Turbology for Beginners

TOPICS COVERED

Fundamentals & First Principles

Choosing the Right Turbocharger
How to Understand Compressor Maps
Selecting the Best Turbine
Calculating Efficiency & Air Temperatures
Choosing an Intercooler

Paul Nugent, 9th July 2004, Rev 04

http://S2central.net
http://www.S2forum.com

Disclaimer – This paper is intended as a beginners guide to the confusing world of

turbocharger selection. Any damage whatsoever to your engine, bank balance, mental health
or social life caused by this paper is your own responsibility, not the author’s. Some images
and calculations have been borrowed from Garrett’s application guide and Corky Bell’s book
entitled Maximum Boost without permission. I thoroughly recommend both these sources as
solid ‘must read’ reference material.
 Turbology for Beginners – Rev 04

Foreword

‘Turbology’ is an invented term in respect to the terminology, technology and

thermodynamic calculations related to the world of turbocharged engines.

A fair amount of mathematical equations accompany the text in this paper so

that key parameters can be quantified along the way. These are valid for any
turbo installation on four-stroke petrol engines.

Those readers new to the wonders of turbology need not be concerned if this
paper makes no sense whatsoever on the first read through. There’s a lot of
material to cover, and it is worthwhile following the various calculations
through in some detail to grasp a deeper understanding of the subject matter
along the way.

Introduction

The art of turbocharger selection for vehicle manufacturers, tuning specialists

and DIY mentalists is all about a series of compromises… some are well
known, many are not !

Before diving into some of the details, it is useful to remind ourselves about
some of the terminology and fundamental aspects of the turbocharger.

Most people reading this will already know that a turbocharger is a

mechanical device that uses exhaust gas to rapidly spin a turbine, connected
on a central shaft to a compressor wheel which forces more air into the
engine than it would have consumed without the turbo fitted. Another term for
this principle is ‘forced induction’.

Forcing more air into the engine is one of the fundamental aspects of
producing more performance from an internal combustion engine. The aim of
this paper is to give readers an appreciation for the black art of ‘turbology’ and
why its forced induction techniques are so successful in practical situations.

First Principles

Going back to basics never hurts. Consider this fundamental equation that
captures how much work, in the form of a turning force, or torque, is
generated by the internal combustion engine.

Torque = P x A x L
Where:
P is the pressure of combustion gas acting down on the piston
A is the area over which the pressure acts on the piston (bore)
L is the distance travelled by the piston (stroke)

By increasing P (with forced induction) we proportionally increase torque for

the same engine capacity.

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Note the use of the term torque, as this is the measure of how much work is
being done by the engine at any given time. An engine’s power output is
proportional to engine speed as a measure of the rate at which work is being
done. This is shown below:

Power = Torque x RPM

So by increasing torque in this manner, it can also be seen that we increase

power without increasing engine speed… Result!

Torque is the true measure of a well designed ‘fun-to-drive’ engine, as it is

torque which provides that satisfying push into the back of the seat when the
loud pedal is pressed firmly towards the floor. It is the engine’s torque which
defines a car’s ability to accelerate, whereas maximum power defines its
ultimate top speed (along with weight and aerodynamic considerations of
course).

It will be shown in this document that maximum torque cannot necessarily be

maintained through a turbocharged engine’s entire rpm range – at least not
without significant consideration for parameters like intake air temperature,
fuel mixture, knock resilience and exhaust gas temperatures. Fundamentally,
that is why this paper exists !

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 Turbology for Beginners – Rev 04

Glossary of Terms

Absolute Pressure – This is pressure when it is measured with respect to

total vacuum. This is a true reading of all the pressure being measured.
Absolute pressure is defined as ambient pressure plus boost pressure. ECUs
measure absolute pressure so that corrections for altitude can be made for
thin air.

Boost Pressure – Also known as guage pressure, this is pressure when it is

measured with respect to ambient pressure. Boost gauges measure boost
pressure.

