Abstract
In this study, the
effects of different biodiesel pilot fuel injection pressures on performance
characteristics of a natural gas engine were investigated using ‘Kinetics &
SRM Engine Suite’ software which is based on stochastic reactor model (SRM).
This advanced software uses chemical kinetic mechanisms of fuels to simulate
combustion process of the engine. ‘Methyl decanoate/methyl-9-decenoate/n-heptane’
reduced chemical kinetic mechanism including 71 species and 217 reactions were
defined as a biodiesel surrogate fuel chemical kinetic mechanism to represent
biodiesel fuel in this study. Theoretical model set by the way of software
tools was validated by experimental data. Then, simulation was run in three
different stochastic particle numbers (50, 100, and 150) to investigate engine
performance characteristics of a biodiesel pilot-fueled natural gas engine. It
is observed that as pilot fuel injection pressure increases, engine torque and
brake power enhance, but brake specific fuel consumption decreases.
Furthermore, various stochastic particle numbers used in the simulation did not
dramatically affect data of engine performance characteristics simulated.