1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND
The Internal Combustion (IC) engine has evolved over the years
since the four stroke OTTO cycle was developed in 1897 by Nikolaus
August Otto. The basic design and working principle has not changed much
and has been the heart of every automobile. Through continuous research
and development on the IC engine, performance and efficiency have
improved significantly over the years. However, global emissions
regulations and the shortage of fossil fuel resources have provided an
impetus for engine designers and engineers to provide more advanced
technologies, producing cleaner and more efficient motors.
Several alternative technologies such as fuel cells and electric
vehicles have been introduced in the market, but they come with associated
problems that include high cost, changes required to the fuelling
infrastructure and lack of development to support these technologies.
Lately, various technologies like catalysts and intelligent engine
management systems have contributed to the achievement of lower
emissions and fuel consumption without compromising on output
performance. Technologies such as Variable Valve Actuation (VVA), direct
fuel injection, and cylinder activation have had a significant impact on
enhancing overall performance of the automobile. The future of automotive
research and development is about improving the bottom line, source of
power, i.e. Combustion of fuel.
In recent times, alternative combustion technology such as
Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) has been studied and
results have been positive. HCCI combustion has the potential to reduce

fuel consumption and NOx emissions pertaining to the most stringent of

legislation of both present and future. HCCI technology is attractive as
there is no need for major modifications to the existing structure of IC
engines and with significantly low NOx emissions, after treatment systems
are not required.
1.1.1

About HCCI
HCCI combustion is achieved by premixing the air-fuel mixture,
either in the manifold or by early direct injection, as in Spark Ignition (SI)
engine, and compressing the mixture until the temperature inside the
combustion chamber reaches the auto ignition point and ignites, as in

Compression Ignition (CI) engine. It is also known by following terms

Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI)
Active Thermo Atmosphere Combustion (ATAC)
Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI)
Homogenous Charge Diesel Combustion (HCDC)
Premixed Lean Diesel Combustion (PREDIC)
Compression Ignited Homogenous Charge (CIHC)
HCCI engine combines the advantages of Spark Ignition engine
(Homogenous Charge) and Compression Ignition engine (increased
efficiency) with reduced emissions. Auto ignition combustion can be
described by the oxidation of the fuel dependant solely on chemical
reactions, governed by chain-branching mechanisms. According to various
researchers, auto ignition in an HCCI engine is a random phenomenon that
starts throughout the combustion chamber, while others argue that is a more
uniform process. Hence, further study and investigation of auto ignition
process is required so as to gain an understanding on controlling HCCI
combustion. The following figure depicts the differences in Spark Ignition,
Compression Ignition and HCCI engine:

Figure 1 Combustion difference between SI, CI and HCCI

combustion [1]

1.1.2

Controlling Factors
There are several controlling factors that affect the performance of HCCI

combustion engine and currently research is being carried out globally to

understand the relationship between these controlling factors. The relationships
will enable designers and engineers to have a better understanding of the
combustion process and overcome the following challenges to a certain extent:

Ignition Timing Control

Combustion Rate Control for High Load Operation
Engine Cold Start
Development of Emissions Control Systems
Achieving Satisfactory Engine Transient Operation
Development of Engine Control Strategies and Systems
Development of Appropriate Fuel Systems
Overcoming Multi Cylinder Engine Effects
Developing and Validating Representative Combustion Models

However, the major obstacle for HCCI engine to become a commercial

success is combustion control. For this reason, several methods have been
proposed for achieving HCCI engine control over the wide range of operating
conditions required for typical transportation engine applications. Control
technologies reported in the literature have demonstrated some degree of success,
but further R&D efforts are required [2]. Some of the proposed methods include:

Variable Compression Ratio

Variable Valve Timing
Ignition Enhancing Additives
Thermal Control

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

Onishi et al. in 1979 [3] were amongst the first researchers to investigate
the possibility of using auto ignition combustion as a combustion mode in an
engine. They have applied auto ignition combustion using gasoline in a two-stroke
gasoline engine and named this process ATAC. They showed that there was very
small Cycle-By-Cycle Variations (CBCV) in the peak combustion pressure, the
reaction occurred spontaneously at many points and combustion proceeded slowly.
They investigated the significance of the hydroxyl, OH, hydrated carbon and
diatomic carbon radicals and showed that their concentration was significantly
higher and that the radicals had a longer life than in a SI engine (40 life compared
to 25). They suggested that to attain ATAC, the quantity of the mixture and the
A/F ratio must be uniform from cycle to cycle, the temperature of the mixture must
be suitable and the cyclic variability of the scavenging process must be kept to a
minimum to ensure the correct conditions of the residual gases remaining in the
combustion chamber. They obtained satisfactory combustion over a wide range of
A/F from 11 to 22 and they concluded that ATAC reduces both fuel consumption
and exhaust emissions over the whole of that range.
Around the same time, the auto ignition and energy release processes of
CIHC combustion and what parameters affect them were investigated using a
single-cylinder four-stroke cycle Waukesha Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR)
engine with a pancake combustion chamber and a shrouded intake valve [4]. It was
deduced that this controlled auto ignition/ combustion mode was not associated
with knocking but a smooth energy release that could be controlled by proper use
of temperature and species concentrations. In their experiments they controlled
independently the intake charge temperature (600-810K) and the recirculated

exhaust products (35-55% EGR), which were evaluated using carbon dioxide
measurements. They used three different fuels;

70% iso-octane and 30% n-heptane

60% iso-octane and 40% nheptane
60% iso-propylbenzene and 40% n-heptane
From the above research, it was concluded that:

Chemical species in the EGR gases had no effect on the rate of energy
release and therefore EGR was primarily used to control combustion by

means of regulating the initial gas temperature

Delivery ratio affected the combustion process through changes in the
concentrations of fuel and oxygen in the reacting mixture. Therefore, at
high delivery ratios the energy release became violent and for a CR of

7.5:1, it was found that a delivery ratio of 45% was the maximum
Fuels with lower octane numbers were ignited more easily.
In 1989, Thring [5] investigated the possibility of autoignition combustion

in a single-cylinder, four-stroke internal combustion engine by Labeco CLR and

was the first to suggest using SI operation at high loads and HCCI at part load.
Even though the term ATAC and CIHC were previously used to describe this auto
ignition/combustion process, Thring used the term HCCI. Intake temperatures (up
to 425C), equivalence ratios (0.33-1.30), EGR rates (up to 33%) and both gasoline
and diesel were used to explore the satisfactory operation regions of the engine.
There were three regions of unsatisfactory operation labelled misfire region,
power-limited region and knock region. In the misfire and knock region the
mixture was too rich while in the power-limited region the mixture was too lean. It
was concluded that, under favourable conditions, HCCI combustion exhibited low
cyclic variability and produced fuel economy results comparable with a diesel
engine. However, high EGR rates (in the range of 30%) and high intake
temperatures (greater than 370C) were required.
HCCI combustion was later on also tested in a production engine [6] by
using a 1.6 litre VW engine which was converted to HCCI operation with
preheated intake air. By using =2.27, a CR of 18.7:1 and preheating the intake air

up to 180C, an increase in the part load efficiency 124 Advances in Internal

Combustion Engines and Fuel Technologies from 14 to 34% was achieved. A
NiCE-10 two-stroke SI engine with a CR of 6.0:1 was also used [7] to investigate
this auto ignition phenomenon by measuring the radical luminescence in the
combustion chamber using methanol and gasoline as fuels. Luminescence images
were acquired using an image intensifier coupled with a Charge-Coupled Device
(CCD) camera and the luminescence spectra of the radicals OH, CH and C2 were
acquired by using a band-pass filter in front of the Ultra Violet (UV) lens. With
conventional SI combustion, radical luminescence indicated a flame propagating
from the centre of the spark plug towards the cylinder walls, while with ATAC
combustion, radical luminescence appeared throughout the combustion chamber.
The total luminescence intensity exhibited with ATAC combustion was less
compared to SI combustion. Furthermore, with SI combustion OH radical species
were formed 30 Crank Angle (CA) Before Top Dead Centre (BTDC) and assumed
that it occurred at the same timing as the main combustion process, while in the
case of ATAC combustion, OH radical species increased before the main
combustion process as indicated by the rate of heat release.
The effect of CRs ranging from 10:1 to 28:1 on various fuels was
extensively studied [8],[9]. VCR can be achieved using a modified cylinder head
that its position can be altered during operation using a hydraulic system. NOx and
smoke emissions were not affected by CR and were generally very low. However,
an increased CR resulted in higher HC emissions and a decrease in combustion
efficiency [8]. Others [10] reported that decreasing inlet temperatures and lambdas,
higher CRs were need to maintain correct maximum brake torque and concluded
that variable CR can be used instead of inlet heating to achieve HCCI combustion.
Furthermore, the effect of CR on HCCI combustion in a direct-injection diesel
engine was also investigated [11]. The CR could be varied from 7:5:1 to 17:1 by
moving the head and cylinder liner assembly relative to the centreline of the
crankshaft. Acceptable HCCI combustion was achieved with ignition timing
occurring before TDC with misfire being exhibited if ignition timing was further
delayed with CRs from 8:1 to14:1. However, with a knocking intensity of 4

