Transcritical Mixing and Auto-Ignition of n-dodecane Liquid Fuel using a Diffused Interface Method

High-fidelity simulations of transcritical spray mixing and auto ignition in a combustion chamber are performed at high pressure and temperature conditions using a recently developed finite rate LES solver. The simulation framework is based on a diffused-interface (DI) method that solves the compressible multi-species conservation equations along with the Peng Robinson state equation and real-fluid transport properties. A finite volume approach with entropy stable scheme is employed to accurate simulate the non-linear real fluid flow. LES analysis is performed for non-reacting and reacting spray conditions targeting the ECN Spray A configuration at chamber conditions with a pressure of 60 bar and temperatures between 800 K and 1200 K to investigate effects of the real-fluid environment and low-temperature chemistry. Comparisons with measurements in terms of global spray parameters and mixture fraction distributions demonstrates the accuracy in modeling the turbulent mixing behavior. Good overall agreement of the auto-ignition process is obtained from simulation results at different ambient temperature conditions and the formation of intermediate species is captured by the simulations, indicating that the presented numerical framework adequately reproduces the corresponding low-and-high-temperature ignition processes under high-pressure conditions that are relevant to realistic diesel fuel injection systems.