Numerical Modeling of Diesel Injection for Hydrogen Dual-Fuel ICE

In the current environmental and socio-economical scenario, the urgent need for reducing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from road transport has brought the development of innovative technologies as well as the finest optimization of the yet-established ones. Alongside with the continuous improvement of engine efficiency and the definitive abatement of engine air-pollutant emissions, the technical research on the last-generation Compression Ignition (CI) Engine is pursuing the goal of reaching minimum CO2 emissions. In this scope, Dual Fuel (DF) Hydrogen-Diesel Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) come into play, maximizing the Hydrogen Fuel Substitution rate, and exploiting Diesel Fuel as an ignition source to compensate for the high self-ignition Temperature of the H2 fuel. In this way, the DF Technology synergically combines the benefits of both fuels, obtaining a significant increase in the H/C ratio of the entire mixture, which can lead to decisive abatement of CO2 and soot emissions from CI Engines. In the present Master Thesis work a Diesel Spray 3D CFD Model has been calibrated and validated against an extensive set of experimental data. Subsequently, the calibrated model performances have been analyzed in light of the current state-of-the-art Diesel Spray models prediction capability. Such an analysis is intended to put the basis for future employment of the same models in Dual Fuel Hydrogen ICE combustion simulation, to finally allow for evaluation of the importance of fine Diesel Spray model calibration for applications that involve Diesel Fuel mixing with gaseous fuels.