and claimed that the
BTE is increased but the combustion stability slightly deteriorates with
retarded NG injection timing. With the development of computer
technology, some software have been introduced to research the per-
formance and combustion process of dual fuel engine, like GT-power,
AVL-Fire, Converge and so on [19,20]. Kakaee et al. [21] explored the
effects of piston bowl geometry on NG-diesel reactivity controlled
compression ignition (RCCI) performance and emissions at medium
engine load. They found that the bowl profile does not affect the
combustion of RCCI engine at low engine speeds, but it has much effect
at higher engine speeds, since the chamber geometry has significant
influence on squish flow formation, evaporation and mixing processes.
Salahi et al. [22] investigated the effect of using a pre-chamber to ex-
tend some operating ranges in a RCCI engine by coupled multi-
dimensional CFD with detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms, and de-
monstrated that the proposed strategy could lead to incomplete
combustion and formation of related emissions in low loads, due to the
jet flame propagation in the main chamber and low fuel equivalence
ratio. Jung et al. [23] investigated the effects of intake valve closure
(IVC) in dual fuel mode using GT-power, and found that the change in
IVC could increase combustion efficiency and affect NOx emissions by
controlling the AFR. Wang et al. [24] investigated the effect of the
optimized combustion chamber on dual fuel engine by 3-D CFD simu-
lation model coupled with a chemical reaction mechanism, and the
results showed that the HC and CO emissions are reduced by 56.47%
and 33.55% in the optimized chamber, which is attributed to the higher
turbulence kinetic energy. Jafarmadar et al. [25] analyzed the exergy
efficiency in a dual fuel engine at four EGR mass fractions (0%, 10%,
20%, and 30%) by a FORTRAN-based code. They found that as the EGR
mass fraction increased from 0% to 30% (in 10% increment steps), the
exergy efficiency decreased from 48.9% to 28.7%, which is attributed
to lower oxygen mass fraction participating in the combustion process.
Although many studies have been carried out on the effects of pilot
injection parameters (e.g., pilot injection quantity, timing and pressure)
on the performance of NG-diesel dual fuel engine from all aspects, most of
them are only based on experimental method. Recently, 3-D CFD simu-
lation method was increasingly used in the research of combustion and
emission of IC engine. Nevertheless, the studies on the effect of pilot in-
jection parameters on the combustion of NG-diesel dual fuel engine
through 3-D CFD simulation method are still scarce, let alone the coupling
analysis with the thermodynamics process of engine. The authors have
reviewed lots of literatures, but still failed to find a similar study about the
experimental and computational analysis on the effects of injection timing
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Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438
on thermodynamics, combustion and emission characteristics of a NG-
diesel dual fuel engine at low speed and low load. Thus, further study is
still necessary to exhibit the detailed changing course and three-dimen-
sional distribution of physical quantities for combustion and emission of
NG-diesel dual fuel engine. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze the
effects of injection timing on thermodynamics, combustion and emission
characteristics of a NG-diesel dual fuel engine at low load and low speed
through the method of experiment coupling with CFD simulation, which
has not only extended this research field, but also contributed to optimize
the performance of NG-diesel dual fuel engine.
2. Experiment and CFD simulation
2.1. Engine bench test
The original engine is a six-cylinder, direct injection, turbocharged
diesel engine with common rail system, which is manufactured by
WEICHAI POWER in China. In order to adjust the dual fuel combustion
mode, the fuel supply system and electronic control unit (ECU) of ori-
ginal engine have been simply modified. It is worth mentioning that the
compressed natural gas (CNG) was chosen for this study. A summary of
the engine’s specifications is listed in Table 1.
The diagram of the test platform for the NG-diesel dual fuel engine
is shown in Fig. 1 and the specifications of main measuring instruments
are given in Table 2. Before the engine bench test, the measuring range
and accuracy of test instruments were carefully selected and then ac-
curately calibrated so as to ensure the accuracy and reliability of tested
data. More specifically, the cylinder pressure sensor was designed ac-
cording to the actual working parameters of the engine (e.g., the cy-
linder pressure range), which was calibrated by the manufacturer and
the calibration results were provided to the customer. Based on the
standard gases, each measurement module of emission analyzer was
calibrated periodically according to the specifications of emission test
equipment. Other equipment, e.g., air flowmeter, natural gas flowmeter
and diesel flowmeter, were calibrated termly, and the calibration re-
sults are within the error range.
The ECU for NG-diesel dual fuel engine has been re-designed by
ourselves, which can meet the control demand of both single fuel mode
of diesel and dual fuel mode of NG-diesel. In the dual fuel mode, it is
possible to control the pulse width of diesel injection, the injection start
point, the oil rail pressure and the injection pulse width of CNG, and the
engine can be controlled by monitoring the exhaust temperature and
cylinder pressure. In this study, the mass of injected diesel fuel was
controlled in 7 mg each cycle. NG was injected before the throttle, and
the engine operating conditions were adjusted by controlling the
throttle opening. As shown in Fig. 1, the CNG system consists of a high
pressure NG storage tank, a shutoff valve, a high pressure filter, a NG
flow meter, a pressure reducer and a low pressure filter. After the
pressure regulator, the NG pressure drops from 18 MPa to 0.8 MPa, and
then it is injected into the intake port of engine. The CNG and air blend
in the mixer before the throttle valve. In case the CNG is absent, the
ECU can switch to the single fuel mode of diesel.
Table 1
Basic parameters of the tested engine.
Item Content
Displacement (L) 9.726
Bore (mm) 126
Stroke (mm) 130
Original compression ratio 17.0
Connecting rod length (mm) 219
Maximum torque (N·m)/Speed (rpm) 1550/(1200–1500)
Rated power (kW)/Speed (rpm) 247/1900
Number of injector nozzle holes 8
Injector nozzle spray angle (°) 147
J. Shu et al. Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438