Boost Threshold – This is the minimum engine speed at which the turbo will
generate positive boost pressure. Not to be confused with lag.

Compressor – Also known as the ‘cold side’ of the turbocharger, this half is
responsible for pumping air into engine.

Detonation – Also known as ‘knocking’ or ‘pinging’, this is the audible side

effect of having excessive ignition timing advance for the prevailing mixture of
fuel and air under the prevailing conditions. Excessive air temperature can
also cause detonation.

Intercooler – This is essentially a heat exchanger placed between the turbo

and the engine to remove heat from the air compressed by the compressor.

Lag – Simply put, lag is the time delay between a change in throttle position
and the delivery of a noticeable increase in boost

Turbine – Also known as the ‘hot side’ of the turbocharger, the turbine is the
fan-wheel which is driven by exhaust gasses as they leave the engine

Wastegate – This is the primary device for limiting boost pressure in the
system. Essentially a pneumatic valve, usually controlled by the ECU, the
wastegate is closed when exhaust gas is needed to spin the turbine until
target boost pressure is reached, and opened to allow the remaining exhaust
gas to bypass the turbine and go straight out the tailpipe.

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 Turbology for Beginners – Rev 04

An Introduction to Compressor Maps

It is not possible to have a turbo configuration which gives one perfect

combination of minimal lag at low engine speeds, blistering mid range torque
and maximum power at the top of the engine speed range. Compromises
have to be made which favour the target application such that the most
important aspects can be designed into the system to the detriment of one or
more attributes. This partly depends on how extreme the requirements are for
the end user.

Be very careful in defining these requirements – Do you want absolute

maximum power at high engine speeds (sacrificing low end tractability) or do
you want maximum torque at low-mid rev ranges (sacrificing top end
performance) – or something biased to the mid-range which sacrifices some
low-end torque and some top-end power ?

An ability to understand compressor maps, supplied by turbo manufacturers,

is a crucially important factor in selecting the right turbo for the job. Getting the
calculations wrong will be an expensive mistake as the turbo will not perform
as desired – with a poor boost threshold or disappointing maximum power
being the result.

Compressor maps are quite daunting at first, as its not obvious to the
untrained eye how the values on either axis are obtained – never mind what
all the squiggly lines mean. In essence, the compressor map tells us the
efficiency of the compressor side of the turbo under the prevailing conditions
of manifold boost pressure with a knowledge of how much air the engine is
consuming at any given engine speed.

Buying a turbocharger of any brand without a compressor map from the

manufacturer is sheer folly as it will leave an awful lot of guesswork and
unknowns out in the open regards the capability and efficiency of the turbo in
any given installation.

Rule: Do your homework or suffer the consequences !

This paper also covers an understanding of how intake air temperatures can
be calculated, with knowledge of turbo and intercooler efficiency limits so that
accurate estimates of air intake temperature can be made. This is crucial for
estimating the ignition timing and fuel values for ECU programming.

However, it is the boost profile (defined by the compressor map) which must
be defined at the first stage in ECU programming for any given application.

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The compressor map shown below is for the Garrett GT30R – this shall be
used for the purpose of understanding this topic in more detail.

Figure 1 – Compressor Map for the Garrett GT30R

The compressor map is a plot of Pressure Ratio on the y-axis, against

Corrected Air Flow on the x-axis. Let’s look at how these values are
calculated from first principles.

Note - A mixture of metric and imperial units (for European and American
turbocharger language) shall be used in the following description, so please
bear with me – I’ll try to explain any and all unit conversions along the way.

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Pressure Ratio (PR)

This is the simpler of the two axis to understand. This is the ratio of absolute
compressor output pressure divided by absolute compressor inlet pressure.
PR can be roughly approximated as absolute manifold pressure (eg boost
guage pressure of 1.5bar would be ~2.5bar absolute manifold pressure).
Keep that in mind as a rough rule of thumb, but the more correct way to
calculate the PR must take into account the ambient air pressure and the
estimated (or measured) air pressure loss through the engine’s air filter and
intercooler.

