Parametric investigation of a large marine two-stroke diesel engine equipped with exhaust gas recirculation and turbocharger cut out systems

Albeit the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is widely used to reduce the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from large marine two-stroke engines, several challenges emerge for the engine-turbocharging system matching considering the contradictory requirements of the engine and its subsystems operation. Such challenges become more pronounced in complex engine configurations that include parallel turbochargers and the EGR system along with cut out and bypass branches. This study aims at parametrically investigating a large marine twostroke engine equipped with an EGR system, two parallel turbochargers of different size, and cut out branches. The turbocharging system characteristics are selected targeting the minimisation of the engine specific fuel consumption whilst ensuring compliance with the respective NOx emissions limits and satisfying imposed constraints for the compressors operation. A detailed model of the zero/one dimensional type is developed in the GT-SUITE software and used to simulate the investigated engine along with its subsystems. Simulation runs are performed to investigate the engine with four different turbocharger configurations of varying capacity ratio and under various operating conditions in terms of the EGR rate and engine load. The simulation results are analysed to reveal the impact of the turbocharger selection of the engine performance and emissions parameters. Furthermore, modulation schemes with EGR blower speed control, exhaust gas bypass and cylinder bypass are investigated to overcome the mismatch on the engine components flow rates and avoid turbocharger operational issues. The derived results demonstrate that the lowest weighted BSFC is achieved for the case of 70:30 capacity ratio between the large and small turbochargers, whilst the engine operation with the EGR is associated with a 2.6% penalty in the weighted BSFC. The EGR blower speed control is found sufficient to avoid the compressor overspeed at high engine loads exhibiting the lower BSFC penalty, whereas the cylinder bypass control is appropriate for controlling the compressor speed at low engine loads. This study contributes on delineating the underlying parameters and interactions between the engine components for the investigated marine two-stroke engine and provides recommendations for the engine-turbocharging system matching procedure.

Automated summary

This study parametrically investigates a large marine two-stroke engine equipped with an EGR system, two parallel turbochargers of different size, and cut out branches. The results show that the lowest weighted BSFC is achieved with a 70:30 capacity ratio between the large and small turbochargers, while engine operation with EGR is associated with a 2.6% penalty in the weighted BSFC.