SI Engine Combustion
Dhananjay Kumar Srivastava
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT Kharagpur
Fuel Injection
• Carburettor
• Port Fuel Injection (PFI)
• Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI)
Carburetion
• The process of formation of a combustible fuel‐air mixture by mixing the
proper amount of fuel with air before admission to engine cylinder is called
carburetion and the device which does this job is called a carburettor.
• Factors Affecting Carburetion
• Engine speed
• Vaporisation characteristics of the fuel
• Temperature of the incoming air and
• Design of the carburettor
Simple Carburettor
Port Fuel Injection (PFI)
Hot Film Anemometry
PFI Injector
Port Fuel Injection (PFI)
Fuel Supply System
Injector Location
Fuel Injection Strategy
Cyl 1 Cyl 2 Cyl 3 Cyl 4
Intake
Compression
Expansion
Exhaust
Injection Strategy
• Simultaneous injection
• All injectors open and close together.
• The time which is available for fuel evaporation is different for each cylinder.
• Fuel injected in two portions: half in one revolution of the crankshaft and the remainder in
the next.
• Group Injection
• Fuel injectors are combined to form two groups.
• For one revolution of the crankshaft, one injector group injects the total fuel quantity
required for its cylinders, and for the next revolution the second group injects.
• Sequential Injection
• The fuel is injected individually for each cylinder.
• The fuel injectors are actuated in succession in firing sequence
• Cylinder‐individual fuel injection
• CIFI has the advantage that the duration of injection can be individually varied for each
cylinder
• Stoichiometric operation of each cylinder requires a cylinder‐specific lambda recording here.
Injection Strategy
Stages of Combustion in SI Engines
b
d
a
Theoretical diagram of pressure crank angle diagram is shown. (a→b) is compression process, (b→c)
is combustion process and (c→d) is an expansion process.
In an ideal cycle it can be seen from the diagram, the entire pressure rise during combustion takes
place at constant volume i.e., at TDC. However, in actual cycle this does not happen.
Theory of SI engine Combustion
1. Growth and development of a self propagating nucleus flame ( Ignition lag).
2. Spread of flame through the combustion chamber.
Stages of Combustion in SI Engines
Detailed process of combustion in actual engine is different from the theoretical process. Combustion
process in an actual SI engine as consisting of three stages:
A shows the point of the passage of the spark (about 20° BTDC), B the point at which the first rise of
the pressure can be seen (about 8° BTDC) and C the attainment of the peak pressure.
AB represent the first stage (Ignition lag)
BC represent the second stage (Propagation of flame)
CD represent the third stage (Afterburning)
Spark and Flame Propagation
• Spark discharge is at -30˚ & flame is visible first at -24˚.
• Nearly circular flame propagates outward from the spark plug location.
Irregular shape of turbulent flame front is apparent.
• Blue light is emitted most strongly from the flame front.
• At TC, flame diameter ≈2/3 of cylinder bore.
Stages of Combustion in SI Engines
Ignition Lag
• There is a certain time interval between instant of spark and instant
where there is a noticeable rise in pressure due to combustion. This time
lag is called Ignition Lag.
• Stage also known as flame development stage
• Ignition lag is the time interval in the process of chemical reaction
during which molecules get heated up to self ignition temperature, get
ignited and produce a self propagating nucleus of flame.
• Ignition lag is very small and lies between 1.5 to 2 milliseconds. An
ignition lag of 2 milli seconds corresponds to 35 deg crank rotation when
the engine is running at 3000 RPM.
• This is a chemical process depending upon the nature of fuel,
temperature and pressure, proportions of exhaust gas and rate of
oxidation or burning.
Effect of Engine Variables on Ignition Lag
First phase of combustion is called ignition lag.
This time is normally about 1.5 milli second and crank angle is 10 to 20 degrees.
Nature of Fuel
The ignition lag depends on the chemical nature of the fuel.
The higher the self-ignition temperature of the fuel, the longer the ignition lag.
Mixture ratio
The ignition lag is smallest for the mixture ratio which gives the maximum temperature. This
ratio is somewhat richer than the stoichiometric ratio.
Effect of Engine Variables on Ignition Lag
Initial temperature and pressure
Increasing the intake temperature and pressure, increasing the compression ratio and retarding the
spark, these all reduce the ignition lag.
Turbulence
Excessive turbulence of the mixture in the area of spark plug is harmful.
Since it increases the heat transfer from the combustion zone and leads to unstable development of
the nucleus of flame.