Fig. 1. Schematic of experimental setup for NG-diesel dual fuel engine.

The compositions of NG are listed in Table 3. For the convenience of Table 3

study, the percent energy substitution (PES) is defined as follow: The compositions of natural gas.

mNG × LHVNG Compositions Proportion (%)

PES = × 100%
mNG × LHVNG + mdiesel × LHVdiesel (1) Methane 98.5
Ethane 0.56
where mNG and mdiesel are the mass of NG and diesel, LHVNG and LHVdiesel Propane 0.09
are the low heating value of NG and diesel, respectively. n-Butane 0.029
Isobutane 0.017
Before the bench test, the engine was warmed-up in single fuel
Pentane 0.006
mode of diesel until the coolant temperature ranges between 70 °C and Hydrogen sulfide 0.005
80 °C while the lubricating oil temperature was above 70 °C. All the Carbon dioxide 0.51
tests were conducted at ambient temperature of approximate 25 °C, and Nitrogen 0.283
the intake air temperature after intercooler is controlled below 40 °C.
During the test process, the in-cylinder pressure was recorded by the
2 2 2 1/2
pressure sensor, which is then proceeded by the combustion analyzer so
UR = ⎡ ⎛ ∂R ⎞ ⎛ ∂R ⎞ ⎛ ∂R ⎞⎤
⎢ ∂x1 Ux1 + ∂x2 Ux2 + ··· ∂x n Uxn ⎥
⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟

as to quantitatively analyze the combustion and heat release processes. ⎣⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠⎦ (2)

Meanwhile, an error analysis for the experimental results, such as
in-cylinder pressure, indicated thermal efficiency, was conducted based where uncertainty is measured in R and x n are independent variables
on the root mean square method [26]. The uncertainty in measured with measured uncertainties, and Ux1, Ux2 , Uxn are error limits of mea-
variables was determined by using Formula (2). sured parameters. The details of the uncertainties are given in Table 4.

Table 2
Specifications of main measuring instruments.

Item Content Precision

Electric dynamometer NIDY S22-2/0525-1BV-1 Torque: ± 0.5% F.S; Speed: ± 1 r/min

Dynamometer control system PUMA OPEN1.4.1 ± 0.5% F.S
Air flowmeter TOCEIL 20N125 ± 1%
Natural gas flowmeter TOKYO KEISO TH-1800-CNG/TRX-700 ± 1%
Diesel flowmeter TOCEIL CMFG010 0.12%
Temperature sensor Thermojunction type ± 0.5 °C
Pressure sensor Piezoresistance type ± 0.5% F.S
HC AVL AMAi60 FID ± 2 ppm
NOx AVL AMAi60 CLD ± 5 ppm
Combustion analyzer INDISET ADVANCED PLUS /

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J. Shu et al. Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438

Table 4 combustion process. Both the flow and combustion processes were
Uncertainty of measured and calculated parameters. modeled by solving the continuity equation, momentum equation and
energy conservation equation. The k-zeta-f turbulence model was used
Parameters Uncertainty (%)
in this study, which was developed from k-ɛ two equations model and
Pressure 1.0 became four equations model [27]. Accordingly, it has higher precision
Engine speed 0.5 and better stability than k-ɛ turbulence model. And the Hybrid Wall
Indicated thermal efficiency 1.5
Treatment was recommended for using in conjunction with k-zeta-f
BMEP 1.0
turbulence model. Then the Han-Reitz model [28] was used to simulate
the heat transfer process of wall. Pressure implicit with splitting of
operators (PISO) algorithm was used to simulate the transient turbulent
flow in the combustion chamber. The diesel ignited gas engine model
was used to simulate the auto-ignition process, and the extended co-
herent flame model (ECFM) [29] was used to display the combustion
process of NG-diesel dual fuel. The NOx formation was modeled by
using an extended Zeldovich mechanism [30]. This mechanism includes
three reactions and seven species and is able to predict NO formation
with a high accuracy over a fairly wide range of equivalence ratios.
With respect to the liquid phase, practically all spray calculations in
the engineering environment today are based on a statistical method
referred to as the Discrete Droplet Method (DDM) [31]. Based on the
physical properties of diesel fuel, the Wave model, which has been
Fig. 2. Combustion chamber structure and grid of the simulated area.
developed into Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability [32], was chosen to
simulate the breakup process and it is an appropriate approach for high
2.2. Multi-dimensional engine model pressure injection system. As particles pass through the flow it is as-
sumed that they interact with the individual turbulent eddies [33], and
In this work, the AVL-Fire tool is used as the computational fra- these additional turbulence effects on the spray particles cannot be
mework for the simulation of NG-diesel dual fuel engine. Closed-cycle resolved by the flow field in detail, so Gosman-Ioannides model was
computations on combustion chamber were carried out to simulate the used [34]. Dukowicz model was chosen to simulate the droplet heat-up