(where audible knock occurs at 5 on a scale from zero to ten), the acceptable HCCI
operation was limited at CRs from 8:1 to 11:1.
Supercharging (2bar boost pressure) was shown to increase the Indicated
Mean Effective Pressure (IMEP) of an engine under HCCI combustion to 14bar
[12]. Supercharging was used because of its capability to deliver increased density
and pressure at all engine speeds while turbocharging depends on the speed of the
engine. However, this resulted in lower efficiency due to the power used for
supercharging. Supercharging resulted in greater emissions of CO and HC, greater
cylinder pressure, longer combustion duration and lower NOx emissions. There
were no combustion related problems in operating HCCI with supercharging and
the maximum net indicated efficiency achieved was 59%. On the contrary, others
[13] investigated the effect of turbo charging on HCCI combustion. A Brake Mean
Effective Pressure (BMEP) of 16bar (compared to 6bar without turbo charging and
21bar with the unmodified diesel engine) and an efficiency of 41.2% (compared to
45.3% with the unmodified diesel engine) were achieved. Furthermore, CO and
HC emissions decreased with increasing load, but NOx emissions increased.
However, at higher loads, as the rate of pressure increased and the peak pressure
approached their set limit (i.e. peak pressure greater than 200bar), ignition timing
was retarded at the expense of combustion efficiency. Thus, in order to improve the
combustion efficiency at high boost levels, cooled EGR rates was introduced [14],
and it was shown that under those conditions, the combustion efficiency increased
only slightly.
Even though EGR has been employed by various researchers, the results
are not always consistent within the research community. Depending on the
method of EGR used (trapped exhaust gases due to valve timing, or exhaust gases
re-introduced in the manifold), the results can vary, since both the temperature and
chemical species present might not be the same in all cases.
Both aforementioned methods were employed [15],[16] where the first
method relied on trapping a set quantity of exhaust gas by closing the exhaust

valves relatively early, while in the second method, all the exhaust gases were
expelled during the exhaust stroke, but during the intake stroke, both the inlet and
exhaust valves opened simultaneously, to draw in the engine cylinder both fresh
charge and exhaust gas. It was shown that HCCI combustion is possible with EGR
and without preheating the inlet air and that increasing the quantity of exhaust
gases advances the ignition timing. Furthermore it was concluded that HCCI can
become reproducible and consistent by controlling the ignition timing by altering
the EGR rate. Others achieved EGR [17],[18] by throttling the exhaust manifold,
which increased the pumping work and reduced the overall efficiency. They
concluded that:

With increasing EGR, and thus decreasing A/F ratio and slower chemical

reactions, the inlet gas temperature must also be increased

With increasing amounts of EGR, the combustion process becomes slower,
resulting in lower peak pressure and lower rate of heat release and therefore

longer combustion rates.

Both the combustion and gross indicated efficiencies increased with
increasing EGR.
Based on further work [19], it was concluded that EGR had both thermal

and chemical effects on HCCI combustion and that active species in the exhaust
gases promoted HCCI. Others [20] however, reported contradicting results, where
varying the EGR had little effect on combustion timing, on gross IMEP,
combustion efficiency and net indicated efficiency. However, in those cases, the
EGR was taken from the exhaust pipe and through a secondary pipe re-introduced
in the inlet pipe where it was mixed with the fresh air mixture. There was no
indication of pipe insulation or of the temperature of the EGR gases. Therefore, if
the temperature of the gases was lower or of the same order as the intake gas
temperature, then the effect of the EGR might have been reduced to only dilution
effects.
Others on the other hand [21], investigated the importance of EGR
stratification on HCCI combustion. It was found that HCCI combustion started

10

near the centre of the combustion chamber at the boundary between the hot exhaust
gases, situated at the centre due to poor scavenging characteristics of the valves,
and the fresh intake charge. The importance of the mixing of the EGR and the
fresh-air mixture was identified, since by controlling the EGR stratification, the
combustion timing might also be controlled. The effect of homogeneous and
inhomogeneous cooled EGR on HCCI combustion has also been investigated [22].
For the homogeneous case, the fresh air and EGR gases were mixed upstream of
the intake port and thus well-mixed before the fuel injector.
For the inhomogeneous case, EGR gases were introduced downstream the
fuel injector and therefore there was no time for proper mixing. With
inhomogeneous EGR supply, auto ignition timing was advanced (due to local hot
spots of fresh air-fuel mixture) but the overall combustion was slower (due to local
cold spots of exhaust gas-fuel mixture), than with homogeneous EGR supply.

Fuel injection strategies is one of the most important topics under research
for HCCI combustion, as it can be easily controlled, compared to VCR, multiple
fuel injection, etc, to alter HCCI combustion, by varying the injection timing and
duration, and the injector location and type. It was shown that even injector nozzle
optimizations can be employed to alter the fuel spray and affect HCCI combustion
[23]. Injector location was also investigated [24] by using both port injection to
create a premixed fuel-air mixture and direct injection to control the timing of
auto ignition. Others [25], focused on different fuel injection strategies; injecting
the fuel in a 20 litre mixing tank before the engine intake port and injecting the fuel
just outside the engine intake port. The first treatment resulted in a homogeneous
mixture, while the second treatment resulted in a mixture with fluctuations of the
order of 4 to 6mm. Regardless of the preparation method; however, combustion
was inhomogeneous with very large spatial fluctuations. Furthermore, the local
combustion kernels did not have a tendency to be more frequent in the central part
of the combustion chamber, where the temperature was assumed to be higher than

11

in the vicinity of the walls. They were unable though to identify the process that
caused the very inhomogeneous combustion initiation.
Others also investigated the effect of various injection patterns and their
combination on HCCI combustion. In particular [26], the following three fuel
injection patterns were investigated: (i) Injection during the negative valve overlap
interval to cause fuel reformation, (ii) injection during the intake stroke to form a
homogeneous mixture and (iii) injection during the compression stroke to form a
stratified mixture. It was found that with fuel reformation, the operating range of
HCCI combustion was extended without an increase in the NOx emissions.
Furthermore, limited operation was observed with late injection timing that also
led to high NOx emissions. Two other injection systems were also employed [27]:
(i) a premixed injection injector in the intake manifold to create a homogeneous
charge and (ii) a DI injector to create a stratified charge. Thus by varying the
amount of fuel injected through the DI injector (from 0 to 100%) and varying the
injection timing of the DI injector (from 300 to 30CA BTDC) different
stratification levels were achieved. It was found that HCCI combustion was
improved at the lean limit with charge stratification, while CO and HC emissions
decreased. On the contrary, at the richer limit, a decrease in combustion efficiency
was evident at certain conditions. It was concluded that charge stratification causes
locally richer regions that, in the lean limit, improved combustion efficiency by
raising the in-cylinder temperature during the early stages of the auto ignition
process, while at the rich limit, the change in the in-cylinder temperature does not
affect the combustion efficiency to such an extent.
The possibility of using a Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) injector and
varying the injection timing to control HCCI combustion has also been
investigated [28]. It was concluded that the most homogeneous mixture was
formed with early injection timings, while fuel inhomogeneities (and thus regions
with richer fuel concentration) were present with retarded injection timings. With
retarded injection timing and thus increased fuel inhomogeneity, combustion of
locally richer mixtures caused an increase in the combustion temperature that as a

12

result, caused higher combustion efficiency, an increase in NOx emissions but a

decrease in CO and HC emissions. Furthermore, with late retarded injection
timings, a decrease in the combustion efficiency (and increase in the CO and HC
emissions) was observed due to fuel impingement on the piston surface. It was
concluded that fuel stratification can be used to improve HCCI combustion under
very lean conditions but that great care is needed to avoid the formation of NOx
due to locally near-stoichiometric fuel concentrations.

13

CHAPTER 3
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING

Mathematical modelling is a cheaper, faster and efficient way to gain

an insight into the working of a system. It requires great deal of skills and
resources to setup an experimental facility for HCCI combustion testing.
However, with knowledge gained from various experiments conducted on
HCCI combustion, it is possible to formulate a mathematical model and
derive a set of relationships between various input parameters and output
results. This model can further be fine tuned by validating against known
experiment results or by conducting an experiment using exactly similar set
of control parameters, as used in simulation model. The following section
provides details on formulation of a mathematical model for the purpose of
simulation of HCCI combustion. There are mainly two types of
mathematical models that are used to describe the physical phenomena
occurring within the engine cylinder:
3.1. PHENOMENOLOGICAL MODEL (BLACK BOX MODEL)
A phenomenological model or an empirical model is derived using
experimental data only, using no prior information about the system, i.e.
engine cylinder during HCCI combustion. Statistical principles are used to
derive relationships among sensitive parameters affecting the final result.
For such models, an experiment is set up where input parameters are
controlled and output is measured. Input parameters or experimental setup
is altered to study the corresponding effect on output result. From results of
experiment, graphs are charted showing correlation between input
parameters and measured results. Phenomenological models are more
general and applicable to many different kinds of problems. However, they
provide less insight into the problem or its possible solution and less
predictive capability.

