Press releases

Launch of the European LESSCCV project led by IFP

21 April 2010

Limiting the impact of cyclic engine combustion variations on fuel consumption and vehicle emissions

The European research project Large-Eddy & System Simulation to predict Cyclic Combustion Variability in gasoline engines (LESSCCV), selected as part of FP7, has just been launched. The LESSCCV project aims at significantly improving the understanding and modeling of cyclic variations in some major types of spark ignition engines. The objective is to limit the negative impact of these phenomena on fuel consumption and pollutant emissions.

Coordinated by IFP, the project brings together 7 partners, including research institutes, software editors and universities: AVL List GmbH (Austria), FEV Motorentechnik GmbH (Germany), LMS-Imagine (France), Ricardo UK Limited (United Kingdom), Technical University of Prague (Czech Republic), Polytechnic of Milan (Italy), University of Western Macedonia (Greece).

The causes for the sometimes unstable operation of a 4-stroke engine(1) from one cycle to another are still poorly understood under certain conditions. To respond to a growing demand to cut vehicle fuel consumption and emission levels, it is necessary to move beyond traditional control approaches in order to understand the reasons behind this phenomenon and find a way of controlling it. Indeed, the appearance of cyclic variations often limit exploiting the full potential offered by new powertrain concepts, such as downsized(2) engines, particularly in terms of cutting CO₂ emissions.

The work carried out as part of the LESSCCV project will in particular rely on IFP’s expertise in the fields of 3D Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) and system simulation. By supplying detailed information not accessible using conventional approaches, LES helps provide a better basic understanding of interactions between the numerous physicochemical phenomena involved in the occurrence of cycle-to-cycle variations in engines. This understanding can then be converted into models, which, when integrated in system simulation codes, can be used to reproduce the effects of these cyclic variations.

The LES tools developed will therefore enable optimization of new powertrain concepts, in order to limit the occurrence of significant cyclic variability. The system simulation tools will serve to develop and test control-command strategies aimed at limiting the adverse impacts of any variability that has not been completely eliminated by optimization of the combustion chamber design.

The LES simulations performed at IFP will rely on a parallel supercomputer comprising 1832 processors, with a total power of 17 Teraflops.

Scheduled to last 3 years, the LESSCCV project has a total budget of €3.2 million, with almost €2 million of grant from the European Commission.
 

1) 4-stroke cycle in internal combustion engines necessary to convert the chemical energy contained in the fuel into mechanical energy.
 
2) Downsizing consists of reducing the displacement of the engine, combined with sufficient turbocharging to maintain a performance comparable to that of the original engine while at the same time improving fuel savings and cutting CO₂ emissions.
 

Website LESSCCV

+ Industrial development > Engines > Engine and vehicle modeling and simulation > LES Moteurs

+ News > International Conference on LES for Internal Combustion Engine Flows [LES4ICE] (18-19 November 2010, IFP/Rueil-Malmaison)