A DNS study of the ignition of lean PRF/air mixtures with temperature inhomogeneities under high pressure and intermediate temperature

Two-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of ignition of lean primary reference fuel (PRF)/air mixtures at high pressure and intermediate temperature near the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) regime were performed with a 116 species-reduced mechanism to elucidate the effects of fuel composition, thermal stratification, and turbulence on PRF homogeneous charge compression-ignition (HCCI) combustion. In the DNSs, temperature and velocity fluctuations are superimposed on the initial scalar fields with different PRF compositions. In general, it was found that the mean heat release rate increases slowly and the overall combustion occurs rapidly with increasing thermal stratification regardless of the fuel composition. In addition, the effect of the fuel composition on the ignition characteristics of PRF/air mixtures was found to be significantly reduced with increasing thermal stratification. Chemical explosive mode (CEM) and displacement speed analyses verified that nascent ignition kernels induced by hot spots due to a high degree of thermal stratification usually develop into deflagration waves rather than spontaneous auto-ignition at reaction fronts and as such, the mean heat release rate becomes more distributed over time. These analyses also revealed that the fuel composition effect vanishes as the degree of thermal stratification is increased because the deflagration mode of combustion, of which propagation characteristics are nearly identical for different PRF/air mixtures, becomes more prevailing with increasing degree of thermal stratification. Ignition Damkِhler number was proposed to quantify the successful development of deflagration waves from nascent ignition kernels; for cases with large ignition Damkِhler number, turbulence with high intensity and short timescale can advance the overall combustion by increasing the overall turbulent flame area instead of homogenizing initial mixture inhomogeneities.