Cairo University Faculty of Engineering

Mechanical Power Department MEP 404 ICEs

Assignment No. 4

Make reasonable assumptions for any missing data. Take the specific gravity of
gasoline to be 0.78 and that of diesel fuel to be 0.86.

1. Determine the duration (in milliseconds) of one stroke of an internal combustion engine
running at 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 rpm.
2. If the duration of the combustion process is 50 °CA and the combustion should end 10
°CA ATDC (after top dead center), determine the spark advance in each case.
3. Considering the charge during the suction process of a spark-ignition engine to be a
mixture of air, fuel vapor, fuel, and water vapor, find the change in indicated power
when a SIE is converted to operate on natural gas instead of gasoline under the following
conditions:
Water content of air 2 % by mass, equivalence ratio = 1.2, molecular weight of gasoline
is 113, inlet pressure 96.5 kPa. Assume the inlet temperature to be 38 °C and the fuel to
be 40% vaporized during the suction process. The stoichiometric fuel-air ratios for
gasoline and methane are 14.7 and 17.2 by weight, respectively. The molecular weight of
methane = 18.3, while the calorific values of gasoline and natural gas are 50.71 and 44.2
MJ/kg, respectively.
4. Consider that the fuel of a gasoline engine is to be replaced by butyl alcohol (C4H9OH).
Estimate the power output in percentage of power produced by burning gasoline. The
lower calorific value for burning gaseous octane is 44788 kJ/kg. The molecular weight of
butyl alcohol is 74. The lower calorific value for gaseous butyl alcohol is 33222 kJ/kg.

5. A six-cylinder compression ignition engine has a bore of 10 cm and a bore to stroke ratio
of 0.8 is running at an idling speed of 900 rpm.
Determine the fuel consumption in kg/h and in mg/cycle/cylinder. The friction mean
effective pressure of the engine is given by:
fmep = 1 + (N/1000) + 0.00395 (mps)2 [bar],

where mps = mean piston speed [m/s].

6. The laminar flame speed of hydrocarbon fuels is typically in the order of 0.4 m/s.
Determine the maximum speed of a four-cylinder SI engine of 10 cm bore and 12 cm
stroke, if there is no turbulence in the combustion chamber of the engine. If the engine
delivers its rated power at a speed of 2500 rpm, determine the ratio of the turbulent flame
speed to the laminar flame speed.

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7. The spark plug is fired at 18° bTDC in an engine running at 1800 RPM. It takes 8° of
engine rotation to start combustion and get into flame propagation mode. Flame
termination occurs at 12° aTDC. Bore diameter is 8.4 cm and the spark plug is offset 8
mm from the centerline of the cylinder. The flame front can be approximated as a sphere
moving out from the spark plug. Calculate the effective flame front speed during flame
propagation.

8. The engine in Problem 7 is now run at 3000 RPM. As speed is increased in this engine,
greater turbulence and swirl increase the flame front speed at a rate such that the flame
speed is directly proportional to the engine speed. Flame development after spark plug
firing still takes 8° of engine rotation. Calculate how much ignition timing must be
advanced such that flame termination again occurs at 12°aTDC.

9. A four-cylinder, four-stroke spark ignition engine of bore diameter D = 6.25 cm and

stroke S = 7.5 cm and compression ratio of r = 9, is running at 1800 RPM. The engine
bums a mixture of indolene (C7H13) and 20% excess air. The volumetric efficiency of the
engine with inlet conditions of 105 kPa and 28 °C is 92%. One of every 12 ignitions
results in a misfire. Assuming total combustion otherwise with all the unburned
hydrocarbons produced by misfire, find the following:
a) Fuel mass flow rate, g/hr.
b) Carbon dioxide mass flow rate, g/hr.
c) Carbon monoxide mass flow rate, g/hr.
d) Unburned hydrocarbon mass flow rate, g/hr.

10. A SI engine operating at 1200 RPM has a 10.2 cm bore with the spark plug offset by 6
mm from center. The spark plug is fired at 20° bTDC. It takes 6.5° of engine rotation for
combustion to develop and get into flame propagation mode, where the average flame
speed is 15.8 m/sec. Calculate:
a) Time to one combustion process after flame has developed (i.e., time for
flame front to reach the furthest cylinder wall). [sec]
b) Crank angle position at the end of combustion.

11. An automobile engine has a 3.2 liter, five-cylinder, four-stroke cycle diesel engine. Fuel
injection occurs from 20° bTDC to 5° bTDC. The engine has a volumetric efficiency of
0.95 and operates at an equivalence ratio of 0.8. Light diesel fuel is used. The engine has
a compression ratio of 18:1 and operates on an air-standard Dual cycle. At 2400 RPM,
combustion starts at 7° bTDC and lasts for 42° of engine rotation. The ratio of connecting
rod length to crank offset is R = 3.8. Calculate:
a) The ignition delay
b) The cycle cut-off ratio

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Solution of Problem No. 11

Combustion starts at 7° bTDC and fuel injection starts at 20° bTDC. Therefore, the ignition
delay = 20 – 7 = 13° Crankangle.

Ignition delay in seconds = (13°)/[(2400/60 rev/sec)*(360°/rev)] = 0.0009 sec = 0.9 ms

Combustion stops at 35° aTDC.

Cutoff ratio = V/Vc = 1 + 0.5(Compression ratio - 1)[R + 1 – cos(θ) – (R2 – sin2(θ))1/2]

= 1 + 0.5(18 - 1) [3.8 + 1 – cos(35°) – (3.82 – sin2(35°))1/2] = 2.91;

Where R=r/a