61

Comparison of methods for the calculation of

mass fraction burnt from engine pressure-time
diagrams
C R Stone, MA, DPhil, CEng, MIMechE and D I Green-Armytage, BSc
Department of Manufacturing and Engineering Systems, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex

Calculations of the massfraction burnt as a function of time in a spark ignition engine have been made by two methods. The simple
method assumes that the mass fraction burnt is in proportion to the fraction of total pressure rise due to combustion.
The complex method assumes a two-zone combustion model, and computes the massfraction burnt that is required to give the observed
pressure rise for each 1" crank angle increment. The complex model allows for dissociation, variable gas properties and heat transfer
from the burnt and unburnt gases.
Notwithstanding the substantial differences between the two models, the results are in surprisingly close agreement. This can be
attributed to the fact that the temperature of the burnt gas remains nearly constant during combustion.

NOTATION The engine used in these tests was a Ricardo E6

a duration parameter in the Wiebe function engine fitted with a homogeneous mixture generator.
concentration of species i This enabled the effects of any variation in the mixture
ai preparation to be eliminated, and it also provided very
9 energy error function
k polytropic index close control on the air-fuel ratio. The use of a homo-
m shape parameter in the Wiebe function geneous mixture generator also facilitates the use of
n number of moles pure fuel components that would not vaporize satisfac-
P pressure torily in a conventional induction system.
molar gas constant The cylinder pressure is recorded digitally in real time
RO for every degree of crank angle rotation. A computer
SA surface area
T temperature logs the data and can store up to 300 successive cycles.
U internal energy The complete experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 1.
V volume
W work
X
e
00
A&
mass function burnt
crank angle
crank angle at ignition
combustion duration

Subscripts
1 beginning of a computational time step
Distributor

Spark
transducer
Charge
amplifier
and AID
converter

Iw
2 end of a computational time step
b burnt mixture
u unburnt mixture

1 INTRODUCTION
The analysis of engine pressure diagrams is important
for spark ignition engines; a convenient way of present-
ing the results is as mass fraction burnt as a function of
time. When engine pressure diagrams are analysed in
this way, the effects of cyclic dispersion can be seen on
the initial rate of combustion and on the subsequent
combustion processes. Combustion data from different
fuels can also be analysed to investigate the differences
in burn rate. This information is needed for future fuel
blends that cannot use lead additives to enhance the
octane rating.
The MS was received on 16 December 1985 and was accepted for publication on Fig. 1 Ricardo E6 engine with high-speed data acquisition
I S April 1986. system
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62 C R STONE AND D I GREEN-ARMYTAGE

I I
I
I !

-Cycle 2
_ _ _ Cycle 3
C Cycle 4
.E!
I
40 -..- Cycle 5
P
Y
E
F:
2
s 330
-J
L!
2
a
2 20

Crank angle
degrees
Fig. 2 Pressure-time diagram for five successive cycles
Fig. 3 Pressure rise attributed to combustion for the five
successive cycles shown in Fig. 2
The original form of data processing converted the
pressure-time data to mass fraction burnt-time data by
a simplified version of the method described by Rass-
weiler and Withrow (1). This simplified method has
been widely used, and is also the subject of a recent
paper by Dye (2). The steps in this method are as
follows:
1. Obtain the pressure-time data (Fig. 2).
-
$ 6 0
2. Determine the pressure rise due to combustion, as P
C
distinct from the pressure rise attributed to piston .-
motion (Fig. 3). t
8 s 50
3. Normalize the pressure rise data due to combustion 7 40
and assume that the fraction of total pressure rise is E
equal to the mass fraction burnt (Fig. 4); this also
assumes that the combustion is complete.
The data shown in Figs 2 to 4 refer to the results from
the same five successive cycles: the fuel was iso-octane
and the other conditions are as shown in Table 1.
2 i 6 8 10
Table 1 Test conditions Time after ignition
ms
Compression ratio 8: 1
Ignition advance (“BTDC) 22” Normalized pressure-time data for the five successive
Air-fuel ratio 14.54 : 1 cycles shown in Fig. 2
Speed (r/min) 1002.6
Power (kW) 3.62
Specific fuel consumption (kg/kW h) 0.288 which puk = constant. In the work by Rassweiler and
Knock level 0 Withrow (1) different values of the polytropic index k
Fuel Iso-octane were established for before and after combustion. For
the analysis used in producing Figs 3 and 4 a single
averaged value of k was used that had been evaluated
Figure 2 shows that the extent of cyclic dispersion or from the compression process, prior to the occurrence
variation is significant, which is also reflected in the of the ignition spark. Alternatively, the spark can be
variation in pressure rise due to combustion (Fig. 3). suppressed and the polytropic index can then be evalu-
The critical stage in this simple type of analysis is dis- ated over a longer period. Since the geometry of the
tinguishing between the pressure rise due to combustion engine is known, the polytropic index can then be used
and the pressure rise due to the piston motion. This is to determine the pressure rise due to the piston motion.
achieved by assuming that the compression and expan- The pressure rise due to piston motion is then sub-
sion processes can be treated as polytropic processes in tracted from the total pressure rise to give the pressure
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 COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR THE CALCULATION OF MASS FRACTION BURNT 63

