Numerical simulation of performance and exhaust emissions of a marine main engine using heavy fuel oil during the whole voyage

In this study, the performance and exhaust emissions of the marine main engine (ME) of a large cargo vessel operating on the east coast of Australia by numerical thermodynamic simulation were investigated. The simulation were validated using on-board measurements of the ME conducted in October and November 2015 on a large cargo ship cruising between Ports of Brisbane, Gladstone and Newcastle. The commercial engine modelling/design software, AVL Boost, was used with special adaptation to marine engines and Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO). All measurements here carried out on the ME at different engine speeds and loads when the ship experienced different working conditions such as manoeuvring near port areas and cruising at sea. Specific engine parameters including in-cylinder mean and peak pressure, power, exhaust temperature and turbocharger boost were investigated. A good agreement between experimental and numerical results was observed for engine emissions of NO_x and soot at higher engine speed conditions. The capacity of AVL Boost for marine engine simulation is evaluated, including prediction on the engine performance and emissions under different engine working conditions where they cannot be measured in the experiment.