Basics of Engine Combustion

Prepared by: Dr. Brijesh Patel; Prof. Aatmesh Jain

 Introduction
 The key to the development of mankind was the discovery of
how to manage the combustion processes:
• To initiate combustion when required
• To control and apply the resulting fire
 There are three significant applications
• The generation of electric power
• The provision of heat for industrial processes and
• The provision of heat for comfortable living and control of
the built environment i.e. cooking food and keeping
habitable space warm etc.
 Basics of Combustion

Combustion
Products
Fuel Air CO2
CO
Carbon
Hydrogen
Sulfur
Oxygen
Nitrogen
+ Oxygen
Nitrogen
Water vapor
SO2
Residual O2
Ash
NOx
Water CO2 Water vapour

Fuel residue
Ash
Flue gas
 The Combustion Process
 The term combustion refers to the exothermic oxidation of a fuel, by air
or oxygen occurring at a sufficiently rapid rate to produce a high
temperature (heat), usually with the appearance of a flame (light)
 As most of the fuels contain carbon or carbon and hydrogen, the
combustion involves the oxidation of carbon to carbon dioxide and
hydrogen to water
 Sulphur, if present, is oxidized to oxides of sulphur while the mineral
matter forms the ash
 Combustion of complex fuels like coal:
When heated organic matter of coal is pyrolyzed, and then evolves as
volatile. The reaction between the char and oxygen is a gas-solid
heterogeneous reaction. The gaseous oxygen diffuses to, and into, the
char particle, being absorbed, and reacting on the pore surface of the
particle. Coal Coke (or Char) + Coal gas
The Combustion Process (Contd.)
 The combustion process is complete if all the combustible
components in the fuel are burned to completion
 The combustion process is complete if all the carbon in the
fuel burns to CO2, all the hydrogen burns to H2O , and all the
sulfur (if any) burns to SO2
 Insufficient oxygen (also insufficient time, insufficient mixing,
and dissociation) causes incomplete combustion, unburnt
fuel, C, H2, CO, or OH would be in the products.
 At ordinary combustion temperatures, nitrogen behaves as
an inert gas and does not react with other chemical elements.

Combustion
chamber
 The Combustion Process (Contd.)
 Complete combustion of a fuel is possible only in the presence
of an adequate supply of oxygen or air
 The minimum energy is required to ignite a fuel air mixture.
Ignition will take place only when the ignition energy balances
the heat loss by conduction
 In practice, excess oxidizers are supplied to ensure complete
combustion of the fuel
 Rapid fuel oxidation results in large amounts of heat
 Solid or liquid fuels must be changed to a gas before they will
burn
 Usually heat is required to change liquids or solids into gases
 Fuel gases will burn in their normal state if enough air is
present
 Various Types of Flame
Based on the mixing mode of the fuel and oxidizer they are classified as

(a) Premixed Flame:

Both fuel and oxidizer are mixed before the

actual combustion process

Example: Flames in Bunsen burner, LPG

cooking stove, Welding torch, Primus stove etc.

(b) Non Premixed (Diffusion) Flame:

Fuel and oxidizer are mixed in the region where

chemical reactions take place

Example: Candle flame, wick flame, burning of

wood etc.
 Various Types of Flame (Contd.)
Further flames are also classified as:

a) Stationary Flame: Eg. Cooking Stove

b) Propagating Flame: Eg. Engines

It can be further classified on the basis of fluid motion

character
• Laminar : Also known as stream lined flow, which usually occurs at low
Reynolds number (Re = ρVD/ μ). In laminar flow, molecular diffusion plays
an important role in mixing and transport process

• Turbulent : In contrast, mixing and transport

are mainly dominated by macroscopic
relative motion of eddies or lumps of fluids
in turbulent flow
Combustion in Compression
Ignition Engines

