Chapter two

Performance and operating

characteristics of IC Engine
Geometric parameters
 The performance of the internal
combustion engine is
characterized with several
geometric and thermodynamic
parameters
 The following geometric
parameters are of particular
interest: bore(B), connecting rod
length (l), crank radius (a),
stroke (S) and crank angle (ө)
 For any single cylinder, the
cranks shaft, connecting rod,
piston, and head assembly can
be represented by the
mechanism shown to the left
Cont’d
 The top dead center TDC of an
engine refers to the crankshaft
being in a position such that ө=00.

 The volume at TDC is minimum

and is often called the clearance
volume Vc

 The bottom dead center (BDC)

refers to the crankshaft being at
ө=1800, the volume at BDC is
maximum and often denoted by
VT

 The difference between the VT and

Vc is the displacement volume Vd
 Cont’d
❑ The engine capacity:

n=number of cylinder
S=stroke
B=bore diameter
𝑉𝑑 =cylinder swept volume
Cont’d


Cont’d


Volume of a cylinder at a crank angle θ
 Cont’d

 The volume of cylinder at a given crank angle:

 Cont’d

❑ If crank angle is measured from BDC in

CCW direction
Cont’d
The Energy Flow
The Energy Flow
 Cont’d

The Energy Flow through the engine is expressed in 3

distinct terms:

❑ Indicated Power
❑ Brake Power
❑ Friction Power
 Mechanical Efficiency

❑ Mechanical efficiency is defined as the ratio of brake

power (delivered power) to the indicated power
(power provided to the piston) or can be defined as
the ratio of the brake thermal efficiency to the
indicated thermal efficiency.
 Sample Problem -1

1. Determine the engine capacity, swept

volume and compression ratio for 35cm x
45cm, 4-stroke, , 8-cylinder diesel engine if
the clearance volume is 15cc.
2.The mechanical efficiency of a four-cylinder
four-stroke engine is 80%.The frictional
power is estimated to be 40 kW. Calculate the
indicated power (Ip) and brake power (bp)
developed by the engine.
 Indicator Diagram

An indicator diagram is a graph that shows the relationship

between the pressure and volume of a cylinder in an
engine. They are two diagrams namely:
❑ Theoretical indicator diagram and
❑ Actual indicator diagram.
Theoretical Indicator Diagram
Actual indicator diagram
 Cont’d

❑ The indicated work per cycle can be obtained by integrating around the
curve. The engine Cycle can be called Indicator diagram.
 1-inlet valves open
 1-2 suction stroke
 2-inlet valve close
 2-3 compression stroke
 3 Injection begins
 4-injection end
 4-5 expansion stroke
 5 – exhaust valve open
 5-6 exhaust stroke
 6- exhaust valve close
 Gross Indicated Work

❑ The upper loop of the engine cycle of the indicator diagram, the
compression and power strokes, where output work is generated is
called the gross indicated work.
 Pump work

❑ The lower loop, which includes the intake and exhaust is called pump
work and absorbs energy from the engine.
❑ Wide-Open Throttle (WOT) Engine operated with throttle valve fully
open when maximum power and/or speed is desired.
 Indicated Work at Part Throttle

❑ At WOT the pressure at the intake valve is just below atmospheric

pressure, however at part throttle the pressure is much lower than
atmospheric
 Indicated Work with
Supercharging/Turbocharged

❑ Engines with superchargers or turbochargers can have intake

pressures greater than the exhaust pressure, giving a positive pump
work. Supercharges increase the net indicated work but is a parasitic
load since they are driven by the crankshaft.
Work during engine cycle
 Indicated power

❑ The main power generated in the engine cylinder is called indicated power
(I.P.).Basically a indicator is used to measure this power, that is why it's name
is indicated power.
Cont’d
 Brake power

❑ The term brake power, Pb, is used to specify that the power is measured at
the output shaft, this is the usable power delivered by the engine to the load.
 Cont’d

❑ The value of N- : The number of power strokes per

minute depends on whether the engine is two-stroke or
four-stroke:
✓ Two-stroke engine: (n=N)
✓ Four-stroke engine: (n=N/2)
 Engine Performance Parameters

❑ The performance of the engine depends on inter-relationship between

power developed, speed and the specific fuel consumption at each
operating condition within the useful range of speed and load.
❑ IC engine should generally operate with in a useful Range of speed.
Some engines are made to run at Fixed speed by means of a speed
governor which is its rated speed. The power output varies with speed
and specific fuel consumption.
 Engine performance definitions

Absolute Rated Power: The highest power which the engine could
develop at sea level with no arbitrary limitation on speed, fuel-air ratio
or throttle opening

Maximum rated power: The highest power an engine is allowed to

develop for short periods of operation.

Normal rated power: The highest power an engine is allowed to

develop in continuous operation.