Boost + Pi + Pa
PR = ---------------------------
Pa – Pf

Key:
Pa = Ambient pressure (psi)
Boost = Boost guage pressure (psi)
Pi = Pressure loss through intercooler & intake tract (psi)
Pf = Pressure loss through air filter (psi)

A typical value for Pi with a good intercooler is 1 to 2 psi.

A typical value for Pf is 0.5 psi – this may not be valid for the Audi S2 airbox.

When calculating PR, it is very useful to plug realistic ambient pressure values
into this equation depending on whether you live at sea level or altitude. This
is equally true when calculating the values for the x-axis.

Conversions to note here:

1 bar = 14.5 psi
1 bar = 1000 mbar

As an example with Pa = 1020mbar, Boost = 1.8 bar, Pi = 2psi, Pf = 0.5psi we

have PR = 3.0

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Corrected Air Flow

This figure represents the corrected mass flow rate of air consumed by the
engine at a given speed, taking air density (ambient air pressure and
temperature) into account. This is the science bit – so stay awake !

In order to calculate how much air enters the engine, a simple equation with
knowledge of the engines speed and cylinder capacity is required. This
determines the volume of air that can enter the engine without the assistance
of a turbocharger. This is what we call the ‘basic’ air flow rate.

Basic (Unboosted) Air Flow Rate = Engine Capacity x (RPM/2) x VE

The reason why RPM is divided by two is because all four stroke engines
have an induction cycle every other crankshaft rotation. The factor ‘VE’ in the
above equation refers to the engine’s volumetric efficiency. In an ideal world
the engine would be 100% efficient and completely fill each and every cylinder
completely on every induction cycle across the entire rev range. In reality a
figure of 85% to 90% is more appropriate for modern engines.

In doing these air flow calculations it is important to get the units of

measurement clearly understood. The above calculation for Basic Air Flow will
produce a result in cubic centimetres per minute if you use metric engine size
in cc and engine speed in rpm. However, American turbo manufactures prefer
to talk in various imperial units such as cubic feet per minute (cfm) and
pounds of air per minute (lbs/min), whereas KKK prefer to use kilograms of air
per second (kg/s), and cubic metres per second (m3/s).

So in order to calculate base air flow in cubic feet per minute (cfm) we first
need to convert engine size from metric to imperial units of the cubic inch
(cuin). Knowing that 1 inch = 2.54 cm we have:

Engine Size (cc)

Engine Size (cuin) = -------------------------- Eg 2226cc is equivalent to 136cuin
2.543

Using a value of cuin for engine size generates a base flow rate in cubic
inches per minute, so to convert that to cubic feet per minute (cfm) another
conversion is required and we all know there are twelve inches per foot.

Flow rate in cuin per minute

Flow rate in cubic feet per minute (cfm) = -----------------------------------------
123

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 Turbology for Beginners – Rev 04

So, for the base flow rate in cfm from engine size in cc we have the following:

(Engine CC/16.39) * (RPM/2) * VE

Basic Flow Rate, cfm = ----------------------------------------------------
1728

Eg With 2226cc at 7000rpm and VE=85% we get a basic flow rate of ~234cfm

Converting that result to pounds of air per minute requires a simple

conversion factor of 0.069, giving us a basic airflow rate of ~16 lbs/min.
Remember that is for our 2226cc engine without any assistance from a
turbocharger.

To calculate the theoretical airflow with forced induction, it is necessary to

multiply the basic air flow rate with the system’s Pressure Ratio (PR) at the
desired boost pressure levels.

Theoretical (Uncorrected) air flow rate = Basic Flow Rate x PR

So for the above examples, with our 2226cc engine at 7000rpm running
1.8bar boost we have a theoretical rate of ~48lbs/min. By the way – this
configuration will require a VERY strong engine to run such high boost levels
at high engine speeds.