Liquid fuel
penetration
length

Nozzle

Prepared by: Dr. Brijesh Patel

 Introduction
 Fuel (at high velocity as one or more jets) is injected
into the cylinder toward end of compression stroke
 Fuel atomizes, vaporizes and mix with the high
temperature and pressure cylinder air
 Spontaneous ignition of portions of the mixture
occurs after a delay period of few crank angle
 Injection continues until the desired amount of fuel
has entered in the cylinder
 All the fuel has passed through each process
 Mixing of air with burned and burning fuel continues
through out the combustion and expansion processes
 Important Consequences
 There is no knock limit (Higher CR, boost etc. can be
used)
 Engine can be operated unthrottled (better part load
efficiency)
 Effective value of gamma over the expansion process is
higher
 Better thermal management during idling
 The excessive soot limits the fuel air ratio at maximum
engine to values 20% lean of stoichiometric (lower
maximum IMEP than equivalent gasoline engine)
 A short ignition delay is needed to control the maximum
cylinder gas pressure (Diesel-Knock)
 Various Diesel Combustion System
Indirect Injection (IDI) System:
Swirl pre-chamber and Turbulent pre-
chamber are main type of the system
Fuel is injected (~250 bar pressure,
higher than this will not help much) into a
small pre-chamber, which is connected to
the cylinder by a narrow opening
The initial combustion takes place in this
pre-chamber
This has the effect of slowing the rate of
combustion, which tends to reduce noise
This design has the advantage of less
noise and lower NOx, but typically suffers
from poorer fuel economy due to heat and
pumping losses Main Chamber

Glow plug is essentially required

Various Diesel Combustion System
Direct Injection (DI) System:
Fuel is directly injected (with higher
pressure; vary from 250 bar to 2200 bar)
into a combustion chamber on top of the
piston
Glow plug is not necessary. Some
designs may use glow plugs to improve
cold start-ability for extreme conditions
It offers very good fuel economy as
compared to IDI and SI engines, but
exhaust emissions (specially, NOx and
smoke) and noise are worse with the DI
engines
DI is more adaptable to design changes
for emission control
 Direct Injection System (Contd.)
 Direct injection (DI) systems have two design philosophies:
1) Low-swirl or quiescent designs
 These are characterized by having a shallow bowl in the piston,
a large number of holes in the injector and higher injection
pressures
 Mixing of air and fuel is mainly governed by injection
characteristics
 Bigger engines, having lower engine speed, tend to be of the
quiescent type
2) High-swirl design
 It has a deep bowl in the piston, a low number of holes in the
injector and moderate injection pressures
 Smaller engines, having higher speed, tend to be of the high-
swirl type
Quiescent chamber; Bowl-in-piston chamber and M-chamber????
 Phases of Direct Injection CI Combustion
There are four distinct phases:
 Ignition delay
 Rapid combustion (Premixed)
 Mixing-controlled (Diffusion) combustion
 Late combustion

Source:Heywood
 DI Combustion Stages
 Ignition Delay
 Period between start of injection to the start of
combustion
 Physical delay (injection characteristics,
atomization, vaporization, mixture formation etc.)
 Chemical delay (pre flame chemical reaction)

 Premixed combustion
 Fuel which has mixed with air within the
flammability limits during delay period burns
rapidly in few crank angle degree
 High heat release rates characteristics
 DI Combustion Stages (Contd.)
 Diffusion combustion
 The burning rate is controlled by the rate at
which mixture becomes available for the
burning
 Rate of burning is primarily controlled by the
fuel vapor-air mixing process
 Late combustion
 Heat release (from small fraction of remaining
fuel, soot and fuel-rich combustion product etc.)
continues at a lower rate well into the expansion
stroke
Combustion Characteristics – Understanding
Schematic of a Diesel Spray and Transport Process
In-cylinder Processes in CI Engine
Parameter Value
Fuel n-heptane
Intake 21% O2
Load 4.6 bar IMEP
Intake T 153°C
Intake P 1.80 bar
SOI -10° ATDC
Speed 1200 rpm
Engine rc 10.75
Window 100 mm diam
Framing 7200 fps
Effective Camera Gain 1
Filter 500 nm SWP
 High engine-out and tailpipe PM and NOx
emissions (3-way catalyst does not work)
 Peak thermal efficiency typically 40-45%,
full load range possible
Pollutant Formation

HC, CO

Source: Pickett et al. Prog Energ Combust, 2012

 NOx-PM Trade-off
This is a special characteristic of CI engine
combustion and is popularly known as

NOx / PM Trade-off
critical diesel
tuning
PM

NOx
Combustion Characteristics – Understanding
Lower initial comb. Temp.

