NORMAL

AND
ABNORMAL
COMBUSTION
IN
SI ENGINE
 COMBUSTION
• COMBUSTION MAY BE DEFINED AS A
RELATIVELY RAPID CHEMICAL
COMBINATION OF HYDROGEN AND
CARBON IN THE FUEL WITH THE
OXYGEN IN THE AIR, RESULTING IN
LIBERATION OF ENERGY IN THE FORM
OF HEAT.
 NORMAL COMBUTION

• THE COMBUSTION OF THE ENTIRE

MIXTURE, LAYER BY LAYER OF MOVING
FLAME IS CALLED NORMAL
COMBUSTION IN A S.I. ENGINE.
Explanation
1. In a S.I. engine a single intensely high
temperature spark passses across the
electrodes, leaving behind a thin thread of
flame.
2. Thin thread, combustion spreads to the
envelope of mixture immediately
surrounding it at a rate which depends
primarily upon the temperature and the
density of the surrounding envelope.
3. The mixture abstracts the heat from hot
cylinder, piston and valves during suction
and compression.
4. In the actual engine cylinder, the mixture
is not at rest but is in highly turbulent
condition.
5. The turbulence breaks the filament of a
flame into a ragged front, thus presenting a
far greater area of surface from which heat
is being radiated and advances rapidly.
6. The flame has a definite front or boundry
called “flame front”.
7.These reactions are known as preflame
reactions.
8. The flame front separates the burned
charge from unburnt mixture.
9. Chain reactions result in formation of
compounds like peroxides, aldehydes,
carbon monoxides.
10. The speed with which the flame front
travels affects combustion phenomena,
development of pressure and production of
power.
11. The mass rate burning of the mixture
depends upon the flame velocity and the
shape or contour of combustion chamber.
12. Mass rate decides the rate of pressure
rise in the engine cylinder.
13. The time between mixture ignition and
complete combustion is roughly “two
milliseconds”.
FACTORS AFFECTING FLAME
VELOCITY
1. Inlet pressure and temperature
conditions.
2. Turbulence prevailing and temprature
conditions.
3. Engine speed.
4. Residual gas content.
5. Compression Ratio.
6. Spark timing.
7. Mixture strength.
1. The flame propagation velocity ranges
from 10 to 40m/sec.
2. The avg. velocity is about 25m/sec
depending upon the character of turbulence.
 FACTORS AFFECTING
COMBUSTION IN A SI ENGINE
1. Mixture strength, atmopheric humidity.
2. Inlet conditions.
3. Size of the cylinder bore
4. Ignition timing
5. Position of spark plug
6. Velocity of the fresh charge through the
inlet.
7. Presence of the hotspot in the combustion
chamber.
 ABNORMAL COMBUSTION

KNOCK is the term used to describe a

pinging noise emitted from a SI engine
undergoing abnormal combustion.
The noise is generated by shock waves
produced in the cylinder when unburned gas
auto-ignites.