ME2041 Advanced Internal Combustion Engines

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF SI ENGINE COMBUSTION

Burned and Unburned Mixture States

Because combustion occurs through a flame propagation process, the changes in

state and the motion of the unburned and burned gas are much more complex
than the ideal cycle analysis.
The gas pressure, temperature,and density change as a result of changes in
volume due to piston motion.
During combustion, the cylinder pressure increases due to the release of the fuel's
chemical energy.
As each element of fuel-air mixture bums, its density decreases by about a factor
of four.
This combustion-produced gas expansion compresses the unburned mixture ahead
of the flame and displaces it toward the combustion chamber walls.
The combustion-produced gas expansion also compresses those parts of the
charge which have already burned, and displaces them back toward the spark
plug.
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Josephs College of Engineering

ME2041 Advanced Internal Combustion Engines

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF SI ENGINE COMBUSTION
Burned and Unburned Mixture States

During the combustion process, the unburned gas elements move away from the
spark plug; following combustion, individual gas elements move back toward the
spark plug.
Further, elements of the unburned mixture which burn at different times have
different pressures and temperatures just prior to combustion, and therefore end
up at different states after combustion.
The thermodynamic state and composition of the burned gas is, therefore, nonuniform.
A first law analysis of the spark-ignition engine combustion process enables us to
quantify these gas states.
Consider the schematic of the engine cylinder while combustion is inprogress,
shown in Fig. 9-4. Work transfer occurs between the cylinder gases and the piston
(to the gas before TC; to the piston after TC).

Unit I

Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Josephs College of Engineering

ME2041 Advanced Internal Combustion Engines

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF SI ENGINE COMBUSTION
Burned and Unburned Mixture States

Heat transfer occurs to the chamber walls, primarily from the burned gases.
At the temperatures and pressures typical of spark-ignition engines it is a
reasonable approximation to assume that the volume of the reaction zone where
combustion is actually occurring is a negligible fraction of the chamber volume
even though the thickness of-the turbulent flame may not be negligible compared
with the chamber dimensions.
With normal engine operation, at any point in time or crank angle, the pressure
throughout the cylinder is close to uniform.
The conditions in the burned and unburned gas are then determined by
conservation of mass :

Unit I

Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Josephs College of Engineering

ME2041 Advanced Internal Combustion Engines

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF SI ENGINE COMBUSTION
Burned and Unburned Mixture States

The conservation of energy:

where V is the cylinder volume, m is the mass of the cylinder contents, v is the
specific volume, xb is the mass fraction burned, Uo is the internal energy of the
cylinder contents at some reference point 0, u is the specific internal energy, W is
the work done on the piston, and Q is the heat transfer to the walls. The subscripts
u and b denote unburned and burned gas properties, respectively.
The work and heat transfers are:

Where

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is the instantaneous heat-transfer rate to the chamber walls.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Josephs College of Engineering

ME2041 Advanced Internal Combustion Engines

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF SI ENGINE COMBUSTION
Burned and Unburned Mixture States

Useful results can be obtained by assuming that the burned and unburned gases
are different ideal gases, each with constant specific heats. i.e.

Combining these eqns.

Unit I

Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Josephs College of Engineering

ME2041 Advanced Internal Combustion Engines

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF SI ENGINE COMBUSTION
Burned and Unburned Mixture States

The above equations may be solved to obtain

If we now assume the unburned gas is initially uniform and undergoes isentropic
compression, then

Unit I

Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Josephs College of Engineering