Lecture 10.

Turbulent Combustion in Piston Engines

part 1

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Content

• Piston engines – introduction and definitions

• Flow and turbulence in piston engines
• Laminar and turbulent burning velocity
• Combustion duration
• Engine knock and compression ratio

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines
 Schematical diagram of
Reciprocating internal combustion engine

Vc B = bore
S = stroke
TDC r = connecting rode length
Vd B a = crank offset
s = piston position
S θ = crank angle
Vc = clearance volume
Vd = displacement volume
BDC
r
s

θ
a
θ = ±π / 2, U p = ∓2π aN
U p ∼ 5 − 20 m/s

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Table 10.1 Examples of engine operating parameters

Very small Small Large

engines engines engines
Bore (cm) 2.00 9.42 50
Stroke (cm) 2.04 9.89 161
Displacement/cylinder (L) 0.0066 0.69 316
Engine speed (N, rpm) 13000 5200 125
Power/cyl (kW) 0.72 35 311
Average piston speed (m/s) 8.84 17.1 6.71
Power/displacement (kW/L) 109 50.7 0.98
BMEP* (kPa) 503 1170 472
Examples Model airplane Automobile large stationary
two-stroke four-stroke two-stroke

*BMEP = brake mean effective pressure: it represents cylinder pressure that contributes
effectively to mechanical work

Formula 1 engine run at higher speed – 14000 rpm, 35 m/s

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Thermodynamic analysis of motored run

Compression ratio

Vc + Vd
rc =
Vc

motor = motor run = no combustion

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Thermodynamic analysis of motored run

In-cylinder pressure and temperature due to isentropic compression

⎛ Yi ⎞
pv = ∑ ⎜ ⎟Ru T = RT (Equation of state), ⇒ V = mv
⎝ Wi ⎠
p TDC,motor Vc p BDC,motor
⇒ = (Vd +Vc ),
TTDC,motor TBDC,motor
-1
p TDC,motor ⎛ p BDC,motor ⎞ (Vd +Vc )
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = = rc ,
TTDC,motor ⎝ TBDC,motor ⎠ Vc
isentropic compression: entropy=constant
1 p TDC,motor p BDC,motor
Tds = Cv dT + pd = Cv dT + pdv = 0, γ/(γ-1) = γ/(γ-1)
ρ TTDC,motor TBDC,motor
motor = motor run = no combustion

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Thermodynamic analysis of motored run

Compression ratio
Vc + Vd
rc =
Vc
In-cylinder pressure and temperature due to abiabatic compression

p TDC,motor Vc p BDC,motor pTDC,motor γ

= (Vd +Vc ), = rc ,
TTDC,motor TBDC,motor p BDC,motor
p TDC,motor p BDC,motor TTDC,motor
= γ −1
Tγ/(γ-1)
Tγ/(γ-1) = rc
TDC,motor BDC,motor
TBDC,motor
motor = motor run = no combustion

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 An example of a four stroke engine

9
X.S. Bai TC in piston engines
 Four stroke engine cycles

Intake stroke Compression stroke Combustion/ Exhaust stroke

power stroke

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Sequences of events in four stroke SI engine operating cycle

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

P-V graph
SI engine p-v graph Local zoomed p-v graph

γ −1
⎛1⎞
Otto cycle effciency (indicated thermal efficiency) η = 1− ⎜ ⎟
⎝ rc ⎠
X.S. Bai TC in piston engines
Works

• Indicated work: work generated in the combustion chamber (area

in the P-V graph)
– Gross indicated work: area A
– Pump work: area B
– Net indicated work (without supercharger): area A – area B

• Friction work

• Brake work: actual work available at the crankshaft

– Brake work = indicated work – friction and parasitic work

• Mechanical efficiency: brake work/indicated work (40-90%)

– lower engine speed has higher mechanical efficiency (friction)
– lower engine speed has lower thermal efficiency (heat loss)

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Mean effective pressure (mep) and power

• Mean effective pressure = work / displacement volume

– imep
– fmep
– bmep
– pmep

• Power: rate of work of the engine

– Power = work x engine speed / number of revolution per cycle
– Power = (mep) x face area of all pistons x averaged piston
velocity