Stages of Combustion in SI Engines
Flame Propagation Stage
Once the flame is formed, it should be self sustained and must be
able to propagate through the mixture.
This is possible when the rate of heat generation by burning is
greater than heat lost by flame to surrounding.
The starting point of the second stage is where first measurable
rise of the pressure can be seen on the indicator diagram.
This stage is also called as main stage as about 85-90% energy
evolved in this stage.
This stage is influenced by conditions throughout the combustion
chamber
Flame Propagation
A B C Reaction Rate
Transposition Rate
A B C
A B C
Flame Front Propagation
A-B: The flame front progresses relatively slowly
due to a low transposition rate and low
turbulence.
B-C: The flame front leaves the quiescent zone
and proceeds into more turbulent area. It
consumes a greater mass of mixture and it
progresses more rapidly and at a constant rate.
C-D: The volume of unburned charge is very
much less towards the end of flame travel so
transposition rate again becomes negligible
The factors which affect the flame propagations
which reduces the flame speed.
are;
Rate of flame propagation affects the combustion
Air fuel ratio
process in SI engines. Higher combustion
efficiency and fuel economy can be achieved by Compression ratio
higher flame propagation velocities. Load on engine
Unfortunately flame velocities for most of fuel Turbulence and engine speed
range between 10 to 30 m/second. Other factors
Factors Influencing The Flame Speed
Turbulence
Turbulence increases the heat flow to the cylinder wall. It also accelerates the chemical reaction by
intimate mixing of fuel and oxygen so that spark advance may be reduced.
This helps in burning lean mixture also. The increase of flame speed due to turbulence reduces the
combustion duration and hence minimizes the tendency of abnormal combustion.
However, excessive turbulence may extinguish the flame (during flame development stage) resulting
in rough and noisy operation of the engine.
Temperature and Pressure
Flame speed increases with an increase in intake temperature and pressure.
A higher initial pressure and temperature may help to form a better homogeneous mixture which
helps in increasing the flame speed. This is possible because of an overall increase in the density of
the charge.
Engine Speed
The flame speed increases almost linearly with engine speed.
Reason: The increase in engine speed increases the turbulence inside the cylinder.
Factors Influencing The Flame Speed
Fuel-Air Ratio
The Fuel-air ratio has a very significant influence on the flame speed. The highest flame velocities
(minimum time for complete combustion) are obtained with somewhat richer mixture
When the mixture is made leaner or richer the flame speed decreases.
Less thermal energy is released in the case of lean mixtures resulting in lower flame temperature.
Very rich mixtures lead to incomplete combustion which results in the release of less thermal energy.
Engine Load
The cycle pressure increases when the engine output is increased. With the increased throttle
opening the cylinder gets filled to a higher density. This results in increased flame speed.
Factors Influencing The Flame Speed
Compression Ratio
A higher compression ratio increases the pressure and temperature of the working mixture, which
reduces the initial preparation phase of combustion and hence less ignition advance is needed.
Thus engines having higher compression ratios have higher flame speeds.
Engine Size
The size of the engine does not have much effect on the rate of flame propagation.
In large engines the time required for complete combustion is more because the flame has to travel a
longer distance.
This requires increased crank angle duration during the combustion. This is one of the reasons why
large sized engines are designed to operate at low speeds.
Stages of Combustion in SI Engines
Afterburning
Combustion does not terminate after the flame front covers the whole
combustion chamber
After this point afterburning continues for a long time near the walls and
behind the turbulent flame front.
The combustion rate in this stage reduces due to surface of the flame front
becoming smaller and reduction in turbulence.
About 10% heat is evolved in after-burning stage.
Difficult to quantify this stage because heat release rate is comparable to
heat loss process.
Spark Timing and MBT
28
Spark Timing
Spark timing relative to TC affects the pressure development and thus the
imep and power of the engine.
The overall burning angle is typically between 40 to 60o, depending on engine
speed.
Engine at WOT, constant
engine speed and A/F
motored
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Maximum Brake Torque Timing
If start of combustion is too early work is done against piston and if too late
then peak pressure is reduced.
The optimum spark timing which gives the maximum brake torque, called
MBT timing occurs when these two opposite factors cancel.
Engine at WOT, constant
engine speed and A/F
Effect of Engine Speed on Spark Timing
Recall the overall burn angle (90% burn) increases with engine speed, to
accommodate this you need a larger spark advance.
WOT
Fixed spark advance
Brake Torque
MBT
2600 rpm
N
Abnormal Combustion
• Normal Combustion: Combustion process which is initiated by only
spark plug in which the flame front propagate across the
combustion chamber in a uniformly manner at a normal velocity.