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3.2. MECHANISTIC MODELS (GREY BOX MODEL)

A mechanistic model is developed using prior information about the
system, i.e. results of previous work conducted on similar topic. They
provide deeper understanding and more accurate prediction as compared to
phenomenological models. Globally, research on HCCI combustion engine
has been undertaken by almost every academic institution, automobile
manufacturers, and consultants since last 3 decades. Also, from the detailed
research done by the author, the information gathered so far on HCCI
combustion, a glimpse of which is mentioned in Literature Review section,
is sufficient to develop a mechanistic model on HCCI combustion.
Modeling, in science and engineering, may be generally regarded as the
process of describing the physical phenomena in a particular system with
the help of mathematical equations (subject to reasonable assumptions)
and solving the same to understand more about the nature of such
phenomena. Usually, engineering models help in designing better devices
by understanding more about the fundamental physical processes occurring
therein. Engine modeling activities, at least in recent decades, have largely
been concentrated in the direction of designing better performing engines
with lower emissions. In this regard, modeling of engine combustion
processes assumes importance. The various engine combustion models that

have been developed to date may be grouped into three categories:

Zero dimensional models
Quasi-dimensional models
Multi-dimensional models
In the above classification, although the level of detail and proximity to
physical reality increases as one proceeds downward, so does the
complexity of creating and using those models.
Zero dimensional models are the simplest and most suitable to observe
the effects of empirical variations in the engine operating parameters on

15

overall heat release rates/cylinder pressure schedules. These models are

zero dimensional in the sense that they do not involve any consideration of
the flow field dimensions. Zero dimensional models are further sub-divided

into:
Single zone models
Two zone models
Multi-zone models
In single zone models, the working fluid in the engine is assumed to be
a thermodynamic system, which undergoes energy and/or mass exchange
with the surroundings and the energy released during the combustion
process is obtained by applying the first law of thermodynamics to the
system.
In two zone models, the working fluid is imagined to consist of two
zones, an unburned zone and a burned zone. These zones are actually two
distinct thermodynamic systems with energy and mass interactions between
themselves and their common surroundings, the cylinder walls. The massburning rate (or the cylinder pressure), as a function of crank angle, is then
numerically computed by solving the simplified equations resulting from
applying the first law to the two zones.
Multi-zone models take this form of analysis one step further by
considering energy and mass balances over several zones, thus obtaining
results that are closer to reality.
3.2.1. Assumptions for a typical two zone model

The burned and unburned zones are ideal gases of different properties.
The unburned zone is assumed to consist of a premixed fuel-air mixture.
Though this may not be exact for diesel combustion, it is more realistic

for SI engine combustion.

The characteristic gas constants of the burned and unburned zones do
not vary much with temperature and pressure; or if any such variations

16

exist, they can be suitably modeled using explicit relationships between

gas constants and properties (T, P, etc.)

No heat transfer occurs from the burned to the unburned zone and vice

versa.
Enthalpy associated with injected fuel is usually not significant and

hence ignored.
Crevice losses may be significant but are not included.
Spatially averaged instantaneous heat transfer rates are adequate to

estimate heat transfer to the cylinder walls.

Instantaneous pressure in both the zones is the same since the flame is a

deflagration combustion wave.

The work required to transfer fluid from the unburned zone to the burned
zone is negligible.

The single zone and two zone models have been traditionally used in two

different directions
In one way, both these models have been used to predict the in-cylinder
pressure as a function of crank angle from an assumed energy release or mass

burned profile (as a function of crank angle).

Another use of these models lies in determining the energy release/mass
burning rate as a function of crank angle from experimentally obtained incylinder pressure data.

3.3. MODELLING PLATFORM

Various commercial packages have been developed and are available to
solve engineering problems related to design and optimisation of internal
combustion engines (ICEs). There are four primary engine simulation
commercial packages used in the automotive industry today: Ricardo Wave
(RW), Lotus Engine Simulation (LESoft), AVL fire, and GT-Power. These
packages are similar in purpose and functionality. They require detailed
input parameters to simulate the engine operation in an integrated manner
rather than using different subsystems.

17

LESoft is an in-house code developed by Lotus Engineering. The

package processes engine simulation in two modules, the data module and
the solver module. The data module allows user to input the engine
dimension data. The solver module is a built in combustion and heat
transfer zero-dimensional equations and fuel/gas composition solver
according to user input data in data module. The code is able to predict gas
flow, combustion and overall performance of ICEs.
RW is an engine simulation package designed to analyze the dynamics
of pressure waves, mass flows, energy losses in ducts, plenums, and
manifolds of various systems and machines. RW provides simulation of
time-dependent fluid dynamics and thermodynamics using two-zone
model.
However, software costs generally prohibit use in small organizations,
primarily making them industry-specific software packages. Moreover,
commercial software packages are based on computation fluid dynamics
(CFD) since they are designed to improve mechanical aspects of the
engine. While mechanical models are used to calculate the moving parts of
the engine in order to obtain the engine torque and acceleration, control
models are used to allow calculations in feedback control schemes to
optimise engine performance, such as variable valve timing, ignition
timing, air to fuel ratio, and other variable engine geometries systems.
Open source packages have been developed by small research groups to
solve specific issues.
MATLab is widely used software used by majority of researchers to
simulate the internal combustion engine. However, hardware requirements
and training limitations, combined with project time constraint of the
research work undertaken by the author, renders any of the above software
packages difficult to use. While above simulation platforms are primarily
based on computation fluid dynamics, simple mechanistic models, can be
built and developed using any software package offering computation
ability to solve engineering problems, program event based automation and

18

a graphic tool to visualize outcome, such as Visual Basic for Applications

(VBA) with Excel spreadsheet.
3.4. SUBMODELS
Several submodels have been used or developed to describe all
relevant incylinder processes and are vital for the main model to work. The
submodels used for the HCCI combustion modeling are as per below
3.4.1. Cylinder Geometry: Cylinder geometry includes bore diameter, stroke,
compression ratio and connecting rod length. These attributes determine the
basic structure to the simulation model.
3.4.2. Piston Motion: This submodel is also known as crank-slider model. The
instantaneous position of the piston in the cylinder is evaluated from this
submodel. From the instantaneous position of the pistion, the instantaneous
volume of the combustion chamber is also determined, as a function of
crank angle.

3.4.3. Air and fuel properties: For the purpose of simulation, air fuel mixture is
assumed to have same properties as air. Properties of air such as gas constant
for air, ratio of specific heat capacities for air, and fuel properties such as
Lower heating value of the fuel and stoichiometric air to fuel ratio are
required to calculate pressure and temperature difference as piston moves
inside the cylinder.

3.4.4. Engine Cycle: HCCI combustion works on Otto cycle as compression (heat
addition) and expansion (heat release) happens at constant volume.
Therefore, the changing chemical state of the air fuel mixture and changing
thermodynamic state of the cylinder are depicted using Otto cycle equations.
Based on previous knowledge of Otto cycle, certain points like peak
pressure and start of combustion are fixed, in terms of crank angle degrees.

19

To maintain cycle to cycle consistency, EGR percentage would be varied

using various degrees of negative valve overlap. Mass flows through open
valves will be calculated by one dimensional compressible flow equations
for flow through a restriction of filling and emptying models.
3.4.5. Heat Release Rate: The heat release rate is the amount of heat released
from the chemical reaction with respect to crank angle degree. Pressure and
corresponding values of temperature are calculated for unit increment in
crank angle degrees. Heat release rate with respect to crank angle degree is
calculated using the difference in instantaneous temperature and temperature
at fixed points in the engine cycle. The heat release rate calculated is the
gross value and when divided by the specific content of the fuel, combustion
reaction rate is obtained.
3.4.6. Heat Transfer: Heat transfer occurs through conduction, convection and
radiation from hot burned gases to piston head, inlet and exhaust valves,
cylinder walls, cylinder liners and coolant. For physical testing, water is
circulated through the cooling channels as engine runs on the test rig. The
difference between inlet temperature and outlet temperature is used to
calculate heat transfer, i.e. heat energy dissipated and could not be used to
extract work.
3.4.7. Valve motion: This submodel describes the effect of valve motion on the
final output of the combustion model. For the purpose of HCCI combustion
modelling, internal EGR is used using Negative Valve Overlap (NVO). To
vary the percentage of EGR, the duration of NVO is varied and practically
this is possible via variable valve technologies. An effective variable
valvetrain enables the engine to breathe smoothly to increase the volumetric
efficiency, while allowing the engine to operate on lean mode at low load
conditions.

20

CHAPTER 4
MODELLING APPROACH

As mentioned earlier, internal combustion engine is a very complex system,

and therefore it is fairly difficult to create a combustion model that is simple yet
complete. The modelling approach has been to first create a simple model based on
first principles, and then gradually add various submodels into the mix, thereby
increasing the accuracy. Through previous researches conducted in HCCI, it is
known that heat addition in HCCI occurs at constant volume [29]. Therefore, the
HCCI combustion cycle can be modelled on Otto cycle.
4.1. STARTING PARAMETERS
The starting parameters are the basic values needed to create a simulation
structure. In order to maintain simplicity, the simulation structure is first made in
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Following table shows initial parameters, along with
their values in SI units

Table 1 Engine Geometry Details

The engine geometry parameters define the physical size of the system to be
modelled. Values of bore and stroke are assumed based on standard production
engines. Compression ratio is assumed to be as per Otto cycle, which can be
further modulated to study the effects of compression ratio on final outcome.
Displaced volume is the total volume that can be filled by air fuel mixture. It is
calculated from bore and stroke as per below

21

Vd=

b s
4

Clearance volume is the instantaneous volume in the cylinder when piston is

at Top Dead Centre (TDC). Combustion process happens within clearance volume
after which due to rapid increase in temperature and pressure, piston is pushed
downward, i.e. mechanical work done by the system.

