COMBUSTION RELATED FAULT DIAGNOSIS OF DIESEL

ENGINE BASED ON HARMONIC ANALYSIS OF IAS

XIANG Yang, XIAO Xiaoyong, WANG Shuai
School of Energy and Powering Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan
430063,China

e-mail: yxiang@whut.edu.cn

Instantaneous angular speed (IAS) of diesel engine represents the signature of the torsional
vibration of its crankshaft. This work starts from establishing a mathematical relationship
between IAS and cylinder combustion. In order to overcome difficulties met in diagnosis
application for medium speed engine with high number of cylinders, a harmonic analysis
method is proposed for detecting combustion related faults of diesel engines. First, theoreti-
cal and experimental analysis are carried out on the 12V280 V-type diesel engine with single
cylinder misfire. It is found that the harmonic amplitude and phase of IAS have discrimi-
nated features for fault condition. They can be extracted as main diagnostic indexes for mal-
function identification and location. Second, experimental studies on this engine with double
cylinder misfire are investigated. Results show the applicability of the proposed approach to
this kind of diesel engine. At last, diagnosis rule is summarized for identifying faults and
faulty location.

1. Introduction
Working condition and performance of diesel engines are mainly depending on cylinder combus-
tion. Instantaneous angular speed (IAS) of flywheel can indirectly reflect the comprehensive effect
of various exciting torques which are associated with combustion. Thus IAS of diesel engine con-
tains a lot of working condition information in the cylinder. It can be used to diagnose combustion-
related faults such as misfire, fuel leakage, fuel supply advance angle fault, valve leakage etc. Com-
pared to cylinder pressure monitoring, IAS measurement of diesel engine has the advantages of
convenient installation, long service life, reliable work etc. So, it is promising to develop IAS based
diagnosis technology for detecting cylinder working condition.
In recent years, researches on IAS based diagnosis have attracted extensive attention. M.Geveci
[1] provided a crank-angle domain investigation of the harmonic components of the crankshaft rota-
tional speed signal of a six-cylinder diesel engine and discussed a general diagnostic algorithm to
exploit the harmonic amplitude variation of different imbalance conditions. P. Charles [2] proposed

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the polar presentation of low and high frequency ISA time waveforms for identifying single cylin-
der misfiring. R.Isermann [3] dealt with using neural network for severity and location diagnosis of
fuel leakage by analyzing IAS variations. D.Taraza [4] investigated the estimation of average gas-
pressure torque from IAS. J.Williams [5] developed a misfiring diagnostic technique based on IAS
IAS. F.Ostman [6] proposed a method for reducing crankshaft torsional vibration on the basis of
making balance of gas pressure torque contribution by utilizing measured IAS. David Antory [7]
engaged in a case study of data-driven monitoring technique to diagnose air leaks in an automotive
diesel engine. JianGuo Yang [8] established a dynamic model for simulating IAS fluctuation ratio
on a small four-cylinder diesel engine. Time domain IAS waveforms were used to locate faulty cyl-
inder .Other researchers like G.Rizzoni [9-11], P.Gyan [12], S.Drakunov [13] also paid attentions to
this issue. All above mentioned researches involved in diagnosis of single cylinder faults and paid
less attention to double-cylinder faults. In addition, the applicability of these early studies to me-
dium-speed engines, however, is strongly contested due to the high number of cylinders and large
moment of inertia.
This paper focuses on establishing a diagnosis method based on harmonic amplitude and phase
of IAS, applying them to detect combustion-related faults and identifying faulty cylinder or cylin-
ders. A clear and simple harmonic diagnosis rule which can be used to different diesel engines is
proposed.. Then, the diagnosis based on the proposed rule is carried out when ISA time waveform
and other dynamic model based method are failed.

2. Fundamentals of IAS harmonic analysis

For multi-cylinder internal combustion engine, exciting torques are the source of torsional vibra-
tion of engine crankshaft. The exciting torques consist of gas force moment, gravity moment, the
inertial moment and uneven absorption torque (such as propeller). Except gravity moment, most
exciting torques are complex and periodic. As we know, any kind of periodic function can be de-
composed into Fourier series, which compose of a series of harmonic functions. Thus it can be con-
sidered that torsional vibration of crankshaft is excited by separate harmonic torques. So it is called
harmonic analysis.
According to the dynamics of diesel engine, each cylinder is subjected to complex harmonic
torques which composed of several harmonic moments. One disturbance torque caused by one
harmonic order in the system can be calculated by
(1) M i  m i sin(t 1i   )
Where M i is order v disturbance torque of the i th cylinder, m i is the amplitude of order v
disturbance torque of the i th cylinder.  is angular speed. 1i is angular firing interval between
cylinder 1 and i .  is the order v phase of cylinder 1 at start time related to TDC。
According to theory of torsional vibration, fundamental formula can be written as
(2) I  C  K  M
Where I is matrix of rotational inertia, C is matrix of damping, K is matrix of stiffness, M is ma-
trix of exciting torque.  is angular displacement. Formula (2) can be changed to formula (3) by
Laplace transform
(3)  s2 I  sC  K   s   M  s 
It can be written as