Fig. 3. The GT-Power simulation model.

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J. Shu et al. Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438

(a) Air flow (b) Torque

Fig. 4. Comparison of experimental data and simulated results by GT-Power.

Table 5 while it has not been always concerned. With the release of EU VI
The initial conditions and boundary temperature. emission regulations, the World Harmonized Transient Cycle (WHTC)
and the World Harmonized Steady-state Cycle (WHSC) test methods
Initial conditions Boundary temperature
have been used in heavy duty vehicles. In both test methods, the
Pressure RGF λ CH4 mass Diesel Piston Cylinder Head weighting coefficient of low speed and low load condition has in-
fraction mass creased. Moreover, the combustion and emission characteristics of en-
gine (including NG-diesel dual fuel engine) are usually poor under low
0.76 bar 6% 1.4 0.028 7 mg 473.15 K 387.15 K 473.15 K
speed and low load conditions [37], thus it is more worthy of studying.
For these reasons, in this study the operating condition of 1000 rpm and
Table 6 about 25% load was chosen and the APID was varied from 6 °CA to
Parameters of computational grid. 16 °CA. In order to provide more detailed boundary for 3-D CFD si-
mulation and also give more information for the thermodynamics
Item Maximal grid size (mm) Minimal grid size (mm) Grid number at TDC analysis, the 1-D performance simulation model for the NG-diesel dual
Case 1 8 2 23610 fuel engine was also built by GT-Power, as shown in Fig. 3. In the GT-
Case 2 4 1 69435 Power model, the structure parameters of target engine are obtained by
Case 3 2 0.5 184541 measurement, while the boundary conditions are provided by experi-
mental data. To be specific, the maps of compressor and turbine data
are derived from turbocharger test; the flow coefficient of intake and
exhaust valves are derived from the steady flow measurements; and the
mechanical frictional losses are obtained through engine trailing test.
The in-cylinder combustion process is approximated by the HRR from
the tested in-cylinder pressure. Besides, the in-cylinder heat transfer
process is simulated by the module of Woschni.
In order to evaluate the reasonability of GT-Power simulation model
and the accuracy of calculations results, the simulated results through
GT-Power model were compared with the corresponding experimental
data, as shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b). A good agreement between simu-
lation results and experiment data is obtained. The errors between si-
mulation and experimental results are less than 3%, which are in the
permitted range. Therefore, the calibrated GT-Power model is of high
accuracy, and the performance simulation and analysis based on this
model are relatively trustworthy.
It is well known that the accurate boundary and initial conditions
Fig. 5. In-cylinder pressure curves at different parameters of grid size. provide a better convergence and stability in the CFD calculation pro-
cess, and in this way it can ensure the accuracy of the in-cylinder si-
and evaporation [35]. The Walljet0 model, which is based on the spray/ mulation results. In this study, the initial and boundary conditions for
wall impingement model of Naber and Reitz [36], was chosen to si- the 3D simulation model come from the experimental data and the si-
mulate the droplet interaction with cylinder wall. mulated results of GT-Power model, as shown in Table 5. Before the
The geometry of the combustion chamber and the mesh of piston at validation of CFD model, the grid dependency needs to be studied.
the TDC are shown in Fig. 2. In order to ensure the computational ac- In AVL FIRE software, the computational grids are created by Fame
curacy and save computational time, the grids near cylinder wall are Engine Plus which is a tool for moving grid automatic division. In the
dense and in the middle of cylinder are sparse. For each case, the si- automatic division process, the number of grids is controlled by the
mulation process started at intake valve closing (IVC = −155 °CA) and maximal grid size and minimal grid size. As shown in Table 6,
ended at exhaust valve opening (EVO = 120 °CA). three groups of grid size were chosen to study the grid dependence at
APID = 16 °CA. It can be concluded from Fig. 5 that the grids have
enough dependency at maximal size of 4 mm and minimal size of 1 mm.
2.3. CFD model validation
If the mesh resolution is further refined up to maximal size of 2 mm, the
in-cylinder pressure curve does not have any significant change.
In the past, most of studies on the NG-diesel dual fuel engine fo-
Nevertheless, the required computational runtime is increased by 50%.
cused on the high speed condition. Actually, the low speed and low load
Then, the simulated results of all the cases are validated by
is also the frequently used condition especially for heavy duty truck,