Rated speed: The crankshaft rotational speed at which rated power is

developed
 Engine Performance Parameters

i. Indicated thermal efficiency (ηith)

ii. Brake thermal efficiency (ηbth)
iii. Mechanical efficiency (ηm)
iv. Volumetric efficiency (ηv)
v. Relative efficiency or Efficiency ratio (ηrel)
vi. Mean effective pressure (mep)
vii. Mean piston speed (sp)
viii. Specific power output (Ps)
ix. Specific fuel consumption (sfc)
x. Inlet-valve Mach Index (Z)
xi. Fuel-air or air-fuel ratio (F/A or A/F)
xii. Calorific value of the fuel (CV )
 Indicated thermal efficiency (ηith)

❑ Indicated thermal efficiency is the ratio of energy in

the indicated power, ip to the input fuel energy in
appropriate units.
 Brake thermal efficiency (ηbth)

❑ Brake thermal efficiency is the ratio of energy in the brake

power, bp, to the input fuel energy in appropriate units.
 Mechanical Efficiency (ηm )

❑ Mechanical efficiency is defined as the ratio of brake

power (delivered power) to the indicated power
(power provided to the piston) or can be defined as
the ratio of the brake thermal efficiency to the
indicated thermal efficiency.
 Volumetric efficiency (ηv)

❑ Volumetric efficiency is defined as the ratio of actual

volume flow rate of air into the intake system to the rate at
which the volume is displaced by the system.
 Relative efficiency or Efficiency ratio (ηrel)

❑ Relative efficiency or efficiency ratio is the ratio of thermal

efficiency of an actual cycle to that of the ideal cycle. The
efficiency ratio is a very useful criterion which indicates the
degree of development of the engine.
 Mean effective pressure (pm)

❑ Mean effective pressure is the average pressure inside the

cylinders of an internal combustion engine based on the
calculated or measured power output.
❑ For any particular engine, operating at a given speed and
power output, there will be a specific indicated mean
effective pressure,(imep), and a corresponding brake
mean effective pressure, (bmep). They are derived
from the indicated and brake power respectively.
Cont’d
 Cont’d

Where:
ip = indicated power (kW)
pim = indicated mean effective pressure (N/m2)
L = length of the stroke (m)
A = area of the piston (m2)
N = speed in revolutions per minute (rpm)
n = Number of power strokes
N/2 for 4-stroke and N for 2-stroke engines
K = number of cylinders
 Mean piston speed (sp)
❑ An important parameter in engine applications is the mean
piston speed, sp. It is defined as

sp = 2LN
❑ where L is the stroke and N is the rotational speed of the
crankshaft in rpm. It may be noted that sp is often a more
appropriate parameter than crank rotational speed for
correlating engine behavior as a function of speed.
❑ Resistance to gas flow into the engine or stresses due to the
inertia of the moving parts limit the maximum value of sp to
within 8 to 15 m/automobile engines operate at the higher
end and large marine diesel engine sat the lower end of this
range of piston speeds.
 Specific power output (Ps)

❑ Specific power output of an engine is defined as the

power output per unit piston area and is a measure
of the engine designer’s success in using the available
piston area regardless of cylinder size. The specific
power can be shown to be proportional to the
product of the mean effective pressure and mean
piston speed.

Specific power output :

 Specific fuel consumption (sfc)

❑ The fuel consumption characteristics of an engine are

generally expressed in terms of specific fuel consumption in
kilograms of fuel per kilowatt-hour. It is an important
parameter that reflects how good the engine performance
is. It is inversely proportional to the thermal efficiency of
the engine.

❑ Brake specific fuel consumption and indicated specific fuel

consumption, abbreviated as bsf c and isf c, are the specific
fuel consumptions on the basis of bp and ip respectively.
 Inlet-valve Mach Index (Z)

❑ In a reciprocating engine the flow of intake charge takes

place through the intake valve opening which is varying
during the induction operation. Also, the maximum gas
velocity through this area is limited by the local sonic
velocity. Thus gas velocity is finally chosen by the following
equation,
Cont’d
 Fuel-air or air-fuel ratio (F/A or A/F)

❑ The relative proportions of the fuel and air in the engine are very important from
the standpoint of combustion and the efficiency of the engine. This is expressed
either as a ratio of the mass of the fuel to that of the air or vice versa.
❑ In the SI engine the fuel-air ratio practically remains a constant over a wide
range of operation.
❑ In CI engines at a given speed the air flow does not vary with load; it is the fuel
flow that varies directly with load. Therefore, the term fuel-air ratio is generally
used instead of air-fuel ratio. A mixture that contains just enough air for
complete combustion of all the fuel in the mixture is called a chemically correct
or stoichiometric fuel-air ratio.
❑ A mixture having more fuel than that in a chemically correct mixture is termed
as rich mixture and a mixture that contains less fuel (or excess air) is called a
lean mixture. For most of the hydrocarbon fuels, the stoichiometric air-fuel
ratio is around 15:1. SI engines operate around this ratio during normal
operation. The air-fuel ratio for CI engines vary from 18:1 to 80:1 from full load
to no load.
❑ .
 Cont’d