• Torque: force acting at a moment distance = brake work /2π

– Torgue = (bmep) x dispacement distance / 2π / number of
revolution per cycle

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Otto Diesel HCCI

• Premixed “Homogeneous combustion”

• Premixed flame (injection prior to • “zero” NOx and soot
combustion) • Combustion during injection
• High efficiency ~45%
• Blue flame (no soot) • Diffusion flame
Also at partload
• lambda ~1 (three-way cat OK) • Yellow flame (=soot)
• Control
• Local lambda ~1 • Supercharge/EGR
• Overall lambda ~1,5 (no three-way cat) • Noise
• Cold start

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 SI engines

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Most cars run with SI engine

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines
 Flow field

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Flow field

0 0.5B,
u( 0 ) ≡ u ' u ' rms

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Flow field near the piston

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 3-D turbulence eddies in an engine

-270 CAD

Intake stroke

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 3-D turbulence eddies in an engine

Compression stroke

-20 CAD
X.S. Bai TC in piston engines
 Turbulent flows inside the cylinder

Ensemble average based on multi-cycles

Time average based on individual cycles
Turbulence velocity

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Turbulence large eddy velocity u’rms
with cycle-cycle variation (solid), without cycle-cycle variation (dashed)

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Turbulence large eddy velocity u’rms at TDC

Turbulence
m/s u' KN

Mean piston speed m/s

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Combustion process in SI engines

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Turbulent flame propagation in SI engine

No swirl,
central plug

No swirl,
two plugs

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Turbulent flame propagation in SI engine

No swirl,
side plug

normal swirl,
side plug

high swirl,
side plug

10 15 20 25
crank angle, degrees from ignition
X.S. Bai TC in piston engines
X.S. Bai TC in piston engines
laminar burning velocity

Empirical expression
α β
⎛ Tu ⎞ ⎛ p ⎞
S L = S L,0 ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟
⎝ Tu ,0 ⎠ ⎝ p0 ⎠

α = 2.18 − 0.8(Φ − 1)
β = −0.16 + 0.22(Φ − 1)

S L = S L,0 rcα (γ −1)+ βγ = S L,0 rc 0.648−0.012( Φ−1) S L,0 rc 0.648

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Laminar flame thickness

1.7
⎛ p0 ⎞ ⎛ Tu ⎞ −0.72
D D0 ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟ D r
0 c ,
⎝ p ⎠ ⎝ Tu ,0 ⎠
D δ L S L , D0 δ L,0 S L,0 ,
⎛ S L,0 ⎞ ⎛ D ⎞
δL δ L,0 ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟ δ r
L ,0 c
−1.368

⎝ S L ⎠ ⎝ D0 ⎠

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Turbulent burning velocity and combustion duration

ST SL + u ' u' KN

B B B B
Δθ flame ∼ N∼ N∼ N∼
ST u' KN K

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Combustion duration in SI engine

Turbulent flame propagation

Initial flame
development

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Combustion stages
• Ignition stage: spark ignition needs to last a short time to initiate
the flame propagation. The flame kernel initially is very small. The
small kernel is not highly wrinkled by turbulence. The propagation
speed of the small flame kernel is low.

• Turbulent flame propagation stage: As the flame kernel grows the

flame surface area becomes also more wrinkled. The flame
propagation speed is much higher than the laminar flame speed.
The higher the turbulence level the faster the turbulent flame
speed. This makes the combustion duration in terms of crank
angle degrees roughly the same at different engine speed.

• Burning in the post flame zones: If the engine runs at very high
speed, the combustion intermediates such as CO may not fully
burned at the flame front. Since the engine is at very high
pressure and temperature, these intermediate can be further
oxidized later before the exhaust gas is released.

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Emissions

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Compression ratio in SI engines

• Engine knock at high compression ratio

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

Compression ratio in SI engines

• Engine knock at high compression ratio

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines

 Spark ignited engine
(”Otto-engine”, ”gasoline engine”)

• Low efficiency, ~30% at full load, ~15% at

• Premixed flame (injection prior to combustion)
part load, due to:
• Blue flame (no soot) – Load control through air amount => throttle
• lambda ~1 (three-way cat OK) required => low part load efficiency
– Knock sensitivity requires low compression ratio
=> low overall efficiency

X.S. Bai TC in piston engines