Table 2 Constants (Ideal Gas)

The above table shows values of constants that are frequently used in the
calculation. The ambient, i.e. atmospheric temperature and pressure are assumed to
be 1 bar and 300 K. For the purpose of simplicity the fresh charge of air and fuel
mixture is assumed to be having same properties as ideal gas. Hence, gas constant
and specific heat at constant pressure and constant volume of reactant is same as
air. The ratio of specific heat capacities () is a dimensionless quantity, known as
the isentropic expansion factor.
=

Cp
Cv

Table 3 Air & Fuel Properties

22

The lower heating value of fuel is an indication of the energy stored

in the fuel, which is extracted by combusting the fuel air mixture under
high pressure. Every fuel has a characteristic stoichiometric air to fuel ratio
(AFR), i.e. number of moles of air required to enable combustion to happen
under standard temperature and pressure (STP) conditions for 1 mole of
fuel. For practical purposes, the ratio is taken in terms of mass (Kg/Kg).
Equivalence ratio () is the ratio of Actual AFR to stoichiometric AFR. In
real life, equivalence ratio is always more than 1 so as to ensure complete
combustion of fuel [29]. Self ignition temperature is the temperature at
which fuel gets ignited without any external spark. At self ignition
temperature, the kinetic energy of molecules is high enough to collide with
molecules of air and initiate combustion. Mass of reactant, i.e. fresh charge
inside the cylinder is calculated from standard gas equation
PV =mRT

By rearranging terms in Eq. 3, expression for mass is obtained as per below m=

PV
RT

Values of pressure and temperature are taken at ambient point, as

mentioned in Table 2. From AFR, mass of air and mass of fuel present in the
cylinder at the time of Inlet Valve Closing (IVC) are evaluated.

4.2. COMBUSTION CYCLE

As mentioned earlier, in HCCI heat addition occurs at constant volume, and

therefore for HCCI combustion the ideal cycle would be Otto cycle. For Otto cycle
following assumptions are made

23

The engine operates in a closed loop

The working fluid is air
The air behaves as an ideal gas
All processes are reversible
The combustion process can be replaced by an external heat source
The exhaust process can be replaced by a heat rejection process

4.2.1.Properties at the State Points in the Cycle

State 1
Taking the starting point for the cycle as the start of the
compression process then from the inlet conditions:

p1 pin
T1 Tin
Assuming that the gas behaves as an ideal gas:

v1

RT1
p1

Tthe mass in the cylinder is given by:

V1
v1

State 2
From the definition of the compression ratio

r
v2

v1 V1

v 2 V2
v1
r

Since the process from 1 to 2 is an isentropic (reversible and adiabatic)

compression process then:

24

p 2 v 2 p1v1
v
p 2 p1 1
v2

p1 r

Thus the temperature can be found:

p 2 v 2 p1v1
RT 2 RT1

v 2
v1
v2
v1
v
T2 T1 1
v2

T1 r 1

State 3
The process from 2 to 3 is a constant volume heat addition process,
thus:

v3 v 2

v1
r

Applying the first law and noting that no work is done during this
process:

q 23 w23 u 3 u 2

q 23 c v T3 T2
T3 T2

q 23
q
T1 r 1 23
cv
cv

Then assuming that the gas behaves as an ideal gas:

p3

RT3 rRT 3
p RT
rq

r 1 3 p1 r 23
v3
v1
RT1
c v T1

State 4
At state 4 the piston has returned to its initial position thus:

v 4 v1

25

The process from 3 to 4 is an isentropic (reversible and adiabatic)

expansion process thus:

p4 v4 p3v3
v
p4 p3 3
v4

p3

r 1 q23

p3 r p1 1
c
T
v
1

Thus the temperature can be found:

p 4 v 4 p3 v3
RT 4 RT3
v3

v 4
v
v
4
3
v
T4 T3 3
v4

T3 r

r 1 q 23
T1
cv

4.2.2. Energy Exchanges

Process 1 to 2
For the compression process from state 1 to state 2 the moving boundary work
done is:
w12

pdv p1v1 v dv
1

v 1

p1v1

p1v1 1
p v v 1
pv
v 2 v11 1 1 1 v 12 v11 1 1 v1 1v 12 v1 1v11
1
1
1

pv
1 1 r 1 1
1
RT1 1

r 1 c v T1 r 1 cv T1 cv T1 T2 u 2 u1
1
Since the process is isentropic then no heat is transferred with the surroundings.
Process 2 to 3
For the heat addition process from state 2 to 3 the heat transfer is specified and the
work transfer is zero, since there is no change in volume during the process.

26

Process 3 to 4
For the expansion process from state 3 to state 4 the moving boundary work done
is:
w34

pdv p 3 v3 v dv
3

1
1

p 3 v3

p3 v3 1
p v v 1
pv
v 4 v31 3 3 3 v14 v31 3 3 v3 1v 14 v3 1v31
1
1
1

pv
3 3 r 1 1
1
RT3 1

r 1 c vT3 r 1 c vT3 c v T3 T4 u 4 u 3
1

Since the process is isentropic then no heat is transferred with the surroundings.
Process 4 to 1
For the heat rejection process from state 4 to 1 the work transfer is zero, since there
is no change in volume during the process. Applying the first law:
q 41 w41 u1 u 4
r 1 q 23

T1

c
v

q 41 cv T1 T4 cv T1 cv
q 41 r 1 q 23

Cycle
Since the start and end of the cycle are the same state point then there is no net
gain or loss of energy by the system. Thus applying the first law

q 23 q 41 w12 w34 0
The net work done by the system can be expressed in terms of the heat transfers as:

wnet w12 w34 q 23 q 41

q 23 q 23 r 1 q 23 1 r 1

The thermal efficiency of the cycle is given by:

th

wnet
1 r 1
q 23

27

p1 pin

T1 Tin

p 2 p1 r

T2 T1 r 1

p3

RT3
v3

T3 T2

p 4 p 3 r

v1

RT1
p1

v2

v1
r

v3 v 2

q 23
cv

v 4 rv 3

T4 T3 r 1

Table 4 - State properties in terms of the previous states properties.

p

1 p1 p in

T1 Tin

2 p p r
2
1

T2 T1 r 1

rq
p3 p1 r 23
c v T1

r 1 q 23

p 4 p1 1
c
T
v 1

T3 T1 r 1

T4 T1

q 23
cv

r 1 q 23
cv

v1

RT1
p1

v2

v1
r

v3

v1
r

v 4 v1

Table 5 - State properties in terms of the properties at state 1.

4.3. FIXED CYCLE POINTS

28

In HCCI combustion, there is no direct way to initiate combustion; hence it is

important to establish the controlling parameter that can be explicitly monitored
and a closed loop control system can be designed around the controlling parameter.
Now, for an internal combustion engine, it is desirable to have peak pressure after
Top Dead Centre (ATDC) to avoid waste of energy in pushing against the direction
of piston travel. As per previous research, peak pressure normally happens between
10 CAD to 30 CAD ATDC [29]. Therefore, the crank angle degree (CAD) at which
peak pressure is achieved is first fixed to be within the above mentioned range.
Therefore, every cycle input parameters have to be modulated in order to maintain
cycle to cycle consistency with respect to peak pressure, and as a result mean
effective pressure (mep), torque and power values are also consistent.
Also, peak pressure is obtained when combustion process is 90 % over [1],
therefore the peak pressure point and 90 % combustion completion CAD should be
within 5 to 10 CAD of each other. The burn duration is the time of combustion
reaction, i.e. from start of combustion (SOC) to end of combustion (EOC). To
model burn duration, Wiebe Function is used

[ ( ) ]

0
MFB ( )=1exp a

m +1

[30]

MFB () = Mass Fraction Burned at corresponding CAD ()

= corresponding CAD
0 = CAD corresponding to SOC
= CAD corresponding to burn duration
m = constant (typical value = 3)
a = constant (typical value = 5)

The values of MFB will be within the range from 0 to 1. A sample of Wiebe
Function curve is shown below

29

Figure 2 Sample Wiebe Function Curve [30]

4.4. INTERDEPENDENCIES

While modelling any form of combustion it is important to note how different

parameters are affecting each other. For example, during combustion phase in
internal combustion engine, temperature increases due to progress of chemical
reaction. As chemical reaction progress, fuel energy is released in the form of heat,
due to which temperature increases rapidly. As a result, chemical reaction rate
increases. Thus, temperature and chemical reaction rate are interdependent
parameters. Similarly with increase in temperature, pressure also increases, which
in turn contributes to increase in temperature.
For HCCI combustion to happen in a production engine, the most suitable
technique is to use EGR with negative valve overlap (NVO) [31]. EGR makes the
overall mixture more dilute and raises the temperature of reactant mixture. Due to
this, the specific heat of mixture at the time of IVC is higher than SI or CI
combustion. Now to achieve SOC point in every cycle within + 5 CAD of fixed
SOC point, temperature of mixture, i.e. fresh charge + EGR at IVC has to be
monitored. By varying EGR %, temperature at IVC can be maintained within a set
tolerance. Again by varying NVO duration, EGR % can be increased or decreased

30

depending on previous cycle. It would be difficult to enable such control on a

physical engine using conventional variable valve technology (VVT) of cam
changing or cam phasing [32]. This calls for electromechanical control of valves
opening and closing, which can be modelled on a simulation platform to further
enhance the practicality of such system.