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J. Shu et al.
(a) Advanced pilot injection degree = 6 °CA
(c) Advanced pilot injection degree = 10 °CA
(e) Advanced pilot injection degree = 14 °CA
Fig. 6. Comparison of simulated results by CFD and measured data.
experimental data in Fig. 6(a)–(f). It is obvious that the simulated re-
sults and experimental data have a good consistency in all these cases,
and only a small difference is observed around the SOC. In overall
terms, the maximum deviation between the simulated results and ex-
perimental data is less than 5%. Thus, all of the cases are considered to
be well calibrated, which are able to evaluate the effect of APID on the
combustion process of NG-diesel dual fuel engine.
3. Results and discussions
To clearly illustrate the effect of APID on thermodynamics, com-
bustion and emission of NG-diesel dual fuel engine at low speed and
low load, the experimental and calculated results are provided and then
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Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438
(b) Advanced pilot injection degree = 8 °CA
(d) Advanced pilot injection degree = 12 °CA
(f) Advanced pilot injection degree = 16 °CA
analyzed in detail. It should be noted that in this study, the SOC is
defined as the position of crank angle at which 5% of fuel (pilot diesel
and NG) has been burned, and the ignition delay is defined as the
duration from the pilot injection degree to the SOC.
3.1. Effect of injection timing on combustion process
It is well known that in-cylinder pressure reflects the combustion
behavior of engine, so to analyze the in-cylinder pressure is an effective
way to study the effect of advanced injection degree on combustion
characteristic of NG-diesel dual fuel engine. Fig. 7 shows the variation
of in-cylinder pressure of NG-diesel dual fuel engine with regard to
crank angle at different advanced injection degree. It is obvious that the
J. Shu et al. Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438

