Modelling turbulence in internal combustion engines
The transport sector, especially road traffic, is a significant contributor to carbon dioxide emissions and thus climate change. Europe has tightened its engine emission standards in an effort to combat this problem. In order to rise to the challenge, auto manufacturers must develop new tools focused on efficient engine design. The LESSCO2 project aimed to provide a competitive advantage to the European automotive industry by applying Large Eddy Simulation (LES) techniques to the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). The Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), a LESSCO2 partner, tackled the issue of turbulence at the inlet of the Otto four-stroke ICE. During the 40-month project, the Spanish scientists managed to produce a synthetic turbulent field that incorporated a non-reflecting boundary condition. The possibility of both numerical and physical wave reflection was therefore eliminated. In addition, the level of turbulence can be moderated according to user needs. Finally, but most importantly, the new LES method requires considerably less computing time and resources. CSIC collaborated with another member of the LESSCO2 consortium to incorporate the new approach into the LES code AVBP. It should be stressed that this development is relevant not only to engine simulations, but also to other computational fluid dynamics applications.