(4)  s  H s M s

Where H  s    s 2 I  sC  K 
1

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According to theory of vibration, vibration frequency of a body is same as the frequency of ex-
citing torque when it is under forced vibration with damping. There is phase difference between
displacement and exciting torque. Under disturbance torque M i , angular displacement  i can be
expressed as follow
（5）  i   i sin(t 1i     vi )
Where  i is amplitude of angular displacement under exciting torque M i ,  vi is phase differ-
ence between  i and M i . The transfer function h i  s  between each disturbance torque and IAS is
almost the same under low frequency. Thus it can be assumed that  v1   v 2    vi under low
harmonic order（ less than half of the cylinder number），when each cylinder is under same
combustion condition,  1 = 2 = = i . Thus IAS of low harmonic order can be obtained by tak-
ing the derivative of  i . Then it can be used for fault diagnosis.
From the above formula, it is found that the amplitude and phase characteristics of each harmon-
ic component of IAS are associated with some parameters which are usually constant, such as the
harmonic amplitude of each cylinder torque, interval of cylinder firing, firing order, damping and
vibration mode. Therefore，harmonic characteristics of exciting torques have certain relationship
with the harmonic amplitudes and phases of IAS. As long as the stroke number and firing order of
the diesel engine are known, the harmonic amplitudes and phases of IAS can be used for detecting
combustion related fault and locating fault cylinder.

3. Test rig facilities

Experiments are carried out on a 12V280 V-type diesel engine with four-stroke and 12 cylinders.
Its maximum power is 2850KW at 1000r/min. The number of flywheel teech is 270. Firing order is
A1-B6-A5-B2-A3-B4-A6-B1-A2-B5-A4-B3. Test rig facilities consist of NI 9172 test chassis, the
voltage acquisition module 9205, magnetoelectric speed sensor and TDC sensor. The magnetoelec-
tric speed sensor is mounted opposite to the flywheel gear while the TDC sensor on behalf of the
TDC of B6 cylinder is mounted opposite to the side of flywheel. The layout of the 12V280 diesel
engine test platform is as Fig.1. The location of the sensors is illustrated on the right. The TDC of
cylinder B6 is taken as the benchmark.

Instantaneous NI cDAQ- 9172

speed sensor acquisition
equipment
LabVIEW
test system

TDC sensor NI 9205

Figure 1. Layout of the 12V280 diesel engine testing rig

In order to study the characteristic of harmonic amplitude and phase of 12-cylinder marine diesel
engine, single and double cylinder misfiring fault experiments are carried out at 1000rpm, 25% load.
Sampling rate is 51.2 kHz. 102400 sampling points of IAS are used to analyze the harmonic charac-
teristics of IAS in frequency domain. The normal waveform of one work cycle and the spectrum of
IAS are presented in Fig. 2.

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Figure 2. The normal waveform and the spectrum of IAS

4. Single-cylinder fault diagnosis based on harmonic analysis

According to harmonic analysis, diesel engines keep dynamic balance under normal condition. If
combustion related faults happened in one cylinder, the original dynamic balance is destroyed.
Harmonic amplitudes and phases of torsional vibration are changed. Figure 3 illustrates the har-
monic vectors of 12V280 diesel engine under normal condition. For the four-stroke diesel engine,
there is a balance among the reciprocating forces. Vectors in Fig. 3 represent IAS variation pro-
duced by the gas force. For this 12 cylinder V-type diesel engine，firing interval is 50˚/70˚ alter-
nately to let the engine operate smoothly. So the order 0.5 interval phase of continual firing cylinder
is about 30°.
A1
A 1 A6 B3 A1 B6
A1A6
B3 B6 35°
B4B3
A4 25° A5
A4 A5 B4B3 B 6B 1 70°
B6B1
B5
B2 50°
B5 B2
A2 A3 A3A4
A2 A3 A 3 A4 A 5A 2 A5A2
B1 B4
A6 B2B5
B1 B4
A6 B 2 B5

(a) order 0.5 (b)order 1.0 (a) order 0.5 (b)order 1.0
Figure 3. Normal harmonic vectors Figure 4. A2 misfire harmonic vectors

Figure 4 illustrates the harmonic vectors when cylinder A2 misfiring. From Fig. 4, it is found
that order 0.5 and order 1.0 harmonic vectors changed. The original harmonic balance is lost. The
opposite harmonic vector of the faulty cylinder increases.

(a) B1 Misfire (b)A2 Misfire (c) A6 Misfire

Figure 5. Harmonic spectra of IAS with misfire for 12V280 diesel engine

It’s seen from Fig.5 that the feature of ISA time waveform is inordinate so the time domain
method is not available for fault diagnosis of this 12-cylinder diesel engine. However, harmonic

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spectrum can be used for fault diagnosis. Harmonic order 0.5, 1.0 amplitude and phase can be con-
sidered as main indexes for fault diagnosis. Extracted features are given in table 1, note that the
phase differences are calculated by subtracting the order 0.5 phase of cylinder B1 from order 0.5
phases of other cylinder. Harmonic phase of B1 cylinder is set as reference. Phase differences are
calculated related to B1 cylinder. Comparison of measured and theoretical phase difference are
shown in table 2.

