ABNORMAL COMBUSTION: KNOCK AND SURFACE IGNITION

2103471 Internal Combustion Engine

ABNORMAL COMBUSTION: KNOCK AND SURFACE-IGNITION

Abnormal combustion reveals itself in many ways. Of the various abnormal combustion processes which are important in practice, the two major phenomena are knock and surface-ignition.

These abnormal combustion phenomena are of concern because: 1) when severe, they can cause major engine damage; and 2) even if not severe, they are regarded as an objectionable source of noise by the engine or vehicle operator.

Description: Knock and Surface Ignition.

There are two primary abnormal combustion phenomena: knock and surface ignition. Knock is the engine sound that results from spontaneous ignition of the unburned fuel-air mixture ahead of the flame (the end gas). Surface ignition is the ignition of the fuel-air mixture by any hot surface, other than the spark discharge, prior to arrival of the flame.

Description: Knock and Surface Ignition

Normal combustion A combustion process which is initiated solely by a timed spark and in which the flame front moves completely across the combustion chamber in a uniform manner at a normal velocity. Abnormal combustion A combustion process in which a flame front may be started by hot combustionchamber surfaces either prior to or after spark ignition, or a process in which some part or all of the charge may be consumed at extremely high rates.

Spark knock* A knock which is recurrent and repeatable in terms of audibility. It is controllable by the spark advance; advancing the spark increases the knock intensity and retarding the spark reduces the intensity.

Surface ignition Hot spots-combustion-chamber deposits Surface ignition is ignition of the fuel-air charge by any hot surface other than the spark discharge prior to the arrival of the normal flame front. It may occur before the spark ignites the charge (preignition) or after normal ignition (postignition).

ABNORMAL COMBUSTION: KNOCK AND SURFACE-IGNITION

Knock is the name given to the noise which is transmitted through the engine structure when essentially spontaneous ignition of a portion of the end gasthe fuel, air, residual gas, mixture ahead of the propagating flameoccurs. There is an extremely rapid release of most of the chemical energy in the end-gas, causing very high local pressures and the propagation of pressure waves of substantial amplitude across the combustion chamber.

ABNORMAL COMBUSTION: KNOCK AND SURFACE-IGNITION

Surface Ignition is ignition of the fuel-air mixture by a hot spot on the combustion chamber walls such as an overheated valve or spark plug, or glowing combustion-chamber deposit: i.e., by any means other than the normal spark discharge. Following surface ignition, a flame develops at each surface-ignition location and starts to propagate across the chamber in an analogous manner to what occurs with normal spark-ignition.

Engine Knock
Knock is most important at wide open throttle engine operation. It is an engine / fuel / vehicle problem, and limits the compression ratio that can be used for a fuel with given knock resistance. It is usually characterized in terms of the pressure waves produced inside the cylinder when knock occurs, and the vibration of the engine structure that knock produces.

Engine Knock
Pressure variation in the cylinder during knocking combustion for normal combustion, light knock and heavy knock, respectively.

Engine knock
Significant variations one cycle to the next, largely due to burn-rate variations. Knock intensity (maximum amplitude of band-passfiltered pressure signal) in one hundred individual consecutive cycles. One cylinder of V-8 engine, 2400 rev/min, wide-open throttle.

Knock Fundamentals.
As the flame propagates away from the spark plug the pressure and temperature of the unburned gas increases. The end-gas autoignites after a certain induction time which is dictated by the chemical kinetics of the fuelair mixture. Knock originates in the extremely rapid release of the fuels chemical energy in the end-gas region ahead of the propagation flame.
flame P,T end-gas shock P,T

time

time

Knock Fundamentals.
Under certain conditions the end-gas can autoignite and burn very rapidly.The local high pressures that this rapid energy release sets up generate strong pressure waves which cause the engine structure to vibrate. The end-gas temperature is the most critical parameter in assessing whether this spontaneous ignition process is likely to occur before the flame consumes all the end gas. If the flame burns all the fresh gas before autoignition in the end-gas can occur then knock is avoided. Therefore knock is a potential problem when the burn time is long!