NOx Fast comb.

reduction
PM reduction

PM reduction, Good
economy
RoHR

Deg CA Shortened diffusion combustion.

Concept of Low NOx-PM Formation

Low NOx-PM
Combustion
Regime

HC, CO

Source: Pickett et al. Prog Energ Combust, 2012

 Summary
 Combustion is very complex phenomena and complexity
increases when deal with the engine combustion
(because of time constraint) and specially with CI engine
(because of heterogeneous)
 Complete combustion is desired to produce less harmful
products
 Gasoline engine has homogenous combustion and has
pre-mixed, propagating, turbulent, unsteady flame
 Diesel engine has heterogeneous combustion and has
diffusion, propagating, turbulent, unsteady flame
 Both are having some advantages and disadvantages.
Even internal combustion engines are about 130 year old,
enormous space is there for innovation with IC engines
 SI Engine
Combustion
Prepared By
Aatmesh Jain
ARAI Academy
 Ignition Limit
• Ignition of charge is only possible within certain limits of
fuel-air ratio. Ignition limits correspond approximately to
those mixture ratios, at lean and rich ends of scale, where
heat released by spark is no longer sufficient to initiate
combustion
• For hydrocarbons fuel, the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio is
14.5:1 and hence the air fuel ratio limit must be about 30:1
and 7:1.
 SI Engines
• The fuel and air are homogeneously mixed together in the intake
system to form a combustible air-fuel mixture.
• Under normal operating conditions, combustion is initiated towards
the end of the compression stroke by the spark plug.
• Once the mixture is ignited, flame front appears and rapidly spreads
through the mixture. The flame propagation is caused by heat
transfer and diffusion of burning fuel molecules from the combustion
zone to the adjacent layers of unburnt mixture.
• The flame front is a narrow zone separating the fresh mixture from
the combustion products.
• In SI Engine with φ = 1.0, the flame speed is normally of the order of
40 cm/s. But it is maximum when mixture is slightly rich (1.1-1.2).
 SI Engines
• Combustion is dependent upon the rate of propagation
of flame front or flame speed.
• Flame Front – Boundary or front surface of the flame
which separates the fresh unburned charge from the
burnt charge.
• Flame Speed – the speed at which flame front travels
• Flame speed affects the combustion phenomenon,
pressure developed and power produced.
• Burning rate of mixture depends on the flame speed and
shape/contour of the combustion chamber.
 Stages of SI Combustion

Ideal P- θ Diagram for SI Engine

Entire P rise in Combustion chamber takes place at Constant Volume i.e. at TDC.
Stages of SI Combustion – Ricardo’s
Theory
I II III
A – Passage of Spark
B – Beginning of P rise
C – Maximum pressure

I – Ignition Lag
II – Flame Propagation
III – After Burning

Flame Development Angle - Δθd

Rapid Burning Angle - Δθb
 Explanation
1. Ignition Lag – Growth and Development of self propagating
nucleus of flame front takes place. This is a chemical process
depending upon both T and P, nature of fuel, exhaust residual gas,
rate of reaction etc. 0.001 to 0.003 sec.
2. Flame Propagation – It is a Physical stage. The flame front gets
propagated in the cc at nearly a constant velocity. The rate of P
rise is proportional to rate of heat release because during this
stage, cc volume remains practically constant. Rate of heat release
depends on turbulence and mixture composition. Heat transfer to
cylinder wall is low because only a small part of the burning
mixture comes in contact with the cylinder wall during this period.
3. After Burning – In this stage, flame velocity reduces. The rate of
combustion becomes low due to lower flame velocity and reduced
flame front surface. No P rise during this stage, expansion stroke.
SI Engine Combustion Process:
Pictorial Description