❑ The ratio of actual fuel-air ratio to stoichiometric

fuel-air ratio is called equivalence ratio and is
denoted by φ
 Air-Fuel Ratio and Fuel-Air Ratio

❑The relative proportions of the fuel and air in the engine

cylinder are very important from the standpoint of
combustion and the efficiency of the engine.
❑ Air-Fuel ratio (AF) or Fuel-Air ratio (FA)describe the mixture
ratio of the charge.
 Calorific value of the fuel (CV )

❑ Calorific value of a fuel is the thermal energy released per

unit quantity of the fuel when the fuel is burned completely
and the products of combustion are cooled back to the
initial temperature of the combustible mixture. Other terms
used for the calorific value are heating value and heat of
combustion. Fuel Type Calorific Value(MJ/Kg)

Diesel 45.5

petrol 45.8

Biodiesel 37

Bioethanol 24
 Sample Problems - 2
1.In a four stroke single cylinder gas engine the indicated mean effective
pressure is 4600N/m2 , the brake power 9 kW, speed 250 rpm, mechanical
efficiency, ղm = 0.83, and bore to stroke ratio = 0.78. Calculate cylinder
diameter and mean piston speed.

2. A four stroke petrol engine delivers 56kW with a mechanical efficiency of

82%, the fuel consumption of the engine is 0.6 kg per brake power hour, and
the A/F ratio is 12:1.The heating value of the fuel is 41870 kJ/kg. Find: (a) i.p,
(b) f.p., (c)ղ𝑏𝑡ℎ , (d) ղ𝑖𝑡ℎ , (e) fuel consumption per hour, (f) air consumption
per hour.

3. The air flow to a four cylinder four – stroke engine is 2.15 m3 /min. During a
test on the engine the following data were recorded: Bore 10.5cm; stroke
12.5cm; engine speed 1200 rpm, torque 150 Nm., fuel consumption 5.5 kg/h,
calorific value of fuel, 43124 kJ/kg, ambient temperature and pressure are 20o
C and 1.03 bars. Calculate: the brake thermal efficiency, The brakes mean
effective pressure, The volumetric efficiency.
 Performance of SI engines

❑ The performance of an engine is usually studied by heat

balance-sheet. The main components of the heat balance
are :
✓ Heat equivalent to the effective (brake) work of the engine,
✓ Heat rejected to the cooling medium,
✓ Heat carried away from the engine with the exhaust gases,
and
✓ Unaccounted losses.
❑ The unaccounted losses include the radiation losses from the
various parts of the engine and heat lost due to incomplete
combustion.
❑ The friction loss is not shown as a separate item to the heat
balance-sheet as the friction loss ultimately reappears as heat
in cooling water, exhaust and radiation.
Energy vs Engine speed
Efficiency, Specific Fuel Consumption Vs
Speed
Variable Speed Test of Automotive SI Engine at Full
Throttle (CR = 9)
 Performance of CI engines

❑ As the efficiency of the CI engine is more than the SI engine the total
losses are less. The coolant loss is more at low loads and radiation, etc.
losses are more at high loads.
❑ The bmep, bp and torque directly increase with load. Unlike the SI
engine bhp and bmep are continuously raising curves and are limited
only by the load.
❑ The lowest brake specific fuel consumption and hence the maximum
efficiency occurs at about 80 percent of the full load.
❑ The maximum torque value is at about 70 percent of maximum speed
compared to about 50 percent in the SI engine. Also, the bsfc is low
through most of the speed range for the diesel engine and is better than
the SI engine.
Energy vs brake power vs engine speed
Cont’d
Cont’d
 IC Engine Testing and Measurements

❑ The basic measurements to be undertaken to evaluate

the performance of an engine on almost all tests are the
following :
✓ Speed
✓ Fuel consumption
✓ Air consumption
✓ Smoke density
✓ Brake horse-power
✓ Indicated horse power and friction horse power
✓ Heat going to cooling water
✓ Heat going to exhaust
✓ Exhaust gas analysis.
 Measurement of Speed

❑ One of the basic measurements is that of speed. A wide variety of speed

measuring devices are available in the market.
❑ A tachometer is a device that measures the rotational speed of a shaft
or disk, usually in revolutions per minute (RPM).
✓ Mechanical tachometer
✓ Digital tachometers
✓ Triggered electrical tachometers
❑ A mechanical tachometer or an electrical tachometer can also be used
for measuring the speed. The electrical tachometer has a three-phase
permanent-magnet alternator to which a voltmeter is attached. The
output of the alternator is a linear function of the speed and is directly
indicated on the voltmeter dial.
❑ The magnetic pick-up will produce a pulse for every revolution and a
pulse counter will accurately measure the speed.
 Cont’d

