Combustion characteristics of a direct-injection engine fueled with natural gas–hydrogen blends under different ignition timings

In this paper, combustion characteristics of a direct-injection spark-ignited engine fueled with natural gas–hydrogen blends under various ignition timings and lean mixture condition were investigated. The results show that the ignition timing has significant influence on engine performance, combustion and emissions. The time intervals between the end of fuel injection and ignition timing are very sensitive to direct-injection gas engine combustion. The turbulence in combustion chamber generated by the fuel jet maintains high and relatively strong mixture stratification is presented when decreasing the time intervals between the end of injection and the ignition timing, giving fast burning rate, high brake mean effective pressure, high thermal efficiency and short combustion durations. For specific ignition timing, the brake mean effective pressure and the effective thermal efficiency increase and combustion durations decrease with the increase of hydrogen fraction in natural gas. Exhaust HC concentration decreases and exhaust NOx concentration increase with advancing the ignition timing while the exhaust CO gives little variation under various ignition timings.