Exhaust valve Spark plug

Knock cycle

Normal cycle

Intake valve

Observation window for photography

Knock Fundamentals.

Photographs of knocking combustion identifying location of autoignition sites.

Engine Damage From Severe Knock

Damage to the engine is caused by a combination of high temperature and high pressure.

Piston

Piston crown

Cylinder head gasket

Aluminum cylinder head

Important Engine Variables

The end-gas temperature and the time available before flame arrival are the two fundamental variables that determine whether or not knock will occur. The effects of practical engine variables such as compression ratio, spark advance, speed, inlet pressure and temperature, coolant temperature, fuel/air ratio, on knock can be explained in terms of these two fundamental variables.

Important Engine Variables

Engine parameters that effect occurrence of knock are: i) Compression ratio at high compression ratios, even before spark ignition, the fuel-air mixture is compressed to a high pressure and temperature which promotes autoignition ii) Engine speed At low engine speeds the flame velocity is slow and thus the burn time is long, this results in more time for autoignition However at high engine speeds there is less heat loss so the unburned gas temperature is higher which promotes autoignition These are competing effects, some engines show an increase in propensity to knock at high speeds while others dont.

Important Engine Variables

Engine parameters that effect occurrence of knock are: iii) Spark timing maximum compression from the piston advance occurs at TC, increasing the spark advance makes the end of combustion crank angle approach TC and thus get higher pressure and temperature in the unburned gas just before burnout.

Important Engine Variables

Effect of Spark Timing

Relation between spark advance, speed, and torque loss, for SI engine at WOT, showing typical knock limit that avoids knock problems.

Important Engine Variables

Knock Mitigation Using Spark Advance
Spark advance set to 1% below MBT to avoid knock
x x X crank angle corresponding to borderline knock 1% below MBT x

x x x

Important Engine Variables

Knock limit as a function of compression ratio and RON for moderate and high turbulence combustion chambers.

SI ENGINE KNOCK
1. Knock is most critical at wide-open throttle because of its persistence and potential for damage. Part-throttle knock is a transient phenomenon and is a nuisance only. 2. Whether or not knock occurs depends on engine/fuel/vehicle factors, and ambient conditions. This makes it an extremely complex phenomenon. 3. To avoid knock, the engine compression ratio is limited to between 9 10.5. Significant efficiency gains are possible if the compression ratio could be raised. 4. The major difficulty in operating an engine closer to the knock limit is quantifying the on-the-road knock problem sufficiently precisely. 5. Knock sensors and a feedback control are increasingly used to adjust spark timing so that the engine can operate close to its knock limit.

SI ENGINE KNOCK
The tendency to knock depends on engine design and operating variables which influence end-gas temperature, pressure and time spent at high values of these two properties before flame arrival. Thus, for example, the tendency to knock is decreased through reductions in end-gas temperature that follow from decreasing inlet air temperature, and retarding the spark from MBT timing. However, knock is a phenomenon that is governed by both engine and fuel factors; its presence or absence in an engine depends primarily on the antiknock quality of the fuel. Individual hydrocarbon compounds vary enormously in their ability to resist knock, depending on their molecular size and structure.

Knock Detection
1. Noise: human ear is remarkably sensitive 2. Mechanical vibration: accelerometer mounted on the head or block 3. Cylinder pressure fluctuation: pressure transducer in cylinder head 4. Light emission fluctuation: optical probe in cylinder head

Knocking cylinder-pressure signal

Signal processing of a typical Cylinder pressure signal for knocking operation

Fuel Factor
Individual hydrocarbons vary widely in their ability to resist knock. Practical fuels are blends of a large number of individual hydrocarbon compounds from all the hydrocarbon series of classes: alkanes (paraffins), cyclanes (napththenes), alkenes (olefins) and aromatics. Their tendency to knock depends on molecular size and structure. Since practical fuels are blends of many hydrocarbons, empirical measures are used to characterize a fuels resistance to knock under specified conditions.