rise attributable to combustion. This pressure rise is Since the objective of this work was to obtain mass
then normalized, and it is assumed that complete com- fraction burnt as a function of time from engine results,
bustion occurs. rather than a complete engine simulation, a different
There appear to be several weaknesses with this approach was adopted here.
approach. Firstly, the assumption that the polytropic
index remains constant during combustion is not valid 2.2 The two-zone model for analysing
because of: pressure-time data
1. The increased heat transfer, as a consequence of the The model described here is based around the pro-
higher temperatures during combustion, will tend to gram listed by Benson and Whitehouse (4) for spark
lower the value of k while the pressure is rising and ignition engine modelling. The Benson and Whitehouse
increase the value of k while the pressure is falling. model includes the effects of dissociation but ignores
2. The specific heat of capacity of the gases will be a heat transfer and assumes instantaneous combustion.
function of both the temperature and the varying The developments that will be described here include
composition; if the ratio of the specific heat capac- the addition of a heat transfer sub-routine and the input
ities changes then k will also change. of pressure-time data into a two-zone combustion
model, in order to compute the mass fraction burnt as a
Secondly, the assumption that the mass fraction burnt is function of time. To achieve this an iterative numerical
proportional to the percentage of total pressure rise due solution technique was used, based on an internal
to combustion may not be valid because: energy balance in the combustion chamber.
1. The total number of species present is varying during Referring to Fig. 5, the major assumptions in the two-
combustion. zone combustion model were as follows:
2. The significance of dissociation varies during com-
1. Two distinct zones are present during combustion,
bustion, and this influences the energy released per
namely the burnt and unburnt gases, separated by a
unit mass of fuel burnt and the number of species
present at any instant. thin flame front.
2. The pressure is constant across the combustion
Concern over these assumptions led to other chamber at any instant.
approaches being considered. 3. There are two temperatures in the combustion
chamber, one for the burnt gases and one for the
unburnt gases. Furthermore, there is assumed to be
2 COMPUTER COMBUSTION MODELLING an abrupt transition between these two temperatures
at the flame front.
2.1 Introduction 4. There is assumed to be no dissociation in the
The approach used by Heywood et al. (3) for the so- unburnt gases prior to combustion.
called zero-dimensional models is to assume that the 5. The polytropic index for the unburnt gases is
mass fraction burnt as a function of crank angle can be assumed to be constant throughout combustion, at
described by a simple analytical function, for example its value prior to ignition.
the Wiebe function :
x = 1 - erp{ - a(-)
O-Oo m+l ] Spark plug

A0b
9
where Burnt zone

x = mass fraction burnt

0 = crank angle
go = crank angle at the start of combustion
A0 = combustion duration (crank angle degrees) I Piston
a = duration parameter
rn = shape parameter
II
The shape parameter rn controls the rate of pressure rise
and the location of the points of inflection.
For a particular engine the parameters a and rn are I
determined by trial and error; the parameters are
adjusted until the pressure-time diagram produced by Pressure
the cycle simulation matches the experimental pressure- I
time diagram. Typical values of these parameters are
a = 5 and rn = 2. The advantage of having the com-
bustion defined by a simple analytical expression is that
the cycle simulation can then be run to predict the
engine performance under different operating condi-
tions. Such simulations are able to predict the output,
Temperature Tbt----+--__--__I
fuel consumption and engine emissions for different I
ignition timings, air-fuel ratios, throttle settings and
speeds. Fig. 5 Two-zone combustion model
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64 C R STONE AND D I GREEN-ARMYTAGE

