Forte 17.

Simulating a Diesel Engine Using a

Sector Mesh
For diesel engines, the engine combustion is often simulated from intake valve
closure (IVC) to exhaust valve opening (EVO), rather than modeling the full air intake
or exhaust flow processes involving the intake and exhaust ports, respectively. This is
usually a reasonable approximation since the gas in the cylinder at IVC is a relatively
homogeneous mixture of air and exhaust gas (due to internal residual or from
exhaust-gas recycling), prior to fuel injection. Furthermore, the nozzle hole pattern of
the fuel injection usually gives rise to a periodic symmetry, based on the number of
nozzle holes. In this tutorial we describe the use of a sector mesh that takes
advantage of such symmetry for simulating a diesel engine operating in lowtemperature-combustion (LTC) mode. The LTC mode involves an early injection
timing, relative to more conventional diesel operation.
A sector can represent the full geometry, since we can take advantage of the
periodicity of the cylinder and injector nozzle-hole pattern. For example, an eight-hole
injector allows simulation using a 45 sector (360/8). By using the symmetry of the
problem in this way, the mesh created is much smaller and the simulation therefore
runs faster than it would with a 360 mesh. Such a simplification usually cannot be
made for spark-ignited engine cases due to asymmetries introduced by spark plugs,
piston shape, and possibly intake ports.

2.1
2.1.1

Data Provided
Files Used in This Tutorial
To retrieve the tutorial files, go to the Reaction Design website:
www.ReactionDesign.com

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and access the Forte Release in the Support menu, then select the Tutorial files to
download. The files for this tutorial include:
sandia_bowl_profile.csv: Data describing the piston bowl shape. This profile
can be imported or manually entered in the Profile Editor for use by the Sector
Mesh Generator to define the bowl shape.
InjectionProfile.csv: Data describing the spray injection. The data can be
imported from this file through the User Interface or manually entered once
you reach the Spray node on the Workflow tree through use of the Profile
Editor.
UserCrankAngleOutputs.csv: Table of data that contains crank angles going
from 22 to +20.
Sandia_Engine_LTC_EarlyInj.ftsim: A project file of the completed tutorial,
for verification or comparison of your progress in the tutorial set-up.
The sample files are provided as a download. You have the opportunity to select the
location for the files when you download and unzip or untar the sample files.

2.1.2

Project Comparison Utility

The ANSYS Forte installation includes the cgns_util export command, which you
can use to compare the parameter settings in the project file generated at any point
during your tutorial set-up against the provided .ftsim, which has the parameter
settings for the final, completed tutorial. This command is described in Section 6.4 of
Chapter 6: Command-line Batch Processing and Utilities, in the ANSYS Forte User
Guide.
Briefly, you can double-check project settings by saving your project and then running
the cgns_util to export your tutorial project, and then to export the provided final
version of the tutorial. Save both versions and compare them with your favorite diff
tool, such as DIFFzilla. If all the parameters are in agreement, you have set up the
project successfully. If there are differences, you can go back into the tutorial set-up,
re-read the tutorial instructions, and change the setting of interest.

2.1.3

Time Estimate
As a guideline for your own simulations, this tutorial is estimated to take 19 minutes
on a dual Intel Xeon processor E5-2690 at 2.90 GHz (8 total cores).

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2.2

ANSYS Forte Tutorials Manual

Generating the Sector Mesh

The ANSYS Forte Sector Mesh Generator provides six different sample mesh
topologies for different piston bowl shapes. The shape of the piston bowl determines
which mesh topology is most appropriate. The overview of the process is:
1. Specify the bowl profile.
2. Enter engine parameters, such as bore, stroke, etc.
3. Select a topology for meshing.
4. Specify the control point locations for the mesh topology if necessary (for
Topology 3, these are assumed and the profile must have exactly 3 points to
define them).
5. Specify the number of cells between control points for the mesh.
6. Generate the mesh and import into ANSYS Forte.

All Editor panel options that are not explicitly mentioned in this tutorial should be left at their
default values.
Changed values on any Editor panel do not take effect until you press the Apply button.