Source: Dr. M. Zahurul Haq, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET

Source: Dr. M. Zahurul Haq, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET
 Explanation
• Volume fraction en-flamed (Vf /V) curves rise more sharply
than mass fraction (xb). In the large part, this is due to u ≃ 4b.
• Flame development and propagation vary, cycle- by-cycle:
shape of P – θ, Vf/V − θ & xb − θ curves for each cycle differ
significantly.
• Three key factors to influence the cycle-by-cycle variation:
– Variation in gas motion in the cylinder during combustion,
– Variation in the amounts of fuel, air, and recycled exhaust
gas.
– Variation in mixture composition within the cylinder each
cycle - especially near the spark plug - due to variations in
mixing between air, fuel, recycled exhaust gas, and residual
gas.
 Flame Front Propagation
• For efficient flame front, rate of
propagation of flame front within
the cylinder is quite critical.
1. Reaction rate – it is a purely a
chemical process due to rate of
chemical reaction between C-H
and O of fuel.
2. Transposition rate – due to
physical movement of the flame
front relative to the cylinder wall
and is also the result of P diff
between the unburned and
burnt gases in the cc.
 Flame Development
Flame development angle Dqd – crank angle interval during which flame
front develops after spark ignition. Cylinder mass (≃ 10%) has burned.
Rapid burning angle Dqb – crank angle required to burn most of mixture (xb
= 10 – 90%)
Overall burning angle - sum of flame development and rapid burning angles
 Heat Release Model
Characteristic features of the
heat release curve of a SI
engine are initial small slope
region beginning with spark
ignition, followed by a region
of rapid growth, and then a
more gradual decay. The
pattern is generally
represented by a Wiebe
function:

a and n are experimental factors.

a = 5 & n = 3 have been reported to fit well with
experimental data
 Heat Losses During Burn
During combustion the cylinder volume is very narrow.

Heat loss to the piston and cylinder head is very important

In order to reduce the heat loss, burn time (s) to be small (high flame velocity)
accomplished by either increasing
a) laminar burning velocity, or
b) turbulence intensity.

Highest laminar burning velocity is achieved for slightly rich mixtures (for
isooctane maximum Sl = 26.3 cm/s at f = 1.13
 Spark Timing
Spark timing relative to TDC affects the pressure development and thus the
imep and power of the engine.

Want to ignite the gas before TDC so as to center the combustion around TDC.

The overall burning angle is typically between 40 to 60o, depending on engine

speed.

Engine at WOT, constant

engine speed and A/F

motored
 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
Mixture Burn Time vs Engine Speed
How does the flame burn all the mixture in
the cylinder at high engine speeds?

Engine
Speed Piston
Speed Turbulent
Intensity Turbulent
Burning
Velocity

Combustion duration in crank angles only increases

a small amount with increasing engine speed.
Factors Affecting the Flame Speed
Turbulence

• Additional physical intermixing of burned and unburned particles at the

flame front.
• Flame speed increases with increase in turbulence.
• It increases rate of reaction by increasing the rate of contact (mixing).
• Turbulence in incoming mixture can be generated- design modifications.
• Minute swirl turbulence is better than large swirl turbulence, as the rate of
contact is higher in former.
• It increases the heat flow to the cylinder wall.
• Spark advance can be reduced.
• Helps in burning lean mixtures.
• Reduces the combustion duration, and hence minimizes the tendency of
abnormal combustion.
• Excessive turbulence may extinguish the flame.
Air/Fuel Ratio

• Highest flame velocity is obtained with slightly richer mixture

i.e. minimum time for complete combustion.
• When the mixture is made leaner, time for complete
combustion increases i.e. flame speed reduces, due to less
thermal energy released which results in low flame
temperature.
• Very rich mixture leads to incomplete combustion which
leads to less thermal energy.
Engine Speed

• On increasing the engine speed, turbulence inside the

engine cylinder also increases which further increase the
flame speed.
• Flame speed increases almost linearly with engine speed.
Flame Speed

Engine Speed
Temperature
& Pressure

• Flame speed increases with increase in T and P.