6. The burnt and unburnt gases behave as semi-perfect of the mass fraction burnt and then to use this to esti-
gases. In other words, the gas law is assumed. This is mate the burnt gas zone temperature. The validity of
reasonable for the values of reduced pressure and the estimate is then established by conducting an energy
temperature that are encountered here. balance on the combustion chamber; the necessary
steps are shown in Fig. 6.
The operation of the model can now be described, The temperature of the unburnt gas is found from the
using the nomenclature defined in Fig. 5 for the burnt polytropic relation:
and unburnt zones, the subscripts 1 and 2 representing
the states at the beginning and end of a computational
time step.
For a typical computation, once combustion is under
way the following will be known: p , , p z , V,, , V,, , V, ,
TI,, Tlb. The temperature T of a gas enables its inter- The displacement work in each time stop is evaluated
nal energy U to be calculated from polynomial expan- by
sions, assuming that the composition is known. The
principle in the following scheme is to make an estimate

Step number
(as referred

I Begin

Calculate the number of kilomoles of burnt fuel from the

to in
Section 2.2)

estimate of mass fraction burnt, frac.

Hence calculate the number of kilomoles of unburnt fuel,
knowing the total amount of fuel, wstart.
Calculate the number of kilomoles of unburnt mixture, n Z u

I Hence calculate the volume of the unburnt zone using I

p 2 v 2 u = n2uRoTzu.
Calculate the volume of the burnt zone as v,b = v2 - v2,
1
Calculate the number of kilomoles of burnt mixture, n Z h ,
by summing the values for the different species.
Hence calculate the burnt zone temperature TZbusing
p 2 '?h = n2hR0T2h

Call DISSOC to
recalculate the
I
burnt gas
composition Use existing values for the burnt gas cornposition,
given by the values a ( i ) ,i = 1 to 6 4
I

Calculate the internal energies in the burnt and unburnt 5

zones, UZb and U 2 , respectively
in the main
I routine
t
Calculate the burnt and unburnt zone wall surface areas
from the total wall surface area and the volumes V,, and VZb.
Hence use the Eichelberg equation to calculate the heat transfers
dQ,, and dQh and hence the total dQ = dQ, + dQh

Apply the first law to the whole chamber to find the

change in internal energy d U as d U = dQ - dW

function g ( b ) corresponding to the estimate of mass

fraction burnt passed into the routine (labelled 'frac' in
+
the program), given by g(frac) = U , d U - U 2 , - U2,

b Return

Fig. 6 Flow diagram for determining the mass fraction burnt

Roc Instn Mech Engrs Vol201 No D1 Q IMechE 1987

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 COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR THE CALCULATION OF MASS FRACTION BURNT 65

