Taguchi analysis of combustion of diesel and bio-diesel blend utilizing homogeneous reactor model

In the current work, the effect of engine parameters on the performance of a diesel engine fuelled with diesel-biodiesel blend has been assessed. Homogeneous Reactor model (HRM) was utilized to compute the combustion parameters for a single cylinder diesel engine with unit aspect ratio and capacity of one-litre. The rate of pressure rise has a significant influence on the peak pressure generated, power produced and the degree of smooth transmittance of forces to the piston during the power stroke. The rate of pressure rise can be defined in terms of the crank angle increments since crank angle displacement is an indication of the engine speed. The pressure rise with respect to the crank angle increments were calculated based on three factors namely compression ratio, injection time and boost pressure that were selected for analysis of the diesel engine combustion at three significant levels. A L9 array was used to analyse the response of pressure-crank angle gradient "dp/dθ" as the output variable. From the Taguchi analysis of the effect of the three parameters, injection timing was the most dominant factor for the rise in the pressure gradient followed by boost pressure ratio and compression ratio as the lowest dominant factors. A contour of dp/dθ showed injection timing of 12° BTDC as the most optimum timing for maximum rise in pressure.