2.2.1

Define the Engine Parameters

1. To begin creating a sector mesh, go to the Workflow tree and click Geometry.
This opens the Geometry icon bar. Click the Launch Sector Mesh Generator
icon to open the Sector Mesh Generator Utility (SMG).
2. Start by clicking the Engine Parameters node in the SMG Project tree to open
an Editor panel.
3. In that panel, the first step is to import the simple bowl profile that was
provided with the sample. To do this, go to the Bowl Profile pull-down menu
and select Create New... and click the Pencil
icon. This opens the Profile
Editor window.
4. In the Profile Editor, click the Load CSV button (you may need to expand the
window vertically to see the button below the table) and then browse to,
select, and open the sandia_bowl_profile.csv file. In the dialog, select
Comma as the Column Delimiter and uncheck (turn OFF) the Read Column
Titles box and click OK.

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5. In the .csv file, the first column is the X-coordinate and the second column is
the Z-coordinate. For this example the bowl is completely flat and the wall of
the bowl is vertical. For this very simple geometry, only three coordinate points
are needed to define the bowl. The profile should look like a flat line in the
Profile Editor display, as shown in Figure 2-3. At the bottom of the Profile
Editor panel in the text entry field under Profile Name, enter a name for the
profile, such as Sandia Bowl Profile. See Figure 2-1. Click Save.
Figure 2-1

Sector Mesh Generator Utility with New Profile and Editor panel

6. Next, in the Sector Mesh Generator, specify the engine parameters, which
are:
Sector Angle = 45 degrees
Bore = 13.97 cm
Stroke = 15.24 cm
Squish = 0.56 cm
Crevice Width = 0.167 cm
7. Select and expand the Include Crevice Block option and set Crevice
Height = 3.72621 cm. Click Apply. A diagram preview of the engine geometry
appears.

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2.2.2

ANSYS Forte Tutorials Manual

Select the Mesh Topology

Once you have a profile, the first step in the mesh workflow is to specify the desired
mesh topology that is appropriate for the imported piston-bowl shape. For this simple
flat-piston-bowl geometry, Topology 3 will be used since it is a square-shaped bowl,
as shown in Figure 2-2. For this topology there are only 3 coordinates needed to
define the profile and exactly 3 are required.

Figure 2-2

Template for Topology #3

8. Now go to the Mesh Parameters node in the SMG tree. Select Topology 3 in
the Topology pull-down menu. If you would like to see the topology template
selected, click the Show Topology button. It should look like that shown in
Figure 2-2.

2.2.3

Specify the Mesh-Size Parameters

Next, enter the cell counts between the different control points, as indicated in the
Topology #3 diagram, and in the schematic drawing in the 3-D display window. The
parameters we will enter are as follows:
Circumferential Cell Count = 21
Radial Cell Count i1 = 16
Radial Cell Count i2 = 11
Radial Cell Count i3 = 3
Axial Cell Count k1 = 11
Axial Cell Count k4 = 21
Axial Cell Count k5 = 11

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Smoothing Passes = 20 (default value; works well for most cases)

2.2.4

Generate the Mesh and Review

9. Once all the settings are specified, click Apply. Review the outline of the
profile information in the 3-D View panel to verify that the settings make sense.
10. Then use the Generate a Mesh
icon at the top of the Mesh Parameters
Editor panel in the Sector Mesh Generator. ANSYS Forte will automatically
generate the sector mesh. When it is finished, the resulting mesh will appear
for your review in the 3-D View window within the Sector Mesh Generator
window, as shown in Figure 2-3. (You may need to click the Refit
icon.)

You can modify settings here to refine or coarsen the mesh, for example, and re-generate, or
you can open (import) the newly created mesh into the sample project into ANSYS Forte.
Alternatively, you can use the Save to File button to export to a mesh file that can later be
imported into ANSYS Forte.

2.2.5

Import the Mesh into the Open ANSYS Forte Project

11. For this tutorial, click the Import to Forte Project
icon in the icon bar at
the top of the SMG panel. Now you can go to the Simulate window and see
the mesh that you just generated displayed in the main 3-D View panel. To
center and resize the mesh display, click the Refit
icon on the toolbar.

Figure 2-3

Diesel sector sample mesh as generated in the Sector Mesh Generator.

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12. If the Sector Mesh Generator window is still open, you can close it.

2.2.6

Set Up the Case

Now that the mesh has been defined, you can set up the models and solver options
using the guided tasks in the ANSYS Forte Simulate Workflow tree. In many cases,
default parameters are assumed and employed, such that no input is required. The
required inputs and changes to the setup panels for this case are described here.
In the Workflow tree, expand Models. In the following steps you will turn ON (checkmark) several models and configure parameters for them in their Editor panels.