The ratio of the burnt and unburnt gas wall surface complicated correlations require more engine-specific
areas are assumed to be in the following ratio: coefficients, and while this can make the model more
accurate, the necessary experimental heat transfer mea-
SA
by(;) 2/3
surements were not available to validate the model. The
SAU data input required by the model is shown in Table 2.
If the absolute value of the internal energy error func-
tion g is less than a required accuracy, then assume that Table 2 Data input required by the two-zone com-
an energy balance has been achieved, store the property bustion model
values and proceed to the next step. If the necessary Engine data Bore, stroke, ratio of conrod length to
accuracy has not been achieved, the estimate of total crank radius, compression ratio, engine
mass fraction burnt is improved using the method of speed
Fuel data Internal energy polynomial coefficients,
false position, and the iteration returns to the first step composition, air-fuel ratio, mixture mass
in Fig. 6. flowrate
The steps described here include several assumptions Test data Ignition timing, inlet temperature,
and approximations. The polytropic index k is assumed pressuretime data
Other data Step sizes, iteration accuracies, number
to be constant at its value prior to ignition for the of cycles to be simulated, mean
unburnt gas zone only. This contrasts with the simple combustion chamber wall temperature
method described in Section 1, where k is assumed to be
constant for both the burnt and unburnt zones.
However, it is the third step that is most critical, 3 DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
because of the interdependence of the temperature of
the burnt gas and the amount of dissociation. The most The mass fraction burnt as a function of time as com-
accurate values of T2b and n2b would be found by iter- puted by the two-zone combustion model is shown in
ating between steps 3 and 4 for convergence on each Fig. 7. This figure was computed from the same data as
occasion. However, since the dissociation calculations were used for Fig. 4 and the similarities are quite
are very lengthy this would lead.to an excessive compu- remarkable. This similarity is demonstrated in Table 3,
tation time.
Instead, it was hypothesized that the temperature of Table 3 Comparison of the times (ms), computed by the
the burnt gas would not change significantly between simple model and the two-zone combustion model,
the time steps, and consequently dissociation would not for the specified mass fractions to be burnt
vary much either. Furthermore, due to the simple Mass Simple model Two-zone combustion model
nature of the dissociation reactions that were con- fraction
sidered, the total number of kilomoles of burnt gas (nzb) burnt (YO) 10 50 90 10 50 90
is only slightly dependent on the degree of dissociation. Cycle 1 3.66 5.98 7.65 3.71 6.10 8.00
Figure 6 shows that the dissociation sub-routine Cycle 2 3.49 5.49 7.65 3.54 5.67 7.86
(DISSOC) was not called for every iteration of the mass Cycle 3 3.66 5.65 6.65 3.57 5.60 6.75
fraction burnt. Prior to a specified mass fraction being Cycle 4 3.32 5.15 6.48 3.35 5.24 6.73
Cycle 5 3.49 5.98 7.31 3.58 6.00 7.59
burnt the dissociation routine would be called for each
mass fraction iteration, but subsequently the disso-
ciation routine was only called once during each time
step. When the results from the model are discussed, it
will be seen that the assumption of a slow change in the
burnt mixture temperature was reasonable.
The dissociation sub-routine (DISSOC) considers the
equilibrium compositions for the oxidation of carbon
monoxide and the so-called water-gas reaction :
co +3O2=co2
CO + H , O e C O , + H,
No account is taken of any reaction rates since these are
sufficiently fast for equilibrium to be assumed if the only
consideration is an energy balance. However, the reac-
tion rates are significant if the engine exhaust emissions
are to be considered. In a three-zone combustion model
the thermal boundary layer around the burnt gas would
be treated separately. Again this was not necessary here,
since no account was to be taken of emissions, such as
unburnt hydrocarbons.
The heat transfer was evaluated using the Eichelberg Time after ignition
(5) correlation to give the total heat flux at any instant. ms
While more sophisticated correlations exist, for example Fig. 7 Mass fraction burnt as a function of time calculated
Annand (6) includes a radiation term, the Eichelberg by the two-zone combustion model for the five suc-
correlation has the advantage of simplicity. The more cessive cycles also shown in Fig. 4
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66 C R STONE AND D I GREEN-ARMYTAGE

1.o I I

_ _ - - _--__
-- --
______ Cycle I
-Cycle 2
_-- Cycle 3
Cycle 4
_..- Cycle 5

-4-
I I I
0 2:5 5:O 7:5 10.0 12.5 15.8 17.5 20.0 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time after ignition
Time after ignition
ms ms
Fig.8 Data of Fig. 7 plotted on an extended time scale to Fig. 10 Two-zone combustion model with heat transfer s u p
show the invariance of the mass fraction burnt during pressed for the five successive cycles shown in Fig. 2
the expansion stroke

where the times for 10, 50 and 90 per cent mass fraction of 10-90 per cent of the mass fraction. Consequently,
burnt are compared for the two methods, the average the effects of dissociation are going to be almost
difference between these times being 2.18 per cent. uniform during the major part of combustion.
In Fig. 7 the mass fraction burnt is always close but Furthermore, the heat transfer per unit mass of burnt
slightly below unity; this could be accounted for by gas will also be nearly constant during this period.
piston blowby and unburnt hydrocarbons in the Unfortunately the computed temperatures cannot be
exhaust. Unlike Fig. 4, these results have not been nor- compared with any experimental data, but if the heat
malized; nor is there the same 'fall-off during the flux from the combustion chamber is integrated over
expansion stroke. This is clearly shown in Fig. 8 where the complete cycle, then the heat rejection is found to be
the expansion stroke has been modelled for an extended comparable with the engine power output.
period. The explanation for the similarities between the two
An explanation for the similarity in results from the models is also supported by the results obtained from
two models is provided by Fig. 9, which shows the tem- the two-zone model when the heat transfer and disso-
peratures of the burnt and unburnt gases computed by ciation routines are suppressed (Figs 10 and 11
the two-zone combustion model. The temperature of respectively). In each case the maximum mass fraction
the burnt gas is almost constant during the combustion burnt is about 90 per cent. The pressure rise that occurs