• Abnormal Combustion: Combustion process in which flame front
may be initiated by hot combustion chamber surface either prior to
or after spark ignition or a process in which a part or all of the
charge may be consumed at extremely high rate.
Abnormal Combustion
SI Engine Combustion
Normal Combustion Abnormal Combustion
Knock Surface ignition
Pre‐ignition Post‐ignition
The Phenomenon of Knock in SI Engines
Fig (a) shows the cross-section of the combustion chamber with flame advancing from the spark plug
location: Without knock.
Fig. (c) shows the combustion process with knock.
In the normal combustion the flame travels across the combustion chamber from A towards D.
The advancing flame front compresses the end charge BB’D farthest from the spark plug, thus raising
its temperature.
The temperature is also increased due to heat transfer from the hot advancing flame front.
Phenomenon of Knock in SI Engines
The temperature of the end charge had not reached its self-ignition temperature, the charge would
not auto-ignite and the flame will advance further and consume the charge BB’D. This is the normal
combustion process.
If the end charge BB’D reaches its auto-ignition temperature and remains at that temperature for
time duration longer than pre flame reactions, the charge will auto-ignite, leading to knocking
combustion.
When flame has reached the position BB’, the charge ahead of it has reached critical auto-ignition
temperature. During the pre flame reaction period if the flame front could move from BB’ to only CC’
then the charge ahead of CC’ would auto-ignite.
Because of the auto-ignition, another flame front starts traveling in the opposite direction to the main
frame front.
When the two flame fronts collide, a severe pressure pulse is generated.
The gas in the chamber is subjected to compression and rarefaction along the pressure pulse until
pressure equilibrium is restored.
This disturbance can force the walls of the combustion chamber to vibrate as the same frequency as
the gas.
This phenomenon is called knocking in SI engines.
Knocking Intensity
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Knocking
• Main actor in the auto‐ignition phenomena is the last portion of the unburned charge
• As the flame front proceeds, it raises the pressure and temperature of the remaining
portion of the unburned mixture.
• This charge may auto‐ignite and burn almost instantaneously.
In order to auto‐ignite, the last unburned portion of the charge
must reach and remain for a definite amount of the time above a
critical temperature which is dependent upon conditions of
pressure and density of the unburned charge
Effect of Engine Variables on Knock
• Engine Speed
• Compression ratio
• Surface/volume ratio
• Spark plug distance from cylindrical axis
• EGR
• Inlet pressure and temperature
• Fuel‐air ratio
• Wall temperature
• Charge motion
• Octane number
Effect of Engine Variables on Knock
Time factor
Increasing the flame speed or reducing the exposure of unburned charge to auto-ignition will reduce
knocking.
Increase in turbulence increase the flame speed and reduce time for auto-ignition of unburned charge
Increase in engine speed increase the turbulence and reduce knocking.
In larger engine flame require more time to travel across combustion chamber therefore it has greater
tendency of knocking.
Combustion chambers are made as spherical as possible to minimize length of flame travel.
Spark plug is centrally located in in combustion chamber to reduce flame travel.
Composition factor
Fuel-air ratio and octane number play important role to reduce knock.
Reaction rate and flame temperature are affected by fuel air ratio. Maximum tendency of knock takes
place for fuel-air ratio which gives minimum reaction time.
Higher octane number fuels have lower tendency for knocking.
Effect of Engine Variables on Knock
Density factors
Reducing the density of charge tends to reduce knocking.
Increase in compression ratio will increase the density of charge, which increases knocking
tendency of engine.
Reducing the amount of charge induced by throttling or by reducing supercharging will reduce
density.
Increase in inlet temperature of mixture makes compression temperature higher which
increase tendency to knock.
End gas should not be compressed against spark plug and exhaust valve as they are the hottest
parts.
Decrease in load of engine will decrease the temperature of cylinder.
Octane Number: Fuel Knock Scale
• To provide a standard measure of a fuel’s ability to resist knock, a scale has been
devised by 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.
• 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 fuel’s octane number is determined by measuring what blend of these two
hydrocarbons matches the test fuel’s knock resistance.
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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 (CFR) 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 Motor
Inlet temperature (oC) 52 149
Speed (rpm) 600 900
Spark advance (oBTC) 13 19-26
(varies with CR)
Coolant temperature (oC) 100
Inlet pressure (atm) 1.0
Humidity (kg water/kg dry air) 0.0036 - 0.0072
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.
• 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 Knock
Note the motor octane number is always lower 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 engine’s operating speed and load range.
