Method to generate highly accurate thermodynamic and physical fluid properties of real light-distillate fuels for one-dimensional hydraulic models using a detailed multi-component surrogate formulation approach

A computer system for generating a multi-component surrogate, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, comprising functionality for:
• determining, based on a detailed hydrocarbon analysis, a plurality of hydrocarbons of a physical fuel sample;
• selecting, for a first hydrocarbon of the plurality of hydrocarbons, a first plurality of chemicals from a list of known chemicals of a chemical process software package, the first hydrocarbon having a first equivalent molecular structure as each of the first plurality of chemicals;
• dividing a first concentration of the first hydrocarbon in the physical fuel sample into a first plurality of surrogate concentrations corresponding to the first plurality of chemicals;
• and
• generating the multi-component surrogate based at least on the first plurality of surrogate concentrations,
• wherein each of the first plurality of chemicals represents the first hydrocarbon as a surrogate in the multi-component surrogate, and
• wherein the multi-component surrogate is used to represent the physical fuel sample in a one-dimensional (1D) hydraulic modeling software to model a direct injection (DI) system.

The computer system according to claim 18, the instructions, when executed by the processor, further comprising functionality for:

• selecting the first equivalent molecular structure from a hierarchy of equivalent molecular structures,
• wherein the hierarchy comprises:
• an identical molecular structure,
• a first level equivalent molecular structure of stereoisomer,
• a second level equivalent molecular structure of structural isomer,
• a third level equivalent molecular structure of same carbon number and carbon type in each and every molecular branch,
• a fourth level equivalent molecular structure of same carbon types and total carbon number,
• a fifth level equivalent molecular structure of same number of rings and total carbon number, and
• a sixth level equivalent molecular structure of same total carbon number.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by a computer processor for generating a multi-component surrogate, the instructions comprising functionality for:

• determining, based on a detailed hydrocarbon analysis, a plurality of hydrocarbons of a physical fuel sample;
• selecting, for a first hydrocarbon of the plurality of hydrocarbons, a first plurality of chemicals from a list of known chemicals of a chemical process software package, the first hydrocarbon having a first equivalent molecular structure as each of the first plurality of chemicals;
• dividing a first concentration of the first hydrocarbon in the physical fuel sample into a first plurality of surrogate concentrations corresponding to the first plurality of chemicals;
• and
• generating the multi-component surrogate based at least on the first plurality of surrogate concentrations,
• wherein each of the first plurality of chemicals represents the first hydrocarbon as a surrogate in the multi-component surrogate, and
• wherein the multi-component surrogate is used to represent the physical fuel sample in a one-dimensional (1D) hydraulic modeling software to model a direct injection (DI) system.