Towards the understanding of cyclic variability in a spark ignited engine using multi-cycle LES

Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) has been used to analyze the occurrence and the causes of cycle-to-cycle combustion variations in a spark ignited four-valve single cylinder engine fueled with a homogeneous propane–air mixture. The combustion modeling combines an Eulerian model derived from the RANS AKTIM model that mimics the spark ignition and the Extended Coherent Flame Model (ECFM-LES) that describes the flame propagation. The motion of piston and valves is accounted for using an Arbitrary Eulerian Lagrangian (ALE) technique with body-fitted meshes. The computation covers nine consecutive complete four-stroke cycles following an initialization cycle. The obtained LES results are compared with experimental measurements. Although the number of computed cycles is fairly low, LES is shown to be able to reproduce both quantitatively and qualitatively the cyclic variability observed experimentally. The investigation of the possible causes of variability illustrates the unprecedented possibility LES offers for understanding cycle-to-cycle variations.