You can change the display properties of items in the 3-D View by selecting the items in the
Visibility tree and turning ON/OFF their visibility or right-clicking and selecting options from the
context menu, such as display of the mesh or level of opacity.

1. Models Chemistry: In the Workflow tree, under Models, select Chemistry.

On the Chemistry icon bar, click the Import Chemistry
icon. This opens a
file browser where you can navigate to and select a chemistry set file. For this
project, however, we use a pre-installed chemistry set that comes with ANSYS
Forte. This is a simplified, reduced n-heptane mechanism that can be used to
represent the diesel fuel under conventional diesel-engine combustion
conditions. To load this file, browse to the System Data directory and locate
the pre-installed Diesel_1comp_35sp.cks file. The System Data directory
can be accessed from this file browser by clicking the data radio button in the
upper right-hand sub-panel of the browser window. The chemistry file is a
standard CHEMKIN chemistry-set file. More information about the chemistry
set and the files referenced within it can be found in the ANSYS Forte User
Guide.

You can respond Yes or No to the View chemistry set information? prompt. A Yes response
displays the chemistry set file in a viewer.

2. Models Transport: For this node, keep all the default settings.
3. Models Spray Model: Since this is a direct-injection case, turn ON (check)
Spray Model to display its icon bar (action bar) in the Editor panel.

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a. For the basic Spray Properties, keep Radius of Influence Model for the
Droplet Collision Model and set 0.2 cm as the Radius of Influence. The
Use Vaporization Model option should be ON (checked, its default
value).
b. Create Injector: Click Spray Model in the Workflow tree. The icon bar
provides two spray-injector options: Hollow Cone or Solid Cone. For the
diesel injector, click the Solid Cone
icon. In the dialog that opens,
name the Spray Model as Injector 1. This opens another icon bar and
Editor panel for the new solid-cone spray model. In the Editor panel,
configure the model parameters for the solid-cone spray model.

Composition: Select Create New... in the Composition drop-down

menu under Settings and click the Pencil
icon to open the Fuel
Mixture Editor. In the Fuel Mixture panel, click the Add Species button
and select nc7h16 (i.e., n-heptane) as the Species, n-Tetradecane as
the Physical Properties and 1.0 as the Mass Fraction. (Note that you
must press ENTER after entering the values in the table.)

At the bottom of the panel, type a name such as n-heptane. Click

Save and Close the window.

Under the Injection Type, select Pulsed Injection and change the
Parcel Specification to Number Of Parcels and set Injected Parcel
Count = 4,000.

Set Inflow Droplet Temperature = 368.0 K.

Set Spray Initialization to Constant Discharge Coefficient and

Angle, and Discharge Coefficient = 0.7, and Mean Cone
Angle = 15.0 degrees.

Keep default values for Droplet Size Distribution and, under the
Solid Cone Breakup Model Settings, the KH Model Constants, RT
Model Constants, and Use Gas-Jet Model.

Click Apply.

icon on the Spray icon bar

c. Create a Nozzle: Click the New Nozzle
and name the nozzle Nozzle 1. Nozzle 1 then appears in the Workflow
tree, and the Editor panel and icon bar transform to allow specification of
the Nozzle geometry and orientation. In the Editor panel, set the
Reference Frame parameters to specify the nozzle location and direction.
Keep the default Global Origin and use the following settings:

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Location > Coord. System = Cylindrical, with R = 0.15 cm,

= 22.5 degrees, and A = 19.368 cm.

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Spray Direction > Coord. System = Spherical, = 104.0 degrees,

and = 22.5 degrees.