Table 1. Analyzed result of single cylinder misfire

0.5amplitude 1.0amplitude 0.5phase phase difference(˚)
Normal 0.08 0.13 — —
B1misfire 0.20 0.14 119.85 0
B3misfire 0.17 0.11 250.58 130.73
B5misfire 0.16 0.17 175.48 56.63
A2misfire 0.17 0.16 151.79 31.94
A6misfire 0.21 0.12 86.68 -33.17

Table 2. Phase difference of harmonic order 0.5 with misfire

B1 B3 B5 A2 A6
Phase difference
Measured () 0 130.73 56.63 31.94 -33.17
Theoretical () 0 120 60 30 -30
Erro(%) 0 8.94 5.6 6.46 1.05

It is found in table 1 that the harmonic order 0.5 amplitudes are all increased under single cylin-
der misfiring while the order 1.0 amplitude changes slightly. In addition, the 0.5 order phase differ-
ences between two continual firing cylinders are about 30˚ when single-cylinder misfiring happened.
These results are basically in accordance with harmonic analysis theory. We can conclude that order
0.5 amplitude and phase can be used for single cylinder fault diagnosis and locating faulty cylinder.

5. Double-cylinder fault diagnosis based on harmonic analysis

B3 A1 B6
A1A6
35°
B4B3
A4 25° A5 70°
B6B1
B5
B2 50°

A2 A3 A3A4 A5A2
B1 B4
A6 B2B5

(a) order 0.5 (b)order 1.0 (a) B1A2 misfire (b) A6B1 misfire
Figure 6. Harmonic vectors when Figure 7. IAS harmonic spectra with
B1A2 cylinder misfire continual double cylinder misfire
Figure 6 illustrates the harmonic vectors when B1A2 cylinder misfiring. It is found that 0.5 and
1.0 harmonic vectors changed at this case. The original harmonic balance is lost. The opposite
harmonic vectors of the faulty cylinders increase.

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Experiments are carried out to simulate B1A2 and A6B1 double cylinder misfire (B1A2 and
A6B1 are both continual cylinder)，under 1000r/min, 25% load condition. Sampling rate is 51.2
kHz. Harmonic spectrum is obtained by using 20 work cycle data.
It’s seen from Fig. 7 that the feature of ISA harmonic spectrum can be used for fault diagnosis.
Harmonic order 0.5, 1.0 amplitude and phase can be considered as main indexes for fault diagnosis.
Extracted features are given in table 3, note that the phase differences are calculated by subtracting
the order 0.5 phase of cylinder B1 from order 0.5 phases of other cylinders.
It’s seen from table 3 that the harmonic order 0.5 amplitudes are increased greatly under double
continual firing cylinder misfiring while the order 1.0 amplitude changes slightly. When double
continual cylinder misfiring exists，the harmonic order 0.5 amplitudes increased to 0.38 while the
harmonic order 0.5 amplitudes of single cylinder misfiring is about 0.21. Comparing table 3 with
table 1, the order 0.5 phase differences between the single and double cylinder misfiring fault are
near 15˚. The above analyzed results are basically in accordance with the harmonic theory. Thus we
can conclude that harmonic amplitude and phase especially order 0.5 are effective feature to diag-
nose combustion related faults for high number medium speed V-type diesel engines. The order 0.5
phase difference between B1A2 misfiring and A6B1 misfiring is about 30.

Table 3. Analyzed results of continual double cylinder misfiring

0.5amplitude 1.0amplitude 0.5 phase phase difference(˚)
Normal 0.08 0.13 — —
B1A2misfire 0.36 0.16 141.36 21.51
B1A6misfire 0.38 0.13 108.92 -10.93

6. Diagnosis rule
According to the above mentioned research, a new diagnosis rule based on the analysis of the
harmonic order 0.5 and 1.0 of IAS is described clearly in Fig. 8. The amplitude and phase of har-
monic order 0.5 are the main indexes for identifying fault and the faulty cylinder while harmonic
order 1.0 are required for reference.
Harmonic spectrum

Order 0.5 Order 0.5

phase amplitude

yes Double
>Threshold 1
cylinder fault

no

Single yes
>Threshold 2
cylinder fault

no

Locate fault Locate fault

Normal condition
cylinder cylinder

Figure 8. Diagnosis rule based on harmonic amplitude and phase

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7. Conclusion
This paper dealt with combustion related fault diagnosis of diesel engines by analyzing IAS
variations. Based on torsional vibration theory, harmonic amplitude and phase of IAS are used for
fault diagnosis and location of high number V-type diesel engine. Single cylinder misfire and dou-
ble cylinder misfire experiments are carried out on 12V280 diesel engine. For the single cylinder
fault diagnosis, harmonic order 0.5 amplitude and phase of IAS are extracted as the main diagnostic
indexes to detect the combustion condition and locate the faulty cylinder. For double cylinder mis-
fire, harmonic order 0.5 amplitude increases more than single cylinder misfire. Harmonic phase is
between the phases of two continual misfire cylinders.

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