• A higher initial pressure and temperature may help to form a
better homogenous air-fuel mixtures which helps in
increasing the flame speed.
Compression
Ratio

• A high CR increases the pressure and temperature of the

working mixture which reduce the initial preparation phase of
combustion and hence less ignition advance is needed.
• High p and T also speed up the second phase of
combustion.
• Increased CR also reduces the clearance volume and
therefore increases the density of cylinder gases during
combustion.
• This increase in peak P and T and total combustion duration
is reduced.
• Thus engines having higher CR have higher flame speeds.
Engine Output

• The cycle pressure increases when the engine output is

increased. This results in increased flame speed.
• When the output is decreased by throttling, the initial and
final compression pressure also decreases, which reduces
flame speed and the smooth development of flame front
becomes unsteady and difficult.
 COMBUSTION
• Normal Combustion – when the flame
travels evenly or uniformly across the
combustion chamber.
• Abnormal Combustion – when the
combustion gets diverted from the normal
behaviour resulting in loss of performance
and damage to the engine.
 Abnormal Combustion
Knocking Surface Ignition
 Abnormal Combustion
Knocking

• Knock is the “auto-ignition” of

the portion of fuel, air and
residual gas mixture ahead
of the advancing flame, at
the end of compression
stroke.

Cylinder Pressure (MPa)

Normal Combustion Knock

Normal Combustion Knock
 Abnormal Combustion
Knocking

Factors:
• Self Ignition Temperature – High
• Ignition Lag Period – High
Piston damage by Knock
Effects:
• Severe pressure pulse is generated.
• Vibration and noisy operation.
• Increased loss of heat.
• Loss of power.
• Life of engine components reduces.
 Abnormal Combustion
Surface Ignition

• Surface ignition is ignition of the fuel-air charge by hot spots

(overheated valves, spark plugs, heated Carbon deposits,
etc.)
• It is ignition by any source other than the spark plug.
• It may occur before the spark plug ignites the charge
(pre-ignition) or after normal ignition (post-ignition).
• It may produce a single flame or many flames.
• Surface ignition may result in knock.
After –Run
Mega knock Dieseling
Run-on
 Causes
Pre-ignition
• Carbon deposits form a heat barrier and can be a
contributing factor to pre-ignition.
• A sharp edge in the combustion chamber or on top of a
piston (rounding sharp edges with a grinder can eliminate
this cause)
• Sharp edges on valves that were reground improperly (not
enough margin left on the edges).
• An engine that is running hotter than normal due to a
cooling system problem (low coolant level, slipping fan
clutch, inoperative electric cooling fan or other cooling
system problem).
• Auto-ignition of engine oil droplets.
• Insufficient oil in the engine.
Effect of Engine Variable on
Knock
Temperature Compression Ratio
Factors
Inlet Temperature of
mixture

Density Factors Temperature of

Combustion Chamber

Power Output of
Time Factors Engine

Spark Advance
Composition
Factors Supercharging /
Turbocharging
Effect of Engine Variable on
Knock
Temperature
Compression Ratio
Factors
Mass of inducted
Density Factors Charge

Inlet Temperature
of mixture
Time Factors
High Load Demand

Composition Supercharger /
Factors Turbocharger
Effect of Engine Variable on
Knock
Temperature
Turbulence
Factors
Engine Speed
Density Factors
Flame Travel
Distance

Engine Size
Time Factors
Combustion
Chamber Shape
Composition
Location of Spark
Factors Plug
Effect of Engine Variable on
Knock
Temperature
Factors

Density Factors Air-Fuel Ratio

Octane Number
Time Factors
Humidity of
entering air
Composition Molecular
Factors Structure
Anti Knock additives
 Engine
Emissions

Exhaust Non-exhaust
Emissions Emissions

Unburnt Hydrocarbons (HC) Fuel Tank Losses

Oxides of Carbon (CO and CO2) Carburettor Losses

NOx and SOx Crankcase Losses

Particulates
Soot and Smoke
Effect of Equivalence Ratio on Emission
Thanks
