Aircraft Piston Engine Operation Principles

and Theory

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 How a piston engine operates

• Each piston is inside a cylinder,

into which a gas is created
heated inside the cylinder by
ignition of a fuel air mixture at
high pressure (internal
combustion engine).
• • The hot, high pressure gases
expand, pushing the piston to
the bottom of the cylinder
(BDC) creating Power stroke.

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 • The piston is returned to the cylinder top (Top
Dead Centre) either by the power, the throws
and/or from other pistons connected to the
same shaft.
• In most types the "exhausted" gases are
removed from the cylinder by this stroke.
• This completes the four strokes of a 4-stroke
engine also representing 4 legs of a cycle.

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 • The linear motion of the piston is converted to
a rotational motion via a connecting rod and a
crankshaft.
• A throw used to ensure continued smooth
rotation (i.e. when there is no power stroke).
Multiple cylinder power strokes act as a
flywheel.

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 • The more cylinders a reciprocating engine has,
generally, the more vibration-free (smoothly) it
can operate.

• The aggregate power of a reciprocating engine

is proportional to the volume of the combined
pistons displacement.

• The compression ratio is the ratio of the piston

displacement plus combustion chamber space
to the combustion chamber space, however is
limited by the fuel grade used.

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 • Power is defined as the rate of doing work thus:

POWER = WORK/TIME = (FORCE.DISTANCE) / TIME

POWER = FORCE X VELOCITY
HORSEPOWER = (FORCE X VELOCITY) / 550

Where
1 Horsepower = 550 ft.lb/sec =33 000 ft.lb/min

Cylinder:
• Volume= Area (bore)x height (Length)
• A = πr2 where r is the radius of the cylinder thus
equal to r = d/2
• Total V = V x n (number of cylinders)

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 Since the cylinder pressure varies during the operating cycle, an
average pressure (line AB) is computed. This average pressure, if
applied steadily during the time of the power stroke, would do the
same amount of work as the varying pressure during the same
period. This average pressure is known as indicated mean effective
pressure, it is possible to calculate the indicated horsepower rating

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 The Indicated horsepower is formulated in some books , in
which the letter symbols are arranged to spell the word PLANK
to assist memorizing the formula:

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 Break Horsepower BHP
Work per revolution = 2π × torque
Torque = force × distance (at right angles to the force)
Power = Work per revolution × rpm
and
bhp = Work per revolution × rpm
33,000
2π × force on the scales (lb) × length of arm (ft) × rpm
33,000

Example
Given:
Force on scales = 200 lb
Length of arm = 3.18 ft
rpm = 3,000
π = 3.1416
Find bhp substituting in equation:
bhp = 6.2832 × 200 × 3.18 × 3,000
33000
Bhp=363.2

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 Friction Horsepower FHP
Friction horsepower is the indicated horsepower minus
brake horsepower. It is the horsepower used by an engine
in overcoming the friction of moving parts, drawing in fuel,
expelling exhaust, driving oil and fuel pumps, and other
engine accessories. On modern aircraft engines, this power
loss through friction may be as high as 10 to 15 percent of
the indicated horsepower.

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 Friction and Brake Mean
Effective Pressures

The indicated mean effective pressure

(IMEP), discussed previously, is the
average pressure produced in the
combustion chamber during the
operating cycle and is an expression of
the theoretical, frictionless power
known as indicated horsepower.

That portion of IMEP that produces

brake horsepower is called brake mean
effective pressure (BMEP). The
remaining pressure used to overcome
internal friction is called friction mean
effective pressure (FMEP).

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 If the bhp is known, the BMEP can be computed by means
of the following equation:

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 Exercise:

Given:
bhp = 1,000
Stroke = 6 in
Bore = 5.5 in
rpm = 3,000
Number of cycles = 12

Find BMEP?

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 Find length of stroke (in ft) :
L = 6 in = 0.5 ft

Find area of cylinder bore:

A = 1⁄4πrD2
A = ¼ × 3.1416 × 5.5 in × 5.5 in
A = 23.76 in2

Find number of power strokes per min:

N = 1⁄2 × rpm
N = 1⁄2 × 3,000 rpm
N = 1,500

Then, substituting in the equation :

BMEP = 1,000 bhp × 33,000 ft-lb/min

.5 ft × 23.76 in2 × 1,500 strokes/min × 12

= 154.32 lb/in2

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 Thrust Horsepower

Thrust horsepower can be considered the result of the engine

and the propeller working together. If a propeller could be
designed to be 100 percent efficient, the thrust and the bhp
would be the same. However, the efficiency of the propeller
varies with the engine speed, altitude, temperature,
and airspeed. Thus, the ratio of the thrust horsepower and the
bhp delivered to the propeller shaft will never be equal.

For example, if an engine develops 1,000 bhp, and it is used

with a propeller having 85 percent efficiency, the thrust
horsepower of that engine-propeller combination is 85 percent
of 1,000 or 850 thrust hp..

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 Efficiencies
Thermal Efficiency
It has long been known that mechanical work can be converted into
heat . Heat can therefore be measured in work units (for example,
ft-lb) as well as in heat units.

The British thermal unit (BTU) of heat is the quantity of heat

required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 °F. It is
equivalent to 778 ft-lb of mechanical work.
A pound of petroleum fuel, when burned with enough air to
consume it completely, gives up about 20,000 BTU.

The ratio of useful work done by an engine to the heat energy of

the fuel it uses, expressed in work or heat units, is called the
thermal efficiency of the engine.

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 Total heat produced:
• 25 to 30 percent is utilized for power output,
• 15 to 20 percent is lost in cooling (heat radiated from cylinder head
fins).
• 5 to 10 percent is lost in overcoming friction of moving parts.
• 40 to 45 percent is lost through the exhaust.

The thermal efficiency of an engine may be based on either bhp or

indicated horsepower (ihp) and is represented by the formula:

The formula for brake thermal efficiency is the same as shown above,
except the value for bhp is inserted instead of the value for ihp.

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 Mechanical Efficiency

Mechanical efficiency is the ratio that shows how much of

the power developed by the expanding gases in the cylinder
is actually delivered to the output shaft. It is a comparison
between the bhp and the ihp. It can be expressed by the
formula:

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 Volumetric Efficiency
Volumetric efficiency is a ratio expressed in terms of percentages.
It is a comparison of the volume of fuel/air charge (corrected for
temperature and pressure) inducted into the cylinders to the total
piston displacement of the engine.

Many factors decrease volumetric efficiency, including:

• Part-throttle operation
• Long intake pipes of small diameter
• Sharp bends in the induction system
• Carburettor air temperature too high
• Cylinder-head temperature too high
• Incomplete scavenging
• Improper valve timing

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 Propulsive Efficiency
A propeller is used with an engine to provide thrust. The engine
supplies bhp through a rotating shaft, and the propeller absorbs
the bhp and converts it into thrust hp.
In this conversion, some power is wasted. Since the efficiency of
any machine is the ratio of useful power output to the power
input, propulsive efficiency (in this case, propeller efficiency) is the
ratio of thrust hp to bhp.

Propulsive Efficiency = thrust hp / bhp

Controlling the blade angle of the propeller is the best method of

obtaining maximum propulsive efficiency for all conditions
encountered in flight.

The constant-speed propeller is used to give required thrust at

maximum efficiency for all flight conditions.

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