release of diesel has less effect on the HRR. As shown in Fig. 8, the peak
HRR increases with the advance of pilot injection degree. The reason
could be explained as follows. When the SOC is before TDC, pilot diesel
and NG–air mixture have longer time to mix thoroughly with advancing
pilot injection, and more homogeneous mixture is formed in cylinder.
In addition, a larger number and wider space distribution of ignition
kernel are produced. As a result, the flame propagation of NG initial
combustion is enhanced and the proportion of premixed combustion
increases. When the SOC is after TDC, the mixture burns during the
expansion process, thus the highest combustion temperature as well as
the peak HRR is influenced. As the APID changes from 6 °CA to 16 °CA,
the maximum HRR increases from 188.5 J/deg to 220 J/deg, and the
position of the maximum HRR advances from 9 °CA to −2 °CA. When
the maximum HRR locates before TDC, the compression work increases
and the maximum in-cylinder pressure would deviate from the optimal
Fig. 7. In-cylinder pressure versus advanced pilot injection degree (tested data).
region (this issue will be further analyzed in Section 3.2). From this
point of view, one can conclude that the optimal APID for the NG-diesel
dual fuel engine at low speed and low load is less than 14 °CA.
The important parameters of combustion process, like SOC, ignition
delay, 10–50% combustion duration, 50–90% combustion duration,
10–90% combustion duration and maximum PRR are presented in
Fig. 9(a)–(g). As illustrated in Fig. 9(a), there is an approximate linear
relation between the SOC and APID, while the change rate of SOC is a
bit larger than that of APID. Obviously, this is due to the reduction of
ignition delay. As it can be observed from Fig. 9(a) and (b), when the
SOC is before TDC, the ignition delay obviously prolongs with the ad-
vance of pilot injection degree. Nevertheless, when the SOC is after
TDC, the situation is the reverse. The shortest ignition delay comes up
to 12.2 °CA which appears at the APID of 12 °CA. As shown in Fig. 9(a),
when the APID is at 12 °CA, the SOC is just around the TDC. Since the
cylinder temperature is very high at TDC which is beneficial for the
Fig. 8. HRR versus advanced pilot injection degree (tested data). ignition condition, it results in the minimum value of ignition delay at
this injection timing. It can be seen from Fig. 9(c) that with the advance
maximum in-cylinder pressure increases and the peak of in-cylinder of pilot injection degree, the 10–50% combustion duration decreases
pressure moves to the TDC with the advance of pilot injection degree. slightly. Nevertheless, the variation of 50–90% combustion duration is
Earlier injection timing results in the advance of combustion phasing. It inverse (see Fig. 9(d)), which increases sharply as the APID is larger
means that more fuel energy is released during the compression stroke, than 8 °CA. When the APID is advanced from 8 °CA to 16 °CA, the
which leads to a higher in-cylinder temperature and pressure. The 50–90% combustion duration is increased by 3.3°CA. However, in Ref.
maximum cylinder pressure is about 69.3 bar, which appears at the [39], the finding about the effect of spark advance angle on combustion
APID of 16° CA. When the APID increases from 6 °CA to 16 °CA, the duration is different from this study. In the previous study, the 50–90%
maximum pressure rises from 46.4 bar to 69.3 bar and the position of combustion duration of liquefied natural gas (LNG) engine only
maximum pressure is advanced form 15.8 °CA to 4.8 °CA. changes a little which is less than 2 °CA with the variation of spark
Then, the in-cylinder pressure was used to calculate the HRR of NG- advance angle under low speed and low load conditions [39]. Ob-
diesel dual fuel engine. Usually, the HRR can be calculated according to viously, the injection timing has bigger influence which is up to 4 °CA
the mass and energy conservation equations: on the 50–90% combustion duration in NG-diesel dual fuel engine
compared with LNG engine. The detail reasons for the changes of
dQE dU dW dQW 10–50% and 50–90% combustion durations due to the APID varying are
= + +
dφ dφ dφ dφ (3) given as follows. In the initial combustion stage, the advance of pilot
dQE dU
injection degree makes the combustion phase (or 50% combustion
where, represents the HRR; is the change of thermal energy of position) approach to TDC (see Fig. 9(f)). That is, most of fuel burns
dφ dφ
dW dQW
working medium; is the instantaneous expansion work; is the around TDC in this combustion stage. Since the higher temperature
dφ dφ
instantaneous heat transfer loss through chamber wall. around TDC is helpful for the diffuse and evaporation of injected diesel,
For the sake of calculation, Formula (3) can be changed into the the HRR in initial combustion stage is very high and thus the 10–50%
following form by combining gas state equation: combustion duration is reduced. But in the later combustion stage, the
HRR depends largely on the flame propagation velocity, which is in-
dQE 1 ⎛ dp dV pV dγ ⎤ fluenced by temperature, gas components, and turbulence intensity, etc
=⎡ ⎜V + γp ⎟⎞− + hA (T −TW )
dφ ⎢ γ −1 dφ ⎠ (γ −1)2 dφ ⎥ [40]. With the advance of pilot injection degree, the in-cylinder tem-
⎣ ⎝ dφ ⎦ (4)
perature in the expansion stroke decreases obviously due to the larger
where, γ is the ratio of specific heat; V is the chamber volume; p is the heat transfer loss (see Fig. 15), and also the turbulence intensity is
in-cylinder pressure; h is the heat transfer coefficient, which can be weakened around TDC. Because of the above reasons, the flame pro-
obtained according to Woschni equation [38]; A is the chamber surface pagation velocity in the later combustion stage slows down with APID
area; T is the mean gas temperature; TW is the mean wall temperature. increasing, which results in the increase of 50–90% combustion dura-
The calculated results of HRR are shown in Fig. 8. As illustrated, the tion.
HRR of NG-diesel dual fuel engine exhibits one peak obviously like the As it can be seen from Fig. 9(e), the 10–90% combustion duration
HRR of NG engine for all the six cases. The reason why the HRR do not firstly decreases and then increases with the advance of pilot injection
have two peaks is that the PES is up to 85%, which leads that the heat timing and the variation principle is same as that of 50–90%

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J. Shu et al. Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438

Fig. 9. Combustion parameters versus ad-

vanced pilot injection degree (tested data).

(a) SOC (b) Ignition delay

(c) 10-50% combustion duration (d) 50-90% combustion duration

(e) 10-90% combustion duration (f) 50% combustion position

(g) Maximum pressure rise rate

combustion duration. As it can be seen from Fig. 9(c) and (d), the duration. In Fig. 9(e), the turning point is at the APID of 8 °CA. This
10–50% combustion duration changes little relative to the 50–90% issue is explained as follows. With the retard of pilot injection degree,
combustion duration, which indicates that the variation of 10–90% the atomization of pilot fuel deteriorates and less ignition sources are
combustion duration is mainly determined by the 50–90% combustion formed in cylinder. Moreover, more fuel is burned in the diffusion