r
I ' I I I

__ Unburnt
2500- ---- Burnt

2000-
d
1500-

1000-

200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Crank angle
degrees

Fig. 9 Temperatures of the burnt and unburnt gases during the cycle for cycle 1
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 COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR THE CALCULATION OF MASS FRACTION BURNT 61

I .o I fer allowed), a smaller mass of fuel being burnt accounts

for the observed pressure rise. If the results in Figs 10
and 11 are normalized, the times for combustion of 10,
0.8
50 and 90 per cent of the mass fraction to be burnt can
be found; these times are given in Table 4. There is
again a reassuring consistency with the results shown in
E Table 3. The average difference between the results with
3 0.6 and without heat transfer is 1.74 per cent, while the
-
c
.-0
0
&
average difference between the results with and without
dissociation is 0.88 per cent.
0.4
z 4 CONCLUSIONS
The two-zone combustion model provides additional
0.2 information about the combustion process in a spark
ignition engine. However, the results for the mass frac-
tion burnt as a function of time hardly differ from the
0
results obtained from a much simpler model, in which
2 4 6 8 the effects of dissociation, heat transfer, varying com-
Time after ignition
position and varying specific heat capacities are not
ms
considered. The explanation for the similarity in the
results seems to be that the temperature of the burnt
Fig. 11 Two-zone combustion model with dissociation sup- gases is approximately constant during the major part
pressed for the five successive cycles shown in Fig. 2 of the combustion of the air/fuel mixture, thus leading
to the effects of dissociation and heat transfer also being
in the engines is a result of the chemical energy of the uniform during the major part of combustion.
fuel being converted to the internal energy of the burnt
gas. If the heat transfer from the cylinder contents is
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
taken to be zero, then a smaller mass of fuel needs to be
burnt, to account for the observed pressure rise. Simi- The authors wish to thank the BP Research Centre and
larly, if the model is made to assume complete com- Mr F. Palmer and Mr P. Whiteman in particular for
bustion by suppressing the dissociation routine, then a useful discussions and the generous provision of experi-
unit quantity of fuel will release more chemical energy mental data.
during combustion. Thus, as before (with no heat trans-
REFERENCES
Table 4 Comparison of the times (ms) computed by the
two-zone combustion model with: (a) no heat 1 Rassweiler, G. M. and Withrow, L. Motion pictures of engine
transfer and (b) no dissociation for the specified flames correlated with pressure cards. SAE paper 800131 (originally
nomalized mass fractions to be burnt presented in January 1938), 1980.
2 Dye, A. New approach to combusion analysis. Automot. Engr, 1985,
Two-zone combustion model 11(1), 32-35.
3 Heywood, J. B., Higgins, J. M., Watts, P. A. and Tabazymki, R. J.
No heat transfer No dissociation Development and use of a cycle simulation to predict SI engine
Normalized mass efficiency and NO, emissions. SAE paper 190291,1979.
fraction burnt 1%) 10 50 90 10 50 90 4 Benson, R. S. and Whitehouse, N. D. Internal Combustion engines
Cycle 1 3.66 5.99 1.74 3.12 6.09 1.90 1976 (Pergamon Press, Oxford).
Cycle 2 3.50 5.56 7.60 3.55 5.65 1.14 5 Eicbelberg, G. Some new investigations on old combustion engine
Cycle 3 3.54 5.52 6.58 3.51 5.55 6.62 problems. Engng, 1939,148,547-548.
Cycle 4 3.32 5.15 6.45 3.35 5.20 6.56 6 Annnld, W. J. D. Heat transfer in the cylinders of reciprocating
Cycle 5 3.49 5.89 7.35 3.51 5.93 1.43 internal combustion engines. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, 1963, 177
(36), 973-990.

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