Fuel Factor
It is important to consider a fuels knock resistance under different engine conditions, since a fuels response to different levels of engine thermal loading depends on its composition. This property is defined by the fuels octane number. It determines whether or not a fuel will knock in a given engine under given operating conditions: the higher the octane number, the higher the resistance to knock.

Fuel Knock Scale

To provide a standard measure of a fuels ability to resist knock, a scale has been devised in which fuels are assigned an octane number ON. The octane number determines whether or not a fuel will knock in a given engine under given operating conditions. By definition, normal heptane (n-C7H16) has an octane value of zero and isooctane (C8H18) has a value of 100. The higher the octane number, the higher the resistance to knock.

Fuel Knock Scale

Blends of these two hydrocarbons define the knock resistance of intermediate octane numbers: e.g., a blend of 10% n-heptane and 90% isooctane has an octane number of 90. A fuels octane number is determined by measuring what blend of these two hydrocarbons matches the test fuels knock resistance.

Octane Number Measurement

Two methods have been developed to measure ON using a standardized single-cylinder engine developed under the auspices of the Cooperative Fuel Research Committee in 1931. The CFR engine is 4-stroke with 3.25 bore and 4.5 stroke, compression ratio can be varied from 3 to 30. Research Inlet temperature (oC) Speed (rpm) Spark advance (oBTC) Coolant temperature (oC) Inlet pressure (atm) Humidity (kg water/kg dry air) 52 600 13 Motor 149 900 19-26 (varies with r)

100 1.0 0.0036 - 0.0072

Note: In 1931 iso-octane was the most knock resistant HC, now there are fuels that are more knock resistant than isooctane.

Octane Number Measurement

Testing procedure: Run the CFR engine on the test fuel at both research and motor conditions. Slowly increase the compression ratio until a standard amount of knock occurs as measured by a magnetostriction knock detector. At that compression ratio run the engines on blends of n-hepatane and isooctane. ON is the % by volume of octane in the blend that produces the stand. knock The antiknock index which is displayed at the fuel pump is the average of the research and motor octane numbers:

Antiknock index =

RON + MON 2

Note the motor octane number is always higher because it uses more severe operating conditions: higher inlet temperature and more spark advance. The automobile manufacturer will specify the minimum fuel ON that will resist knock throughout the engines operating speed and load range.

Knock Characteristics of Various Fuels

Formula CH4 C3H8 CH4O C2H6O C8H18 Blend of HCs n-C7H16 Name Methane Propane Methanol Ethanol Isooctane Regular gasoline n-heptane Critical r 12.6 12.2 7.3 RON 120 112 106 107 100 91 0 MON 120 97 92 89 100 83 0

For fuels with antiknock quality better than octane, the octane number is: ON = 100 + 28.28T / [1.0 + 0.736T+(1.0 + 1.472T - 0.035216T2)1/2] where T is milliliters of tetraethyl lead per U.S. gallon

Fuel Additives
Chemical additives are used to raise the octane number of gasoline. The most effective antiknock agents are lead alkyls; (i) Tetraethyl lead (TEL), (C2H5)4Pb was introduced in 1923 (ii) Tetramethyl lead (TML), (CH3)4Pb was introduced in 1960 In 1959 a manganese antiknock compound known as MMT was introduced to supplement TEL (used in Canada since 1978). About 1970 low-lead and unleaded gasoline were introduced over toxicological concerns with lead alkyls (TEL contains 64% by weight lead). Alcohols such as ethanol and methanol have high knock resistance. Since 1970 another alcohol methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) has been added to gasoline to increase octane number. MTBE is formed by reacting methanol and isobutylene (not used in Canada).