Detailed modeling of soot size distribution evolution and pollutant formation inside aircraft and diesel engines

Combustion emission of soot and pollutant gas species contributes to poor regional air quality near emission sources and to climate change. It is important to understand the formation mechanism and time evolution of these pollutants inside the combustion engine, through detailed modeling of combustion chemistry and microphysics as well as comparison with observation. In this thesis, two multi-zone gas parcel combustion engine models, one for aircraft engines and another for diesel engines, have been developed to study soot size distribution evolution and pollutant formation inside the engines as well as emissions. The models take into account size-resolved (sectional) soot aerosol dynamics (nucleation, growth, and coagulation) and detailed combustion chemistry of jet and diesel fuel.;For the aircraft engine, the model considers 362 chemical species, 2657 reversible reactions and 75 aerosol size bins. The model was applied to a CFM56-2-C1 aircraft engine for idle operating conditions. This is the first model to simulate soot size distribution evolution inside an aircraft engine (to our knowledge). The simulated values for major species are generally consistent with measurements. Model simulation shows that, for idle operating conditions, concentrations of most key combustion products don't change significantly in the post-combustor, however, HONO, H2SO4, and HO 2 concentrations change by more than a factor of 10. The sulfur oxidation efficiency (SOE), ([SO3]+[H2SO4])/([SO 2]+[SO3] +[H2SO4]), was found to be 2.1% at the engine exit.;For the diesel engine, the multi-zone gas parcel model has been further enhanced by including fuel injection, droplet break-up, fuel evaporation and air entrainment rate. The model considers 283 chemical species, 2137 reversible reactions, and 75 aerosol size bins. The developed model calculates the time evolution of concentrations of these chemical species and soot size distributions inside a diesel engine. This is the first model to simulate soot size distribution evolution inside a diesel engine (to our knowledge). Model calculations are generally consistent with measurements. SOE was found to be 2% at end of the expansion stroke. The diesel engine emission model was used to study the effects of fuel sulfur content (FSC), relative humidity (RH) of intake air and fuel injection angle (FIA) on pollutant formation and emission as well as engine performances. The model simulation shows that FSC does not affect non-sulfur species, however, SO2 and SO3 increase linearly with increase in FSC. Simulation also shows that both higher RH and late injection (higher FIA) increase soot but decrease NOx. The model enables us to test the predictive capability of any existing or newly developed chemical kinetic mechanism of surrogate fuel and soot microphysics inside diesel engines.