Click Apply. You can see the nozzle appear at the top of the geometry.
(You may wish to make the Geometry less opaque by right-clicking the
Geometry item and selecting a lower value for Opacity, or change the
color of the nozzle itself, both in the Visibility tree on the right side, to
make the nozzle easier to see in the interior.)

d. Create an Injection: In the Workflow tree, click Injector 1 again and click
the New Injection
icon on the Injector 1 icon bar and name the
injection Injection 1. The new Injection item appears in the Workflow tree,
and the Editor panel and the icon bar transform to allow specification of the
injection properties. In the Editor panel, keep the Pulsed Injection Type
(default), select Crank Angle as the Timing option and then specify the
Start of injection and Duration of injection as 22.5 and 7.75 degrees
ATDC, respectively. Set the Total Injected Mass = 0.0535 g. Click Apply.
e. Injection Profile: Click the Create new... option in the profile selection
menu next to Velocity Profile, then click the pencil icon to open a new
window with the Profile Editor. The new Injection Profile item appears in
the Workflow tree; also the Editor panel and the icon bar transform to the
new Injection Profile. In the Profile Editor window, make sure all the Units
are set to None for both columns (the dimensionless data is automatically
scaled within ANSYS Forte to match the mass and duration of injection)
and click the Load CSV button at the bottom of the panel (you may have to
expand the panel size to see the button). Navigate to the
InjectionProfile.csv file (see Section 2.1). Select Comma as the Column
delimiter and turn ON Read Column Titles and load the profile file.
Alternatively, you can type in the Injection Profile data in the table on the
Editor panel or copy and paste from a spreadsheet or 3rd-party editor. Go
to Profile Name at the bottom-left of the panel and name the new profile
Injection Profile. Once the data is entered, click Save in the Profile Editor
and then click Apply in the ANSYS Forte Editor panel.

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Figure 2-4

Chapter 2: Simulating a Diesel Engine Using a Sector Mesh

Injection Profile Parameter Settings

4. Models Soot Model: Turn ON the Soot Model. This creates the Settings
item. In the Editor panel, accept all the defaults.
5. Boundary Conditions: Under Boundary Conditions in the Workflow tree,
specify the Boundary conditions in the Editor panels associated with each of
the four boundary conditions created by importing the mesh. By default the
Wall Model for all of the wall boundaries will be set to Law of the Wall. Leave
this default setting as well as the default check box that turns ON heat transfer
to the wall.
Boundary Conditions Piston: Set Piston Temperature = 500.0 K. Turn
ON Wall Motion with Motion Type set to Slider Crank. The other
parameters should be:
Stroke = 15.24
Connecting Rod Length = 30.48
Bore = 13.97 (pre-determined by the Sector Mesh Generator)
Accept the defaults of Piston is Offset, = unchecked (OFF) and Vertices
to Transform = All.
For Reference Frame, accept the default Global Origin and Direction
parameters.

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Click Apply.
Boundary Conditions Periodicity: Set the Sector Angle = 45 degrees,
and multi-select both Periodic A and Periodic B boundaries on which to
apply this boundary condition. Click Apply.
Boundary Conditions Head: Set Head Temperature = 470.0 K. Click
Apply.
Boundary Conditions Liner: Set Liner Temperature = 420.0 K. Click
Apply.
6. Initial Conditions Region 1 Initialization: Specify the parameters for the initial
conditions as follows:
Composition: Select Constant and then Create New and click the Pencil
icon and to launch the Composition Editor. Set these parameters: set
the Composition = Mole Fraction (not the default Mass Fraction). Then
click the Add Species button and select both o2 and n2 to add. When
both o2 and n2 are in the Species column in the Composition table, enter
0.126 for the o2 Fraction and 0.874 for n2. Name this Composition 1 in
the text field at the bottom of the Gas Mixture window. Click Save and
close the Composition Editor.
Temperature = 362.0 K
Pressure = 2.215 bar (Note: This is not the default unit.)
Turbulence: Select Constant, and then in the pull-down menu for the
initial Turbulence parameters, select Turbulent Kinetic Energy and
Length Scale as the way in which we will specify the initial turbulence. For
this option we provide an explicit value for the initial turbulent kinetic
energy, but use a length-scale approximation to determine the turbulence
dissipation energy. Use these values.
Turbulent Kinetic Energy = 10,000cm2/sec2
Turbulent Length Scale = 1.0 cm
Velocity: Select Engine Swirl in the Velocity pull-down and then specify
the swirl profile parameters:

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Initial Swirl Ratio = 0.5

Initial Swirl Profile Factor = 3.11

Initialize Velocity Components Normal to Piston = ON

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If you want to estimate the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) as a fraction of the piston speed, let
the fraction be F and stroke is ms-1, the value you would enter then would be

TKE F *0.5*(2* stroke *

engine _ speed _ RPM

60

)2 [m2 /s2 ]

Click Apply in the Region 1 Initialization Editor panel.