31

CHAPTER 5

RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

The simulation structure was created on Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and as

per derivations in 4.2. The table containing input parameters and calculation of
pressure, temperature and specific volume at interval of 10 CAD is shown in
Appendix 1. Following results have been obtained for each state

r=
q23 =

10
600000 J/k g

Using Table 1
P
T
Pa
K
100000
300.00
2511886
753.57
5298372 1589.51
210932
632.80
Process
12
23
34
41
wnet =
nth =

w
J/k g
-325547
0
686682.6
0

g=
cv =
R=

v
m3/k g
0.86130
0.08613
0.08613
0.86130

State

q
J/k g
0
600000
0
-238864

q-w
J/k g
325547
600000
-686683
-238864

1
2
3
4

1.4
717.75 J/k g K
287.1 J/k g K
Using Table 2
P
T
Pa
K
100000
300.00
2511886
753.57
5298372 1589.51
210932
632.80

v
u
m3/k g
J/k g
0.86130
0.0
0.08613 325546.9
0.08613 925546.9
0.86130 238864.3

uo-ui
J/k g
325547
600000
-686683
-238864

361135.7 J/k g
0.601893

Table 6: Final Results

Based on the above results the following graphs are generated

32

100000
10000
1000
Pressure [kPa]

100
10
1
0

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

Specific Volume [m3/kg]

Figure 3: Pressure vs Specific Volume

100000

4000
3500

10000

3000
2500

1000

2000
Pressure [kPa]

Temperature [K]

100

1500
1000

10

500
1

0
-120
0
120
-180
-60
60
180
Crank Angle atdc [deg]

Figure 4: Pressure/Temperature vs CAD

33

34

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION
HCCI combustion is a promising alternative to conventional SI and CI
combustion as there is significant reduction of NOx emissions and increased power
output. However, as in SI or CI combustion, there is no direct event to initiate
combustion because reactant mixture spontaneously ignites when sufficient
temperature and pressure conditions are reached. Therefore, several parameters
have to be monitored together to make HCCI combustion work in a physical
engine with consistent output cycle by cycle. This requires deeper analysis of
chemical and physical kinematics. Through mechanistic modelling it is possible to
further understand the correlation between various parameters and output.

The model presented in this report is of Otto cycle, which shows sensitivity
towards several input parameters. For HCCI combustion, the Otto cycle simulation
can be modulated by applying closed loop control for inlet temperature. Also, flow
dynamics, which have been excluded for Otto cycle simulation, have to be
included for modelling HCCI combustion, as EGR is primary parameter and the
percentage of EGR is dependent upon air flow through outlet valve. Moreover,
Arrhenius equation also would have to be included to depict the activation energy
needed to overcome the reaction barrier.

35

CHAPTER 7

SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

There is an upper limit in terms of engine speed for HCCI combustion,

after which detonation starts occurring, which is harmful for the engine. The major
factor contributing to detonation is the temperature and pressure inside the
cylinder, i.e. if HRR exceeds certain value, the flame speed will travel faster than
the speed of sound and result in generation of shock wave. To prevent this
generation of shock wave, practical HCCI engines have a limit of around 4000
rpm. There are several ways to approach the solution to this problem, wherein lies
scope for further research.
One way is to model pressure rise rate (PRR) in terms of HRR and
establish relationship between HRR and PRR at various mixture strengths and
engine speeds. The other way is to study the process of deflagration to detonation
and try to model the reverse process. Also, flame velocity, i.e. laminar and
turbulent can further be studied to understand their effects on physical and
chemical process.

36

APPENDIX 1

Table 7: Input parameters

37

Table 8: Calculation of instantaneous piston position

38

Table 9: Calculation of instantaneous pressure, temperature and volume

39

APPENDIX 2
HCCI COMBUSTION: MATHEMATICAL MODELLING APPROACH
USING VISUAL BASIC FOR APPLICATIONS
VIVEK BHARAT PATTNI1, P. NAVEENCHANDRAN2, C.THAMOTHARAN3, R.
RAJASEKAR4
1

M.Tech Scholar, Department of Automobile Engineering, Bharath Institute of Science and

Technology (BIST), Bharath University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India vivek_pattni@hotmail.com

2

Head of Department, Department of Automobile Engineering, Bharath Institute of Science and

Technology (BIST), Bharath University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India siruvan@gmail.com

Professor, Department of Automobile Engineering, Bharath Institute of Science and Technology

(BIST), Bharath University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India thamu_mit@yahoo.com
4

M.Tech Scholar, Department of Automobile Engineering, Bharath Institute of Science and

Technology (BIST), Bharath University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India rajmch90@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
In recent times, alternative combustion technology such as Homogenous Charge
Compression Ignition (HCCI) has been studied and results have been positive. HCCI
combustion has the potential to reduce fuel consumption and NOx emissions pertaining to
the most stringent of legislation of both present and future. HCCI technology is attractive
as there is no need for major modifications to the existing structure of IC engines and with
significantly low NOx emissions, after treatment systems are not required. However, it is
difficult to control the process and achieve constancy every cycle. Therefore, globally
experts are studying HCCI combustion in depth to understand the associated
idiosyncrasies. Through advent of modern computers, it has become possible to simulate
HCCI combustion by creating a mathematical model that can solve complex equations
within minutes. This paper details mathematical modelling approach to model HCCI
combustion using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), along with insight on different
types of modelling techniques and submodels required to construct the simulation model.
KEYWORDS: HCCI, Auto Ignition, Mathematical Modelling, Mechanistic Model,
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

INTRODUCTION
The current scenario of fossil fuel shortage, increase in prices and environmental problems due
to vehicle emissions, has motivated engineers, scientists, technical education institutes and
companies globally, to come up with an alternative technology to the conventional form of burning

40

the fuel and extracting energy out of it. Several approaches have been adapted to solve this problem
such as:
Alternative Fuel: Use of fuel having better properties than gasoline or diesel in terms of self
ignition temperature, volatility and calorific value
Alternative Combustion method: A combustion method that is more efficient than
conventional methods in terms of work output and emissions.
Alternative Materials: Materials that can sustain higher forces, and therefore high pressure
and temperature can be used inside the cylinder so as to extract more work
Alternative Engine Structure: Radically change the engine structure so as to reduce number
of moving parts and hence, reduce frictional loss
Alternative working cycle: Explore the use of alternative working cycle to Otto or Diesel
cycle that can provide more work output.
For the purpose of this paper, an alternative combustion method namely, Homogeneous Charge
Compression Ignition (HCCI), is studied with the purpose of creating a simulation model.

HCCI
HCCI combustion is achieved by premixing the air-fuel mixture, either in the
manifold or by early direct injection, as in Spark Ignition (SI) engine, and compressing the
mixture until the temperature inside the combustion chamber reaches the auto ignition
point and ignites, as in Compression Ignition (CI) engine. It is also known by following

terms
Controlled Auto Ignition
Active Thermo Atmosphere Combustion
Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI)
Active Thermo Atmosphere Combustion (ATAC)
Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI)
Homogenous Charge Diesel Combustion (HCDC)
Premixed Lean Diesel Combustion (PREDIC)
Compression Ignited Homogenous Charge (CIHC)
HCCI engine combines the advantages of Spark Ignition engine (Homogenous
Charge) and Compression Ignition engine (increased efficiency) with reduced emissions.
However, unlike SI and CI engine where start of combustion is controlled by spark timing
and fuel injection timing respectively, there is no direct way to control the initiation of
ignition, and as a result, it becomes innately difficult to control the process in order to
extract maximum work from each cycle.
According to various researches done on HCCI engine, combustion happens
simultaneously within the cylinder as opposed to flame front phenomenon in conventional
SI or CI engine. Hence the combustion duration is comparatively lower resulting in lower

41

peak temperature. Therefore, harmful NOx emissions, which are temperature driven, are
reduced considerably. This has motivated scientists and engineers throughout the globe to
undertake research on HCCI combustion for better understanding and thereby exploring
possibilities for commercial application. The following section highlights some of the
research findings pertaining to HCCI.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Autoignition has been investigated from the start of automobile mass production
era, albeit not as a process but to understand fuel properties such as autoignition
temperature. Only more recently, autoignition process has been studied with the purpose of
extracting positive work from the engine.
Onishi et al. in 1979 examined the possibility of running a two stroke engine on
autoignition mode for their research. They concluded that there was little cycle by cycle
variation with respect to peak combustion pressure and that the reaction happened
spontaneously at several points within the cylinder. The importance of radicals was also
studied and it was shown that their concentration was higher and had longer life than in an
SI engine. They also suggested maintaining uniform quantity of mixture and the air to fuel
ratio from cycle to cycle in order to attain HCCI. They obtained adequate combustion over
a wide range of air to fuel ratios and concluded that HCCI reduces both exhaust emissions
and fuel consumption for the entire range.
In 1983, Najt et al. studied in detail what parameters affect HCCI combustion using a
single cylinder four stroke cycle engine with a pancake combustion chamber and a
shrouded intake valve. They concluded that this autoignition phenomenon was not
knocking but an even energy release process that can be controlled by manipulating
temperature and mixture strength. They independently controlled inlet temperature and
used EGR, simultaneously using different fuels for their experiments and following

conclusions were drawn:

Chemical species in the EGR gases did not affect the Heat Release Rate (HRR), as a result
EGR was used to modulate initial temperature of air fuel mixture so as to facilitate

autoignition.
The combustion process was sensitive to delivery ratio through changes in the
concentrations of air and fuel in the fresh charge, i.e. at high delivery ratios the energy

release became unstable.

