Numerical study of heat transfer and combustion in IC engine with a porous media piston region

Based on superadiabatic combustion in porous medium (PM), the porous medium engine as a new combustion concept is proposed to achieve high combustion efficiency and low emissions. In this paper, an axisymmetric model with detailed chemistry and two-temperature treatment is implemented into a variant of the KIVA-3V code to simulate the working process of the PM engine. Comparisons with the same engine but without PM are conducted. Temperature evolution of the PM and its effects are discussed in detail. Key factors affecting heat transfer, combustion and emissions of the PM engine, such as porosity, the initial PM temperature and equivalence ratio, are analyzed. The results show that the characteristics of heat transfer, emissions and combustion of the PM engine are superior to the engine without PM, providing valuable support for the PM engine concept. In particular, the PM engine is shown to sustain ultra lean combustion. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.