Direct Injection and Charge Sratification in a 50 cc Two-Stroke Engine: CFD Studies and Test Bench Results

Direct fuel injection has became necessary in two-stroke S.I. engines, since it prevents one of the major problems of these engines, that is fuel loss from the exhaust port. Another important problem is combustion irregularity at light loads, due to excessive residual gas in the charge, and can be solved by charge stratification. High-pressure liquid fuel injection is able to control the mixing process inside the cylinder for getting either stratified charge at partial loads or quasi-stoichiometric conditions, as it is required at full load. The feasibility of this solution for a small engine for light motorcycles has been studied using CFD tools. An exhaustive investigation carried out by the KIVA3v code allowed to design a 50 cm3 engine prototype with a satisfactory behaviour even at light loads in unthrottled condition, as proved by good fuel economy and engine stability in dynamometric bench tests. Exhaust gas analysis and indicated pressure behaviour confirm stratification and combustion correctness. For the final part of the research the adoption of the AVL-Fire code has been considered: the possibility to take into account any combustion chamber and transfer duct geometric details and the accuracy of spray breakup and wall film models allow to better understand the engine behaviour throughout the operating range, obtaining useful information in order to efficiently shorten the experimental time required for the EU map-setting.