It was easy to ignite fuels having lower octane numbers
Thring, in 1989, used a single cylinder four stroke internal combustion engine to
examine the feasibility of HCCI combustion. He performed several experiments with
intake temperature as high as 425 o C, equivalence ratios ranging from 0.33 to 1.3 and EGR
rates up to 33 % , using both diesel and gasoline to map the satisfactory operating regions.
He observed that EGR was required in order to raise the intake temperature while there

42

was low cyclic variability and fuel economy results were comparable with diesel engine.
He concluded that there were three unsatisfactory regions, dictated by mixture strength,

i.e. equivalence ratio

Mixture was too rich resulting in misfiring or knocking, labelled as misfire region and

knock region
Mixture was too lean resulting in low power production, labelled as power limited region
Lei Shi et al. investigated the effect of internal and external EGR on emissions and
performance of four stroke HCCI engine running on diesel fuel. They observed that by
injecting fuel before Top Dead Centre (TDC) of exhaust stroke, and employing negative
valve overlap (NVO), the homogeneous mixture, when burned achieves low NOx and
smoke emissions. It was also noticed that internal EGR benefited in the formation of
homogeneous mixture, further reducing smoke emissions, however, high load limit of
HCCI was affected negatively. Whereas cooled external EGR delayed the start of
combustion, thereby helping to avoid knocking, this in turn expanded the high load limit
of HCCI engine. Due to no fuel rich regions in the cylinder, smoke emissions were on
lower side as compared to a conventional diesel engine.
Osbourne et al. conducted a study on evaluating HCCI combustion mode for future
gasoline powertrains, with prime objective being to develop a greater understanding of incylinder processes. Based on experimental results they developed a 1D simulation model
using Ricardo Wave software a CFD based 3D model to perform computations. As per
their observation, there was 99% reduction in NOx emissions and an 8% reduction in ISFC
compared with the baseline direct injection gasoline engine condition for a standard key
point. Also, HC emissions for HCCI operation were comparable to other conventional
gasoline engine modes of operation. Finally, they suggest the concept of two-stroke/four
stroke switching HCCI engine, made possible by using camless, electro mechanical
variable valve actuation.

HCCI MATHEMATICAL MODELLING

Mathematical modelling is a cheaper, faster and efficient way to gain an insight
into the working of a system. It requires great deal of skills and resources to setup an
experimental facility for HCCI combustion testing. However, with knowledge gained from
various experiments conducted on HCCI combustion, it is possible to formulate a
mathematical model and derive a set of relationships between various input parameters and
output results. This model can further be fine tuned by validating against known
experiment results or by conducting an experiment using exactly similar set of control
parameters, as used in simulation model. The following section provides details on
formulation of a mathematical model for the purpose of simulation of HCCI combustion.

MODELLING APPROACH

43

There are mainly two types of mathematical models that are used to describe the
physical phenomena occurring within the engine cylinder:
Phenomenological Model (Black box model)
A phenomenological model or an empirical model is derived using experimental data
only, using no prior information about the system, i.e. engine cylinder during HCCI
combustion. Statistical principles are used to derive relationships among sensitive
parameters affecting the final result. For such models, an experiment is set up where input
parameters are controlled and output is measured. Input parameters or experimental setup
is altered to study the corresponding effect on output result. From results of experiment,
graphs are charted showing correlation between input parameters and measured results.
Phenomenological models are more general and applicable to many different kinds of
problems. However, they provide less insight into the problem or its possible solution and
less predictive capability.
Mechanistic Model (Grey box model)
A mechanistic model is developed using prior information about the system, i.e.
results of previous work conducted on similar topic. They provide deeper understanding
and more accurate prediction as compared to phenomenological models.
Globally, research on HCCI combustion engine has been undertaken by almost every
academic institution, automobile manufacturers, and consultants since last 3 decades. Also,
from the detailed research done by the author, the information gathered so far on HCCI
combustion, a glimpse of which is mentioned in Literature Review section, is sufficient to
develop a mechanistic model on HCCI combustion.
The various mechanistic engine combustion models that have been developed so far

can by categorised as per below:

Zero dimensional models
Quasi-dimensional models
Multi-dimensional models
The level of detail and closeness to the real life physics increase as one moves from
zero dimensional models to multi-dimensional models, along with the intricacy of models
and using these models. There is always a trade-off between the usability of the model and
the ability to accurately predict the outcome.
Zero dimensional models are the simplest and most suitable to model the effects of
change of input parameters on heat release rate and pressure rise rate during HCCI
combustion. Depending upon the assumptions made with respect to division of zones
inside the cylinder, zero dimensional models can be further classified into
Single zone: The entire cylinder is considered as a single zone and calculations are
done by applying first law of thermodynamics. The combustible fluid mixture in the

44

engine is assumed to be a thermodynamic system that undergoes the process of energy

exchange with the surroundings.
Two zones: The cylinder is divided into two zones, a burned and an unburned zone.
These zones are two different thermodynamic systems with energy and mass exchange
between them and common surrounding, i.e. the cylinder wall.
Multi zones: Multi zone models are used to evaluate energy and mass interactions
through several zones, thus providing more accurate results, albeit with increasing level of
complexity.
For HCCI combustion modelling, two zones model is used to simulate the unburned
and burned zones.

MODELLING PLATFORM
Several packages have been developed to simulate the internal combustion engine

system. Most notable simulation packages, currently used in automotive research are:
Ricardo Wave
Lotus Engine Simulation
AVL fire
GT-Power
KIVA
MATLAB Simulink
LabVIEW
However, software costs, hardware requirements and training limitations, combined
with project time constraint of the research work undertaken by the author, renders any of
the above software packages difficult to use. While above simulation platforms are
primarily based on computation fluid dynamics, simple mechanistic models, can be built
and developed using any software package offering computation ability to solve
engineering problems, program event based automation and a graphic tool to visualize
outcome, such as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) with Excel spreadsheet.

SIMULATION STRUCTURE
The simulation structure is prepared based on several assumptions related to

thermodynamic principles, which are listed below:

The gases present in burned and unburned zones are ideal gases with different properties
No heat transfer between unburned and burned zone
Instantaneous pressure in both the zones is the same because flame is a deflagration

combustion wave
The characteristic gas constants within both zones do not vary much with pressure and
temperature; in case of any variance, they can be modelled using thermodynamic

relationships of gas constants with temperature and pressure

Since enthalpy connected with injected fuel is insignificant, it is ignored
The work required to transfer fluid from unburned zone to burned zone is negligible

45

Average instantaneous heat transfer rates are assumed to estimate heat transfer to the

cylinder wall
Crevice losses are ignored

SUBMODELS
Several submodels have been used or developed to describe all relevant
incylinder processes and are vital for the main model to work. The submodels used for the
HCCI combustion modeling are as per below
Cylinder Geometry: Cylinder geometry includes bore diameter, stroke, compression ratio
and connecting rod length. These attributes determine the basic structure to the simulation
model.
Piston Motion: This submodel is also known as crank-slider model. The instantaneous
position of the piston in the cylinder is evaluated from this submodel. From the
instantaneous position of the pistion, the instantaneous volume of the combustion chamber
is also determined, as a function of crank angle.
Air and fuel properties: For the purpose of simulation, air fuel mixture is assumed to
have same properties as air. Properties of air such as gas constant for air, ratio of specific
heat capacities for air, and fuel properties such as Lower heating value of the fuel and
stoichiometric air to fuel ratio are required to calculate pressure and temperature difference
as piston moves inside the cylinder.
Engine Cycle: HCCI combustion works on Otto cycle as compression (heat addition) and
expansion (heat release) happens at constant volume. Therefore, the changing chemical
state of the air fuel mixture and changing thermodynamic state of the cylinder are depicted
using Otto cycle equations. Based on previous knowledge of Otto cycle, certain points like
peak pressure and start of combustion are fixed, in terms of crank angle degrees. To
maintain cycle to cycle consistency, EGR percentage would be varied using various
degrees of negative valve overlap. Mass flows through open valves will be calculated by
one dimensional compressible flow equations for flow through a restriction of filling and
emptying models.
Heat Release Rate: The heat release rate is the amount of heat released from the chemical
reaction with respect to crank angle degree. Pressure and corresponding values of
temperature are calculated for unit increment in crank angle degrees. Heat release rate with
respect to crank angle degree is calculated using the difference in instantaneous
temperature and temperature at fixed points in the engine cycle. The heat release rate
calculated is the gross value and when divided by the specific content of the fuel,
combustion reaction rate is obtained.