Mechanical and Optical Electrical DC Tachometer

 Fuel Consumption Measurement

❑ Fuel Consumption Measurement Fuel consumption is

measured in two ways :
(a) The fuel consumption of an engine is measured by
determining the volume flow in a given time interval
and multiplying it by the specific gravity of the fuel
which should be measured occasionally to get an
accurate value.
(b) Another method is to measure the time required for
consumption of a given mass of fuel.
 Cont’d

❑ IC Engine Testing As already mentioned two basic types of

fuel measurement methods are : Volumetric type and
Gravimetric type.
✓ Volumetric type flowmeter includes Burette method,
Automatic Burrette flowmeter and Turbine flowmeter.
✓ Gravimetric Fuel Flow Measurement The efficiency of an
engine is related to the kilograms of fuel which are
consumed and not the number of liters.
❑ There are three types of gravimetric type systems which are
commercially available include Actual weighing of fuel
consumed, Four Orifice Flowmeter, etc.
Cont’d

Flowmeters
 Measurement of Air Consumption

❑ In IC engines, the satisfactory measurement of air

consumption is quite difficult because the flow is pulsating,
due to the cyclic nature of the engine and because the air a
compressible fluid and these leads to severe errors.
❑ Pulsation produced errors are roughly inversely
proportional to the pressure across the orifice for a given
set of flow conditions.
❑ The various methods and meters used for air flow
measurement include
(a) Air box method, and
(b) Viscous-flow air meter.
 Measurement of Exhaust Smoke

❑ Measurement of Exhaust Smoke All the three widely used

smoke meters, namely, Bosch, Hartridge, and PHS are
basically soot density (g/m3 ) measuring devices, that is,
the meter readings are a function of the mass of carbon in
a given volume of exhaust gas.
❑ Hartridge smoke meter works on the light extinction
principle.
❑ The basic principles of the Bosch smoke meter is one in
which a fixed quantity of exhaust gas is passed through a
fixed filter paper and the density of the smoke stains on
the paper are evaluated optically.
❑ In Von Brand smoke meters, which can give a continuous
reading a filter tape is continuously moved at a uniform
rate to which the exhaust from the engine is feed.
 Cont’d

❑ Spectroscopic Analyzers • A spectrum shows the light

absorbed as a function of wavelength (or frequency). • Each
compound shows a different spectrum for the light absorbed. •
All the spectroscopic analyzers work on the principle that the
quantity of energy absorbed by a compound in a sample cell is
proportional to the concentration of the compound in the cell.
There are two types of spectroscopic analyzers.
❑ Dispersive Analyzers IC Engine Testing These analyzers use
only a narrow-dispersed frequency of light spectrum to
analyze a compound. These are usually not use for exhaust
emission measurements.
❑ Non-Dispersive Infra-red (NDIR) Analyzers
❑ Gas Chromatography
 Cont’d

Gas Analyzer and smoke meter

 Measurement of brake power

❑ To measure the brake power of an internal combustion (IC) engine, a

dynamometer is connected to the engine to apply a load and simulate real-
world conditions. The dynamometer then calculates the brake horsepower by
measuring the engine's rotational speed and the torque it exerts. Brake power is
the actual power available at the crankshaft, and it's always less than indicated
power.
❑ The brake power (briefly written as B.P.) of an IC Engine is the power available
at the crankshaft. The brake power of an I.C. engine is, usually, measured by
means of a brake mechanism (Prony brake or rope brake). N = Speed of the
engine in r.p.m.
 Blowby loss

❑ Blowby loss is the leakage of combustion products, such

as air, fuel, carbon dioxide, and vapor, from the cylinder to
the crankcase past the piston rings. Blowby can be caused
by a number of factors, including:
✓ Worn-out pistons and rings
✓ Improper pre-prep during a rebuild
✓ Detonation
✓ Overheating
✓ Lack of lubrication
✓ Rotation and speed of the rotating assembly
✓ Side, back, and end gap clearance
Cont’d
 Cont’d

❑ While some blowby is normal, too much can negatively impact engine
performance. Blowby can cause the following issues:
Condensation
When blowby combines with engine oil, it can create acids and sludge that
can harm other engine parts.
Unspent fuel
Unspent fuel can dilute oil's viscosity and lubricity, which can negatively
impact the valve train, cylinder walls, and engine bearings.
Reduced engine output
Too much tension on the rings can cause excessive drag and reduce
engine output.

❑ To reduce blowby, you can try: Adding a decarbonizer to the diesel

Using a flushing oil concentrate when completing an oil change.