433
J. Shu et al.
Fig. 10. Brake thermal efficiency versus advanced pilot injection degree (tested data).
Fig. 11. EER versus advanced pilot injection degree (tested data).
combustion stage while the combustion speed of diffusion stage is
slower compared with that at the premixed combustion stage. There-
fore, the combustion process is prolonged and heat released during the
expansion stroke increases. Conversely, at the largest APID, the ignition
delay period is prolonged and more ignition centers are formed in cy-
linder. Accordingly, most of mixture is burned during the premixed
stage, and the amount of premixed fuel increases.
As another important parameter to evaluate the combustion per-
formance, the maximum PRR of NG-diesel dual fuel engine is con-
cerned, which is an importance influence factor for combustion noise
and knocking combustion [21]. As shown in Fig. 9(g), the maximum
PRR turns higher with the advance of pilot injection degree. As the
APID changes from 6 °CA to 16 °CA, the maximum PRR increases from
6.5 bar/°CA to 11.68 bar/°CA. Obviously, this is due to the increase of
maximum HRR, as shown in Fig. 8. Nevertheless, the maximum PRR is
more sensitive to APID compared with the maximum HRR. The results
(a) EEE (tested data)
Fig. 12. EEE and heat transfer loss at different advanced pilot injection degrees.
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Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438
confirmed that advanced injection timing leads to a higher PRR. Thus,
the pilot injection timing should not be excessively advanced in terms
of the limitations of engine combustion noise and knocking combustion.
3.2. Effect of injection timing on thermodynamics
The BTE of NG-diesel dual fuel engine at different APID is shown in
Fig. 10. As illustrated, when the pilot injection degree is advanced from
6 °CA to 12 °CA, the BTE of NG-diesel dual fuel engine increases by 0.9
percent points. The maximum value of BTE is 27.7%, which appears at
the APID of 12 °CA. However, when the pilot injection degree is ad-
vanced from 12 °CA to 16 °CA, the BTE of NG-diesel dual fuel engine
changes in the opposite direction. The results reveal that the BTE of NG-
diesel dual fuel engine is significantly influenced by the pilot injection
degree, and the excessive APID has a negative effect on the BTE. Hence,
the pilot injection degree should be optimized so as to obtain the best
fuel economy performance for NG-diesel dual fuel engine.
For the same operating conditions (speed and load), the frictional
loss of engine is usually fixed. So, the change of BTE is ascribed to the
variation of indicated thermal efficiency. In order to explain the change
rule of indicated thermal efficiency due to the varied pilot injection
degree, the effective expansion ratio (EER) and EEE are introduced, the
mathematical expressions of which are given as follow:
EOC
∫SOC HRR (ϕ)·ε (ϕ)·dϕ
EER = EOC
∫SOC HRR (ϕ)·dϕ (5)
EOC
∫SOC HRR (ϕ)·⎡1− ε (ϕ1)k − 1 ⎤·dϕ
EEE = ⎣ ⎦
EOC
∫SOC HRR (ϕ)·dϕ (6)
where EER represents the effective expansion ratio; EEE represent the
effective expansion efficiency; HRR (ϕ) is the instant non-dimensional
heat release rate at the crank angle position of ϕ ; ε (ϕ) is the instant
expansion ratio of cylinder volume from the current crank angle posi-
tion to EVO timing; ϕ is the crank angle.
It is clear that EER represents the comprehensive results of the in-
stantaneous heat release in the combustion process and the corre-
sponding instant expansion ratio. From the analysis of the heat-work
conversion process of engine, the earlier the heat is released in the
expansion stroke, the greater potential to produce work it owns, since
the bigger instantaneous effective expansion ratio can produce more
expansion work. As a single and unique parameter, the EER exactly
expresses the perfect degree of heat-work conversion process. The re-
sults of EER at different APID are presented in Fig. 11. As it can be seen,
the EER always increases with the advancing of polit injection degree.
When the polit injection degree is advanced from 6 °CA to 16 °CA, the
EER increases from 10.6 to 13.4. The higher EER means the burned gas
(b) Heat transfer loss (calculated data)
J. Shu et al.
Fig. 13. Temperature nodal data at different advanced pilot injection degrees (CFD results).
Fig. 14. BSNOx emission versus pilot injection timing (tested data).
Fig. 15. Mean in-cylinder temperature at different pilot injection degrees (CFD results).
can produce more expansion work and then leads to higher thermal
efficiency. Nevertheless, it can be seen from Fig. 9(a) that the SOC is
before TDC when APID is larger than 12 °CA, which means that piston
needs to do more negative work if the APID is too large.
The results of EEE and the percent of heat transfer loss at different
APID are presented in Fig. 12(a) and (b), respectively. It can be seen
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Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438
that the advance of polit injection degree has a obvious effect on the
EEE. When the polit injection degree is advanced from 6 °CA to 16 °CA,
the EEE increases from 60.7% to 64.5%, as shown in Fig. 12(a). Ob-
viously, this is due to the advance of combustion phase and then the
increase of EER. Although the EEE increases with the advance of pilot
injection degree, the increase rate is approaching to zero when the APID
is larger than 12 °CA. Obviously, this is attributed to the increase of
compression work. Since the compression work is very significant for
the EEE and also because it is influenced by the pilot injection degree
(Actually, it is the SOC), the influence of compression work on the