7. Simulation Controls: Under Simulation Limits, for the Simulation End Points,
specify:
Crank Angle Based
Initial Crank Angle = -165.0
Final Simulation Crank Angle = 125.0 degrees. (These two angles
correspond to Intake Valve Open and Exhaust Valve Closing,
respectively.)
RPM = 1,200.0
Cycle Type is 4-Stroke.
Click Apply.
8. Simulation Controls Time Step: For the Advanced Time Step Control
Options, specify:
Rate of Strain Factor = 1.2
Convection Factor = 0.5
Click Apply.
9. Simulation Controls Chemistry Solver:
Turn ON (check) Use Dynamic Cell Clustering and accept its defaults.
At the bottom of the panel, set Activate Chemistry to Conditionally,
specifying When Temperature is Reached, setting Threshold
Temperature = 600.0 K. Click Apply.
10. Output Controls Spatially Resolved: For the Spatially Resolved Output
Control, specify:
Crank Angle Output Control
Output every = 5.0 degrees.

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Also check the box next to User Defined Crank Angle Outputs and then
import the UserCrankAngleOutputs.csv table of data using the Profile
Editor that contains crank angles going from 22 to +20, with increment 1,
units of Angle and Degree, and file named UserCrankAngleOutputs.
This assures that we get more resolved outputs around the spray, without
requiring the same resolution throughout the simulation.
For Spatially Resolved Species, move these species to the Selection
list: nc7h16, o2, n2, co2, h2o, co, no, and no2. Click Apply.
11. Output Controls Spatially Averaged:
For the Spatially Averaged Output Control, select the Crank Angle
option and specify Output Every = 1.0 degree.
For Spatially Averaged Species, select all and move all species to the
Selection list. Click Apply.
12. Output Controls Restart Data: In the Workflow tree, check the box for
Restart Data and then in the Restart panel, check the box that says, Write
Restart File at Last Simulation Step. Uncheck (turn OFF) any other boxes
on the panel. Click Apply.

2.2.6.1

Run the Case Using Defaults

13. In the Workflow tree, click the Run Simulation node to open the run control
interface.
14. Click the green arrow under Start to start the case running. The Status
changes to Running.
15. To interrupt the run, click the red button under Stop. Then the Status
becomes Stopped.
16. To start over or restart, click Start again.
17. The progress of the simulation can be monitored during a run. To monitor the
averaged value of simulation variables, click the Monitor Runs
icon on
the Run Simulation icon bar.

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Figure 2-5

Chapter 2: Simulating a Diesel Engine Using a Sector Mesh

Run Simulation - Icon bar.

Monitor Runs

Harvest/Visualize Export to FieldView

Export to EnSight

A new window will appear, with a list of variables that can be plotted on the left
panel in the window (as described in the ANSYS Forte User Guide). To select
one or more variables to plot, check the boxes in front of them in the Monitor
Data panel.
18. When a run is finished, the Status becomes Complete in the Run panel of the
man Simulate Interface window. In the Editor Panel, use the Harvest/
Visualize button to save the harvested results as a .ftres file. Note that
multiple runs can be selected for this purpose.
19. ANSYS Forte Visualizer will be loaded automatically following the Visualize
step unless the Harvest only option was checked. You can follow the ANSYS
Forte User Guide Visualization chapter to post-process the results.
20. You can save the project at this point using the File > Save command.
Rename the project to avoid overwriting the original .ftsim file.

2.2.6.2

Problem Results
1. When a run is finished, the Status becomes Complete in the Run panel of the
main Simulation interface window. In the Monitor Panel, use the Harvest/
Visualize button to save the harvested results as a .ftres file. Note that
multiple runs can be selected for this purpose.
2. ANSYS Forte Visualizer will be loaded automatically following the Harvest
Results step if the Launch Visualizer after Harvest option is checked. You
can follow the ANSYS Forte User Guide Visualization chapter to post-process
the results.

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2.3

ANSYS Forte Tutorials Manual

Reference
This case models the engine experiment from the following paper:
Singh, S., Reitz, R. D., and Musculus, M. P. B. Comparison of the characteristic time
(CTC), representative interactive flamelet (RIF), and direct integration with detailed
chemistry models against optical diagnostic data for multi-mode combustion in a
heavy-duty DI diesel engine. SAE paper 2006-01-0055, 2006.

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