In-cylinder fluid flow, turbulence and spray models—A review

This article is a literature review of use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes to model the in-cylinder fluid flow, turbulence and spray characteristics. This study is based on the reports of about 60 scientists, who published their results between 1978 and 2008. Most of the scientists and researchers used CFD codes to analyze the models under simulation conditions and compared these simulated results with experimental results. Some scientists reported that different engines exhibit different behaviors with similar fuel sprays and Re-Normalized Group (RNG) k-ɛ model is the best applicable turbulence model for engine simulation. The KIVA code is widely used for model development in academia due to the availability of the source. However, its capability for resolving complex geometries is limited. On the other hand, other commercial CFD codes such as STAR-CD, FIRE, VECTIS and FLUENT are frequently used by the industry due to their superior mesh generation interfaces and because of their available user support. Some scientists combined STAR-CD and KIVA code for the engine simulations but they concluded that, it would be preferable to implement the advanced submodels directly into one commercial code for engine simulations.