thermodynamics performance of engine was analyzed in detail. It is
well known that only when the SOC is before the TDC, does the com-
bustion process have a negative effect on the compression work. As it
can be seen from Fig. 9(a), the critical APID is around 12 °CA. For the
APID below 12 °CA, the SOC is after TDC. Under the circumstances, the
negative compression work is almost the same regardless of the change
of APID, while the positive expansion work turns larger with the APID
increasing (see Fig. 7), both of which results in the increase of EEE (see
Fig. 12(a)). For the APID above 12 °CA, the SOC is before TDC, and the
in-cylinder pressure increases sharply in the compression stroke. Under
the circumstances, both the compression work and expansion work turn
larger with APID increasing (see Fig. 7). In addition, the increase rate of
compression work is approximately equal to that of expansion work,
and this is the reason why the EEE is almost unchanged.
Similar to the EEE, the percent of heat transfer loss also increases
with the advance of pilot injection degree, as shown in Fig. 12(b). When
the polit injection degree is advanced from 6 °CA to 16 °CA, the percent
of heat transfer loss increses from 21.2% to 29.1%. This is because the
advance of pilot injection degree makes both the maximum combustion
temperature and the duration of high temperature increase (see
Fig. 15). Thus it can be seen, the advance of pilot injection degree re-
sults in the increase of both the EEE and the percent of heat transfer
loss. However, differences are in their change rates. When the APID is
lower than 12 °CA, the increase rate of EEE due to APID increasing is
distinctly larger than that of the percent of heat transfer loss. Never-
theless, when the APID is larger than 12 °CA, it is just the opposite.
Under the circumstances, although the EEE still increases, the BTE
decreases eventually due to the increased heat transfer loss (see
Fig. 10). Thus, the optimal APID for NG-diesel dual fuel engine is
around 12 °CA under the studied operating condition.
J. Shu et al.
Fig. 16. Oxygen atoms mass fraction at different pilot injection degrees (CFD results).
Fig. 17. BSTHC emissions versus pilot injection timing (tested data).
In order to understand the combustion process of NG-diesel dual
fuel engine in more detail, the simulated results about the temperature
distributions, which can well reveal the variation of in-cylinder com-
bustion, are presented in Fig. 13. Three groups of APID, 12 °CA, 16 °CA
and 24 °CA after pilot injection (API) are chosen to analyze the com-
bustion process. The reason for this choice is that 12 °CA, 16 °CA and
24 °CA API are close to SOC, CA50 and CA90, respectively. As it can be
seen from Fig. 13, at 12 °CA API, the NG-diesel dual fuel engine with
APID = 12 °CA has the highest temperature and the biggest area of high
temperature, which reflect that it has shortest ignition delay (which is
consistent with the experimental data in Fig. 9). At 24 °CA API, the
temperature distribution reveals that there are some unburn fuel in the
bottom of chamber center when the APID is less than 12 °CA, and the
difference of temperature distribution indicates that the post-combus-
tion becomes serious with the retard of pilot injection degree when
APID is less than 12 °CA. Likewise, this conclusion is also consistent
with the analysis of Fig. 9.
3.3. Effect of injection timing on exhaust emissions
For the NG-diesel dual fuel engine, the THC and NOx are the two
main harmful emissions [41]. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the effect
of APID on the emission characteristics of THC and NOx. Fig. 14 ex-
hibits the effect of APID on brake specific NOx (BSNOx). It can be
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Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438
clearly seen that BSNOx emission increases with the advance of pilot
injection degree. When the APID changes from 6 °CA to 16 °CA, the
BSNOx emission increases from 8 g/(kW·h) to 21 g/(kW·h). It is uni-
versally known that NO is the main component and usually accounts for
more than 90% of NOx emission inside the engine cylinder [42]. The
formation of NO in the combustion zone is a complex chemical process
and two typical mechanisms are involved in, namely, thermal me-
chanism (Zeldovich mechanism) and prompt mechanism (Fenimore
mechanism) [42]. Since the excess air ratio in the NG-diesel dual fuel
engine is larger than 1.0, only the thermal mechanism needs to be
considered for this issue. According to the thermal mechanism, the
formation of NO is greatly influenced by in-cylinder temperature,
oxygen concentration and reaction duration [43]. Firstly, the simulated
mean in-cylinder temperature under different pilot injection degrees
are presented in Fig. 15. As illustrated, the highest mean temperature
increases with the advance of pilot injection degree. Secondly, the
oxygen atoms mass fraction at different APID is presented in Fig. 16.
Although the mass fraction of O2 is the same at different APID which
seems that it has no concern with the variation of NO production, dif-
ferences are in the O concentration due to the temperature conditions.
As the reaction of O and N2 is the critical step in the NO production
process, the higher oxygen atoms mass fraction is beneficial for the
generation of NO. It can be seen in Fig. 16 that oxygen atoms mass
fraction increases with the advance of pilot injection degree. Finally,
because NO formation occurs when temperature is above about 1800 K,
the reaction duration could be judged according to the temperature