46

Heat Transfer: Heat transfer occurs through conduction, convection and radiation from
hot burned gases to piston head, inlet and exhaust valves, cylinder walls, cylinder liners
and coolant. For physical testing, water is circulated through the cooling channels as
engine runs on the test rig. The difference between inlet temperature and outlet
temperature is used to calculate heat transfer, i.e. heat energy dissipated and could not be
used to extract work.
Valve motion: This submodel describes the effect of valve motion on the final output of
the combustion model. For the purpose of HCCI combustion modelling, internal EGR is
used using Negative Valve Overlap (NVO). To vary the percentage of EGR, the duration
of NVO is varied and practically this is possible via variable valve technologies. An
effective variable valvetrain enables the engine to breathe smoothly to increase the
volumetric efficiency, while allowing the engine to operate on lean mode at low load
conditions.

CONCLUSION
The current paper presents an approach to mathematically model HCCI combustion
using visual basic for applications. In the current scenario of the need to increase the
power output and reduce fuel consumption and emissions, at the same time, HCCI
combustion offers the best alternative to conventional combustion concepts used in
gasoline and diesel engine. There is no need to radically change the engine design for
HCCI combustion to work, and as per major experimental work conducted so far, NOx
emissions are reduced by 90 % to 95 % when operating in HCCI mode. However, it is a
challenge to increase the load capacity and globally research is undertaken to understand
incylinder processes in detail so as to enable HCCI to work outside the laboratory, in a
vehicle. Through mathematically modelling, HCCI combustion can be simulated and
tested for sensitivity with respect to various parameters. Various types of mathematical
models have been presented and a two zone zero dimensional mechanistic model is found
to be a good compromise between accuracy, computational speed and level of detail.
Various submodels that are used to construct the simulation model have also been
explained. The final model is constructed on Microsoft Excel 2007 and control automation
is achieved through visual basic for applications programming. The simulation results will
be presented in a different paper.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Dr. P. Naveenchandran 2 for his invaluable guidance
and support, Mr. C. Thamotharan3 for his constant support and Mr. R. Rajsekar 4 for his
help.

REFERENCES
[1]

Alexandros G. Charalambides (2013). Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI)

Engines, Advances in Internal Combustion Engines and Fuel Technologies

47

[2]

Onishi, S. Hong Jo, S., Shoda, K., Do Jo, P. and Kato, S., (1979). Active Thermo-Atmosphere
Combustion (ATAC)- A New Combustion Process for Internal Combustion Engines, SAE

[3]
[4]
[5]

Paper 790501
Najt, P. M, & Foster, D. E. (1983). Compression-Ignited homogeneous Charge Combustion,
SAE Paper 830264.
Thring, R. H. (1989). Homogeneous-Charge Compression-Ignition (HCCI) Engines,
SAE Paper 892068.
Lei Shi_, Yi Cui, Kangyao Deng, Haiyong Peng, Yuanyuan Chen (2006), Study of low
emission homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine using combined internal

[6]

and external exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), Elsevier, Energy 31 (2006) 26652676
R J Osbourne, G Li, S M Sapsford, J Stokes, T H Lake, M R Heikal, Evaluation of HCCI For

[7]

Future Gasoline Powertrains, SAE Paper 2003-01-0750

Kai Velten, Mathematical modelling and simulation: Introduction for Scientists and Engineers,

[8]

John Wiley & Sons, 01 June, 2009, Weinheim

KinYip Chan, Andrzej Ordys, Konstantin Volkov, and Olga Duran, Comparison of Engine
Simulation Software for Development of Control System, Modelling and Simulation in

[9]

Engineering, vol. 2013, Article ID 401643, 21 pages, 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/401643

Heywood JB (1988), Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing
Company Limited, McGraw Hill Company Limited, New York.

48

APPENDIX 3

Mechanistic Modelling Approach to

HCCI Combustion
Mr. Vivek Bharat Pattni1, Dr. P. Naveenchandran2, Mr. Nikhil Narayan3
1

Corresponding Author,PG student, Department of Automobile Engineering, Bharath Institute of Science and
Technology, Bharath University, Chennai, India. Email- vivek_pattni@hotmail.com

Professor and Head , Department of Automobile Engineering, Bharath Institute of Science and Technology,
Bharath University, Chennai, India. Email- siruvan@gmail.com

Professor and Head, Department of Automobile Engineering, Bharath Institute of Science and Technology,
Bharath University, Chennai, India.Email- niksdew@gmail.com

Abstract: Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) has become a promising

alternative combustion method over conventional methods of Spark ignition (SI) or Compression
Ignition (CI). HCCI combines the advantages of SI method (homogeneous charge) and CI
method (compression ignition). It has also been proven by every researcher that there is almost
95 per cent reduction in NOx emissions with HCCI combustion, and other emissions such as
CO2 and HC are comparable to SI engine, which can be reduced using after treatment systems.
However, it presents a challenge with respect to controlling sensitive parameters that have
profound effect on the outcome. As with SI and CI engine, there is no definitive start of
combustion event, which can be controlled independently. In HCCI combustion, air fuel mixture
is ignited spontaneously throughout the cylinder and this event is governed by chemical
kinematics. Therefore, it is important to understand the inherent chemical reaction process and
its effect on pressure and temperature within the cylinder. Through mechanistic modelling, the
combustion process can be simulated and the relationships between input and output quantities
can be examined. For this research paper, a zero dimensional single zone model has been
created to model the effects of EGR % on Heat Release Rate (HRR).
Keywords: HCCI, Mechanistic Modelling, HRR, EGR, Autoignition, MBF, Wiebe Function

1. Introduction
With increasing awareness and understanding
of the impact of vehicle exhaust emissions on
environment, combined with the shortage of
fossil fuels and increasing cost has provided an
impetus to experts to radically improve the
current combustion methods used to extract
energy from fuel. Majority of engines can be
classified into SI or CI, based on fuel used,
combustion method, working cycle and
chemical kinematics. In SI engine, the air fuel

mixture is mixed prior to injecting into the port

or directly into the cylinder in case of GDI
engines, whereas in CI engine, only fuel is
injected into the cylinder. Moreover, as the
name suggests, fresh charge in SI engine is
ignited with the help of a spark at precise time
in every cycle. In CI engine, the air is
compressed, which raises the temperature
inside the cylinder to the point at which the
fuel, when injected will auto ignite. However,
in real life, there is a delay in ignition from the
point of injection to the point of ignition. The

49

common phenomenon between SI and CI

engine is the concept of flame front that is
initiated where reactant mixture is rich and
travels towards unburned mixture.
It has been observed that in HCCI combustion,
there is no prominent flame front and reactant
mixture gets ignited spontaneously [2].
Therefore, the burn duration in HCCI mode is
less than SI or CI combustion. As a result, the
peak temperature reached during the
combustion period is less than SI or CI engine
resulting in reduction of emission molecules,
driven solely by temperature, i.e. NOx.
HCCI is basically autoignition of homogeneous
reactant, albeit in a controlled way. The major
challenge in HCCI engine is to control this
autoignition process in a way that constancy is
achieved from cycle to cycle, and behaves
steadily during transient stage, i.e. when engine
speed is reduced or increased. Due to inherent
design of the internal combustion engine, it
operates at its highest efficient point at full
load. At part load, the efficiency gets reduced
due to increase in pumping work. Several new
technologies such as variable valve technology,
EGR, stratification have enabled to the engine
to run lean and therefore use less fuel.
However, if the mixture becomes too lean
misfire will happen, and also catalytic
converters are designed to program at full
efficiency only near equivalence ratio equal to
1.
As seen from the above discussion, internal
combustion engine is a very complex system
and there is always a trade-off among several
desirable outcomes. It is important to
understand how every parameter affects the
final outcome, as well as each other. Normally
experiments are setup in a way that one unique
parameter is focused upon and modulated to
study its effect whilst keeping values of other
parameters as constant. However, in real life it
is difficult and expensive to prepare such
experiments, setup of which is again not
flexible so as to do quick changeover for
evaluation of other parameters. Hence,
mechanistic modelling is used to model the
physical and chemical process as close to

reality as possible, by using simulation tools

and powerful processors. Simulation tools
allow scientists and engineers to create a model,
which in turn enables them to gain an insight
into the chemical and physical kinematics.
This research paper documents the mechanistic
modelling approach vis--vis HCCI combustion
by presenting inter-dependencies of various
parameters,
based
on
principles
of
thermodynamics and conservation of energy.

2. Modelling Approach
As mentioned earlier, internal combustion
engine is a very complex system, and therefore
it is fairly difficult to create a combustion
model that is simple yet complete. The
modelling approach has been to first create a
simple model based on first principles, and then
gradually add various submodels into the mix,
thereby increasing the accuracy.
Through previous
HCCI, it is known
occurs at constant
HCCI combustion
Otto cycle.

researches conducted in
that heat addition in HCCI
volume [1]. Therefore, the
cycle can be modelled on

3. Starting Parameters
The starting parameters are the basic values
needed to create a simulation structure. In order
to maintain simplicity, the simulation structure
is first made in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Following table shows initial parameters, along
with their values in SI units

Table 1 Engine Geometry Details

The engine geometry parameters define the
physical size of the system to be modelled.
Values of bore and stroke are assumed based on

50

standard production engines. Compression ratio

is assumed to be as per Otto cycle, which can
be further modulated to study the effects of
compression ratio on final outcome. Displaced
volume is the total volume that can be filled by
air fuel mixture. It is calculated from bore and
stroke as per below

b2 s
Vd=
4
Eq.1
Clearance volume is the instantaneous volume
in the cylinder when piston is at Top Dead
Centre (TDC). Combustion process happens
within clearance volume after which due to
rapid increase in temperature and pressure,
piston is pushed downward, i.e. mechanical
work done by the system.