When looking at the compressor maps, it must be remembered that the x-axis
is for CORRECTED air flow rate, in order to take ambient conditions into
account. The reason for that is the effect that ambient temperature and
pressure has on air density. It is air density, which determines the weight of a
given volume of air. The following calculation provides the necessary
correction, but be aware that it uses some odd units of measurement again.
The source of this calculation is the Garrett application guide.

Theoretical Flow * √ (Absolute Air Temp/545)

Corrected Flow Rate = ------------------------------------------------------------------
Ambient Pressure / 13.95

Note: Absolute Air Temperature is calculated by adding 460 onto the air temp
in Fahrenheit

Another useful metric conversion is that Fahrenheit = 32 + (Celsius * 9/5).

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With Ambient Air Temp = 20 Celsius, we have 68 Fahrenheit and 528 degrees
Absolute. With our uncorrected flow rate of 48lbs/min and ambient conditions
as stated we then get a corrected flow rate of ~45lbs/min.

48 * √ (528/545)
Corrected Flow Rate = ------------------------------------------------------------------
14.79 / 13.95

To convert the corrected airflow rate from lbs/min to kg/s it should be divided
by a factor of 2.2 (pounds per kilogram) and then by a factor of 60 (seconds
per minute). These units are needed for KKK compressor maps.

The corrected flow rate can now be plotted on the compressor map in
accordance with the desired pressure ratio. The compresor map shown
below, for the Garrett GT30R, depicts this.

Figure 2 – First values plotted on GT30R map

There are two areas of operation to avoid when looking at where the turbo is
being asked to operate. Firstly, the extreme right side of the map (known as
the ‘choke’ region) where the turbo becomes highly inefficient and output air
temps rise drastically when the compressor runs out of capacity.

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 Turbology for Beginners – Rev 04

Secondly, the extreme left side of the map (known as the ‘surge’ region)
where the compressor does not produce a stable and consistent flow of air.
The compressor must operate within the safe limits of the choke and surge
lines for efficient performance and durability.

Obviously the closer you run to the surge line and the choke line, there are
some sacrifices in efficiency which may be important in some applications
more than others eg A road application is much less likely to be running at
5000-8000 rpm for prolonged periods than an engine destined to spend most
of its time on a drag strip. It can be better to run at lower boost levels if it
increases the compressor efficiency as this will have a beneficial impact on
output air temperatures.

Essentially, a plot on the compressor map, at all engine speeds of interest,

with target boost pressures in mind is required to ensure the turbo will operate
in the appropriate region of its capability.

Taking the example at 4000rpm with our mighty 2226cc lump we can see that
a target boost pressure of 1.8bar is going to generate these values :

PR = 3.0 and Corrected Air Flow = 26lbs/min

With Ambient Air Conditions at 1020mBar and 20 Celsius and VE = 85%

Figure 3 – A bad choice with surging at 4000rpm on too much boost

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Plotting this on the GT30R compressor map above (Fig 3), we can see this is
clearly to the left side of the surge line and that target boost must be reduced
at this engine speed to reduce PR and air-flow such that it operates on the
right side of the surge line. 1bar boost is a better value at 4000rpm as it
generates an air flow rate of 20lbs/min with a PR of 2.2 which just gets into
the right side of the surge line, as can be seen below in Figure 4.

Figure 4 – A much better choice of boost level at 4000rpm

Note how sensitive these calculations are to assumptions – if we set VE=90%

at 4000rpm because the cylinder head is more efficient in the mid range then
additional air flow is produced at the same PR and the turbo operates further
to the right of the surge line. So without detailed knowledge of the flow
characteristics of any given cylinder head, there is a bit of ‘guesstimation’
involved. It pays to do some max and min analysis on critical calculations if
you plan to run close to the efficiency limits.

Creation of a spreadsheet to ease the burden of all the PR and CFM

calculations across the rev range is a great idea. It could look like the
snapshot below (Fig 5) of the one I developed.