change course. It is easy to find in Fig. 15 that the duration in which the
temperature is above 1800 K becomes longer with the advance of pilot
injection degree. Due to the combined influences mentioned above, the
BSNOx emission increases with the advance of pilot injection degree.
The brake specific THC (BSTHC) emission versus APID is presented
in Fig. 17. It can be seen that BSTHC increases with the advance of pilot
injection degree, nevertheless the effect of APID on BSTHC emission is
small. For example, when the pilot injection degree is advanced from
6 °CA to 16 °CA, the BSTHC only increases from 1.67 g/(kW·h) to
1.76 g/(kW·h) (the increase rate is only 5.3%). Moreover, it was ex-
perimentally validated that about 90% of THC emission of NG-diesel
dual fuel engine is unburned methane [42]. The reasons for the change
of THC emission due to the variation of APID are analyzed as follows.
The formation of HC emission is mainly due to the following several
J. Shu et al.
Fig. 18. CH4 mass fraction at different pilot injection degrees (CFD results).
aspects [44,45]: (1) Incomplete combustion; (2) Effect of combustion
chamber crevices; (3) Effect of oil film layers; (4) Wall flame quenching.
In this study, the APID is the only changed parameter, and the retard of
pilot injection degree makes the post-combustion more obvious (as
shown in Fig. 18, there are most CH4 in the minimum pilot injection
degree) and results in the rise of exhaust temperature (see Fig. 15).
Accordingly, the oxidation of the unburned THC is accelerated in the
exhaust stroke and exhaust pipe, and it results in a reduction in the final
emission of THC. Due to the little difference of exhaust temperature at
different APID, the effect of injection timing on THC emission is very
limited. In addition, with the excessive retard of pilot injection degree,
the effective thermal efficiency of NG-diesel dual fuel engine is reduced
(see Fig. 10), which indicates that the pilot injection degree cannot be
retarded too much.
4. Conclusions
In this paper, the effects of APID on thermodynamics, combustion
and emissions of NG-diesel dual fuel engine were investigated by the
experimental and computational method. Through secondary devel-
opment on tested data, the combustion characteristic parameters of NG-
diesel dual fuel engine were quantitatively studied and the correlations
between combustion characteristic parameters and APID were ob-
tained. At the same time, the in-cylinder combustion process at dif-
ferent APID was simulated based on the validated CFD model and the
formation mechanisms of NOx and HC emissions were analyzed.
Through the analysis of experimental data and simulation results, the
following conclusions can be drawn.
(1) With the advance of pilot injection degree, both the maximum in-
cylinder pressure and maximum HRR increase and the positions of
them are closing to TDC. As a result, both the SOC and 50% com-
bustion position are advanced. The more the SOC is close to TDC,
the shorter the ignition delay is, and the shortest ignition delay is
12.2 °CA. The 10–50% combustion duration decreases slightly but
the 50–90% combustion duration increases obviously with the
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Energy Conversion and Management 160 (2018) 426–438
advance of pilot injection degree. Since the APID has larger influ-
ence on 50–90% combustion duration than 10–50% combustion
duration in NG-diesel dual fuel engine, the 10–90% combustion
duration gets shorter as the pilot injection degree is advanced.
(2) The BTE of NG-diesel dual fuel engine firstly increases and then
decreases with the advance of pilot injection degree. When the SOC
is after TDC, the BTE is improved with the increase of APID. But
when the SOC is before TDC, the change of BTE is opposite. The
advance of pilot injection degree results in the increase of both the
EEE and the percent of heat transfer loss. For the APID below
12 °CA, the increase rate of EEE due to the advance of pilot injection
degree is larger than that of the percent of heat transfer loss.
However, for the APID above 12 °CA, it is just the opposite and
finally leads to the decrease of BTE. Thus, for the studied operating
condition, the optimal APID for NG-diesel dual fuel engine is
around 12 °CA.
(3) With the advance of pilot injection degree, the highest in-cylinder
mean temperature and oxygen atoms mass fraction increase, and
the duration of temperature above 1800 K becomes longer. As a
result, the BSNOx increases largely. As the pilot injection degree is
retarded, more HC is generated during the combustion process, but
meanwhile the post-combustion becomes clear and the exhaust
temperature increases, which can accelerate the oxidation of HC.
Finally, the HC emission is not very sensitive to the APID.
Therefore, to retard the pilot injection degree could be an effective
way to decease NOx emission of NG-diesel dual fuel engine.
Acknowledgements
This research work is jointly sponsored by the National Key
Technology Support Program (No. 2014BAG09B01), the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51376057), Hunan
Provincial Innovation Foundation for Postgraduate (CX2017B083). The
authors appreciate the reviewers and the editor for their careful reading
and many constructive comments and suggestions on improving the
manuscript.
J. Shu et al.
Author contributions
Jianqin Fu conceived and designed this study. Jun Shu performed
the CFD simulation and wrote the first draft. Jingping Liu and Lei Zhang
performed the engine test and collected experimental data. Zhichao
Zhao contributed feedback. All authors commented on the manuscript.
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