Dynamic instabilities in spark-ignited combustion engines with high exhaust gas recirculation

We propose a cycle-resolved dynamic model for combustion instabilities in spark-ignition engines operating with high levels of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). We account for the complex combustion response to cycle-to-cycle feedback by utilizing a global probability distribution that describes the pre-spark state of in-cylinder fuel mixing. The proposed model does a good job of simulating combustion instabilities observed in both lean-fueling engine experiments and in experiments where nitrogen dilution is used to simulate some of the combustion inhibition of EGR. When used to simulate high internal EGR operation, the model exhibits a range of global bifurcations and chaos that appear to be very robust. We use the model to show that it should be possible to reduce high EGR combustion instabilities by switching from internal to external EGR.