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Engine
Size 2226 cc -----> 135.8 cuin 0.069 cfm to lbs/min
Atmos
Pressure 1020 mBar -----> 14.79 psi
Ambient
Temp 20 Celsius -----> 68 Fahrenheit
Delta Pi 2 psi
Delta Pf 0.5 psi

Engine Base Base Boosted Boosted Corrected Corrected

Boost Boost
Speed VE Flow Flow PR Flow Flow Flow Flow
(bar) (psi)
(RPM) (cfm) (lbs/min) (cfm) (lbs/min) (lbs/min) (cfm)
7500 85% 250.57 17.29 1.80 26.10 3.00 751.71 51.87 48.15 698
7000 85% 233.87 16.14 1.90 27.55 3.10 725 50.034 46.45 673
6500 85% 217.16 14.98 2.00 29.00 3.20 694.91 47.936 44.5 645
6000 85% 200.46 13.83 2.00 29.00 3.20 641.47 44.256 41.09 596
5500 90% 194.56 13.42 2.00 29.00 3.20 622.59 42.944 39.87 578
5000 90% 176.88 12.2 1.80 26.10 3.00 530.64 36.6 33.98 492
4500 90% 159.19 10.98 1.40 20.30 2.60 413.89 28.548 26.5 384
4000 90% 141.5 9.76 1.00 14.50 2.19 309.89 21.3744 19.84 288
3500 90% 123.81 8.54 0.60 8.70 1.78 220.38 15.2012 14.11 204
3000 85% 100.23 6.92 0.40 5.80 1.58 158.36 10.9336 10.15 147
2500 85% 83.52 5.76 0.20 2.90 1.38 115.26 7.9488 7.38 107
2000 85% 66.82 4.61 0.10 1.45 1.28 85.53 5.9008 5.48 79
1500 85% 50.11 3.46 0.00 0.00 1.17 58.63 4.0482 3.76 54
1000 85% 33.41 2.31 0.00 0.00 1.17 39.09 2.7027 2.51 36

Figure 5 – A spreadsheet for number crunching

In due course I shall make this spreadsheet more user-friendly and have a
freely downloadable version to be enjoyed. I also plan to have some
calculators available in a web-based version at http://S2central.net sometime
in the not too distant future.

I have used the figures above for an application of the GT30R turbo on the
2226cc engine of the S2, and the resulting plot on compressor map is shown
in Figure 6 below. It runs quite close to the surge line. You can see that this
turbo is more suited to the upper third of the rev range.

With about 1bar of boost available at 4000rpm there is some mid range grunt,
but this turbo isn’t optimised for high boost at low engine speeds – that is
clear from the compressor map. With a healthy 1.4bar available at 4500rpm,
ramping to a mental 2bar between 5500-6500rpm, tailing off to 1.8bar on the
redline, this vehicle should be fun to drive !

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Figure 6 – The completed compressor map plot

Having verified the suitability of this compressor, this boost profile can be
used in the ECU programming to establish maximum boost values.

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Turbine Selection

The plots on the compressor map make the sweeping assumption that the
engine can generate these ‘target’ boost values at the given engine speeds. It
is equally important to select a suitably sized hot side of the turbo so that
there is sufficient rotational energy at low-mid range speeds to generate
sufficient boost, whilst trying to have enough exhaust gas flow capacity to
generate the compressor wheel speeds needed for high boost at high engine
speeds.

This is where reduced exhaust back pressure, with a free-flow system can
make significant gains on turbine performance. Too much back pressure and
the turbine will not reach maximum potential. Too little back-pressure and the
turbine could be over-spooled without careful boost controls in place.

Essentially, the larger the turbine wheel then the later the turbo will develop
maximum boost. Too small a turbine and the application can have blistering
performance in the low-mid range but may run out of puff in the high engine
speeds. Too large a turbine and low-speed tractability will suffer from
excessive lag. It can be seen from the Garrett application book, that two
choices for turbine sides on the GT30R unit are available. It is yet another
compromise that has to be made…

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Compressor Efficiency and Air Temperature

As eluded to earlier, pressure ratio has a direct effect on intake air

temperature. This is determined by some terribly exciting laws of
thermodynamics which we needn’t concern ourselves with in detail here.