Table 2 Constants (Ideal Gs)

The above table shows values of constants that
are frequently used in the calculation. The
ambient, i.e. atmospheric temperature and
pressure are assumed to be 1 bar and 300 K. For
the purpose of simplicity the fresh charge of air
and fuel mixture is assumed to be having same
properties as ideal gas. Hence, gas constant and
specific heat at constant pressure and constant
volume of reactant is same as air. The ratio of
specific heat capacities () is a dimensionless
quantity, known as the isentropic expansion
factor.

Table 3 Air & Fuel Properties

The lower heating value of fuel is an indication
of the energy stored in the fuel, which is
extracted by combusting the fuel air mixture
under high pressure. Every fuel has a
characteristic stoichiometric air to fuel ratio
(AFR), i.e. number of moles of air required to
enable combustion to happen under standard
temperature and pressure (STP) conditions for 1
mole of fuel. For practical purposes, the ratio is
taken in terms of mass (Kg/Kg). Equivalence
ratio () is the ratio of Actual AFR to
stoichiometric AFR. In real life, equivalence
ratio is always more than 1 so as to ensure
complete combustion of fuel [1]. Self ignition
temperature is the temperature at which fuel
gets ignited without any external spark. At self
ignition temperature, the kinetic energy of
molecules is high enough to collide with
molecules of air and initiate combustion. Mass
of reactant, i.e. fresh charge inside the cylinder
is calculated from standard gas equation

PV =mRT

Eq. 3

By rearranging terms in Eq. 3, expression for

mass is obtained as per below -

m=

PV
RT
Eq. 4

Cp
Cv

Values of pressure and temperature are taken at

ambient point, as mentioned in Table 2.

Eq. 2

From AFR, mass of air and mass of fuel present

in the cylinder at the time of Inlet Valve Closing
(IVC) are evaluated.

4. Combustion Cycle

51

As mentioned earlier, in HCCI heat addition

occurs at constant volume, and therefore for
HCCI combustion the ideal cycle would be Otto
cycle. For Otto cycle following assumptions are
made

The engine operates in a closed loop

The working fluid is air
The air behaves as an ideal gas
All processes are reversible
The combustion process can be replaced by
an external heat source
The exhaust process can be replaced by a
heat rejection process

Since the process from 1 to 2 is an isentropic

(reversible and adiabatic) compression process
then:

p2 v2 p1v1
v
p2 p1 1
v2

p1 pin
T1 Tin

Thus the temperature can be found:

p 2 v 2 p1v1
RT 2 RT1

v 2
v1
v2
v1
v1

v2

T2 T1

RT1
p1

v3 v 2

q 23 w23 u 3 u 2

q 23 c v T3 T2

V1
v1

T3 T2

4.1.2. State 2
From the definition of the compression ratio

v1 V1

v 2 V2
v1
r

Then assuming that the gas behaves as an ideal

gas:

p3

RT3 rRT 3
p RT
rq

r 1 3 p1 r 23
v3
v1
RT1
c v T1

Eq. 11

Eq. 7

q 23
q
T1 r 1 23
cv
cv

Eq. 10

Eq. 6

v2

v1
r

Applying the first law and noting that no work

is done during this process:

The mass in the cylinder is given by:

T1 r 1

4.1.3. State 3
The process from 2 to 3 is a constant volume
heat addition process, thus:

Eq. 5

Eq. 9

Assuming that the gas behaves as an ideal gas:

v1

p1r

Eq. 8

4.1. Properties at the state points in the

cycle
4.1.1. State
Taking the starting point for the cycle as the
start of the compression process then from the
inlet conditions:

52

4.1.4. State 4
At state 4 the piston has returned to its initial
position thus:

parameters have to be modulated in order to

maintain cycle to cycle consistency with respect
to peak pressure, and as a result mean effective
pressure (mep), torque and power values are
also consistent.

v 4 v1
The process from 3 to 4 is an isentropic
(reversible and adiabatic) expansion process
thus:

p4 v4 p3v3
v
p4 p3 3
v4

p3

p3r p1

Also, peak pressure is obtained when

combustion process is 90 % over [2], therefore
the peak pressure point and 90 % combustion
completion CAD should be within 5 to 10 CAD
of each other. The burn duration is the time of
combustion reaction, i.e. from start of
combustion (SOC) to end of combustion
r 1 q23 To model burn duration, Wiebe
(EOC).

1
Function
c T is used
v 1

Eq. 12

[ ( ) ]

MFB ( )=1exp a

Thus the temperature can be found:

p4 v4 p3v3

m +1

Eq. 14

RT4 RT3
v3

v4
v4
v3
v
T4 T3 3
v4

[3]
MFB

T3r 1

()

Mass

Fraction

Burned

at

r1 q23 corresponding CAD ()

T1
cv = corresponding CAD

Eq. 13

0 = CAD corresponding to SOC

= CAD corresponding to burn duration
m = constant (typical value = 3)

5. Fixed Cycle Points

In HCCI combustion, there is no direct way to
initiate combustion; hence it is important to
establish the controlling parameter that can be
explicitly monitored and a closed loop control
system can be designed around the controlling
parameter. Now, for an internal combustion
engine, it is desirable to have peak pressure
after Top Dead Centre (ATDC) to avoid waste
of energy in pushing against the direction of
piston travel. As per previous research, peak
pressure normally happens between 10 CAD to
30 CAD ATDC [1]. Therefore, the crank angle
degree (CAD) at which peak pressure is
achieved is first fixed to be within the above
mentioned range. Therefore, every cycle input

a = constant (typical value = 5)

The values of MFB will be within the range
from 0 to 1. A sample of Wiebe Function curve
is shown below

53

depending on previous cycle. It would be

difficult to enable such control on a physical
engine using conventional variable valve
technology (VVT) of cam changing or cam
phasing [5]. This calls for electromechanical
control of valves opening and closing, which
can be modelled on a simulation platform to
further enhance the practicality of such system.

7. Conclusion

Figure 1: Sample Wiebe Function Curve [3]

6. Inter Dependencies
While modelling any form of combustion it is
important to note how different parameters are
affecting each other. For example, during
combustion phase in internal combustion
engine, temperature increases due to progress of
chemical reaction. As chemical reaction
progress, fuel energy is released in the form of
heat, due to which temperature increases
rapidly. As a result, chemical reaction rate
increases. Thus, temperature and chemical
reaction rate are interdependent parameters.
Similarly with increase in temperature, pressure
also increases, which in turn contributes to
increase in temperature.
For HCCI combustion to happen in a
production engine, the most suitable technique
is to use EGR with negative valve overlap
(NVO) [4]. EGR makes the overall mixture
more dilute and raises the temperature of
reactant mixture. Due to this, the specific heat
of mixture at the time of IVC is higher than SI
or CI combustion. Now to achieve SOC point in
every cycle within + 5 CAD of fixed SOC
point, temperature of mixture, i.e. fresh charge
+ EGR at IVC has to be monitored. By varying
EGR %, temperature at IVC can be maintained
within a set tolerance. Again by varying NVO
duration, EGR % can be increased or decreased

HCCI combustion is a promising alternative to

conventional SI and CI combustion as there is
significant reduction of NOx emissions and
increased power output. However, as in SI or CI
combustion, there is no direct event to initiate
combustion
because
reactant
mixture
spontaneously
ignites
when
sufficient
temperature and pressure conditions are
reached. Therefore, several parameters have to
be monitored together to make HCCI
combustion work in a physical engine with
consistent output cycle by cycle. This requires
deeper analysis of chemical and physical
kinematics. Through mechanistic modelling it is
possible to further understand the correlation
between various parameters and output.

8. Scope For Further Research

There is an upper limit in terms of engine speed
for HCCI combustion, after which detonation
starts occurring, which is harmful for the
engine. The major factor contributing to
detonation is the temperature and pressure
inside the cylinder, i.e. if HRR exceeds certain
value, the flame speed will travel faster than the
speed of sound and result in generation of
shock wave. To prevent this generation of shock
wave, practical HCCI engines have a limit of
around 4000 rpm. There are several ways to
approach the solution to this problem, wherein
lies scope for further research.
One way is to model pressure rise rate (PRR) in
terms of HRR and establish relationship
between HRR and PRR at various mixture
strengths and engine speeds. The other way is
to study the process of deflagration to
detonation and try to model the reverse process.
Also, flame velocity, i.e. laminar and turbulent

54

can further be studied to understand their

effects on physical and chemical process.

[9]

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Author Profile

Vivek Bharat Pattni completed his Bachelors in

Automotive Engineering from University of
Brighton in 2008, after which he was working as
Design Engineer in Perimeter Security Equipments
manufacturing company based in Crawley, West
Sussex, U.K. From 2010 to 2012, he was based in
Chennai overseeing operations and business
development of family business, Suyog Merchandise
Shipping Pvt. Ltd. (Custom House Agency). He is an
automotive enthusiast and his main area of interest is
powertrain research/design engineering. He is
currently pursuing M.Tech degree in Automobile
Engineering from Bharath University and undergoing
internship at Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt.
Ltd.

56

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