Essentially, when the compressor is operating at its most efficient levels (for a
given pressure ratio), then it will pump air with minimum temperature
increase. This is why it is worthwhile paying lots of attention to efficiency
contours on the compressor map, as going for maximum boost at all load
points will have a detrimental effect on air temperature. Logically, this can be
improved with a larger or more efficient intercooler to achieve the necessary
reduction in air temperature.

A few more simple calculations are needed to characterise compressor

efficiency, its effect on temperature rise and how to select the right intercooler
for a target intake air temperature. Firstly, consider the figure below and the
three temperature points of interest.

Turbo

Tc Ti

Intercooler

Ta
Figure – Key Temperature Points

Ta = Ambient air temperature measured on the ABSOLUTE scale

Tc = Air temperature measured at the output of the compressor
Ti = Air temperature measured at the output of the intercooler

From these three values we can also establish two more parameters of
interest. These are as follows:

Temperature Rise produced by the compressor, Tr = Tc – Ta

Temperature removed by the intercooler, Td = Tc - Ti

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The following formula is used to calculate compressor efficiency.

(PR0.28 x Ta ) - Ta
Compressor Efficiency, Ec = --------------------------------------------
Tr

Only real world measurement can accurately quantify compressor efficiency

on any given application. Note the exponent value of 0.28 is determined by a
gas constant established from an ancient law of thermodynamics.

Reworking the above equation is a useful way to estimate air temperature on

the outlet of the compressor (Tc) from known ambient temperature, pressure
ratio and the efficiency contours on the compressor map.

(PR0.28 x Ta ) - Ta
Temperature Rise, Tr = -------------------------------------------- = Tc - Ta
Ec

As an example with PR=3.0, Ta = 20 Celsius (460+68 Fahrenheit), with our

GT30R compressor running at 72% efficiency, we have a temperature rise of
264 Fahrenheit. This gives us a value of Tc = 332 Fahrenheit.

Once again – the use of a spreadsheet program is the best way to crunch
these numbers for an instant view on how ambient conditions and pressure
ratio have a direct effect on intake air temperature.

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Choosing an Intercooler

To characterize the efficiency of any intercooler, the following equation is

simple enough to visualise as temperature removed divided by temperature
rise.

Tc - Ti
Intercooler Efficiency, Ei = --------------------------
Tc - Ta

A theoretically perfect intercooler with 100% efficiency will provide a

temperature at the intercooler output equal to that of ambient temperature.
Such devices do not exist in the real world. A good value for maximum
desired air temperature on the Audi I5 20V engines is 40 degrees Celsius.

It can be seen, by following the preceding calculations, that in order to

achieve Ti of approx 40 Celsius, an intercooler efficiency of 86% is required.
This info can be used to go shopping for a suitably sized intercooler that does
exist in the real world.

Generally speaking, it will also be seen that the most efficient intercoolers
have lower than average pressure loss (Pi). This reduces the pressure ratio
(PR) at any given boost pressure and that causes a reduction in compressor
output temperature at any efficiency level – which is nice!

Furthermore, it can also be seen how a free-flowing air filter (lower Pf) can
generate lower intake air temperatures because of the reduction in PR that it
achieves, with reference to the PR equation on Page 4.

For example, a 0.5psi reduction in Pf can lower PR from 3.0 to 2.9 and reduce
air temperature exiting the turbo by 10 degrees Fahrenheit – Cool !

Once again, this is all very well in theory, but a free-flowing (sports) air filter
needs to be properly installed with decent heat shields and a healthy supply of
fresh cold air in order to provide such gains above a convoluted airbox and
paper air filter. However, never forget that a clean paper filter provides better
protection from dust ingress than any sports filter.

-o- End –o-

All comments, and constructive critique welcome at S2-Editor@S-Cars.Org

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