Forschung im Ingenieurwesen 67 (2002) 157 – 160 Ó Springer-Verlag 2002
DOI 10.1007/s10010-002-0087-y
Effect of atmospheric altitude on engine performance
B. A. Shannak, M. Alhasan
Abstract The air capacity and the fuel consumption of a
four-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine have been mea-
sured. Tests have been conducted at engine speeds from
1000 to 4000 rpm and at atmospheric altitude from 600
to 850 m above the sea-level as well as at ambient pres-
sure from 0.9 to 0.95 bar. The performance of the engine
at low speeds is different from that at high speeds. At low
engine speeds up to 2500 rpm the air capacity, the fuel
consumption and the volumetric efficiency decreases with
increases of engine altitude by which the ambient pres-
sure decreases. However at higher speeds engine than
3000 rpm the engine performances decreases with de-
creases of engine altitude and so with increases of at-
mosphere pressure. A 200 m change on the altitude of
the engine, corresponding to a change in atmosphere
pressure of about 3000 Pa, may lead to change fuel
consumption and volumetric efficiency up to 40%. It is
shown that to obtain maximum engine efficiency and
minimum fuel consumption, fuel mixture should be
varied with respect to the altitude of engine. The
knowledge about the altitude effect could therefore lead
to improve the performances on engine development and
design.
Höheneinfluß auf die Leistungsfähigkeit eines
Verbrennungsmotors
Zusammenfassung Der Luftbedarf und der Treibstoff-
verbrauch eines 4-Zylinder-4-Takt Verbrennungsmotors
wurde experimentell untersucht. Untersuchungen wurden
)1 fuel [2, 3]. The air capacity of an engine is depending
in einem Drehzahlbereich zwischen 1000 bis 4000 min
in einem Höhenbereich von 600 bis 850 m oberhalb des
Meeresniveaus (entsprechend einem Umgebungsdruck-
intervall von 0,9 bis 0,95 bar) vorgenommen. Die Leis-
tungsfähigkeit eines Motors ist wesentlich von seinem
Drehzahlbereich abhängig. In einem Drehzahlbereich bis
Received: 28 March 2002
B. A. Shannak (&)
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Alhuson College,
Al-Balqa Applied Universita,
P.O. Box 50, Al-Huson, Jordan
e-mail: benbellas@yahoo.com
M. Alhasan
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Amman College for Engineering Technology,
Al-Balqa Applied University,
P.O. Box 15008, Amman 11134, Jordan
157
zu 2500 min)1 nimmt der Luftbedarf, der Treibstoff-
verbrauch und die volumetrische Effektivität mit zuneh-
mender geodätischer Höhe, d.h. abnehmendem
Umgebungsdruck, ab. Im Drehzahlbereich oberhalb von
3000 min)1 nimmt hingegen die Leistungsfähigkeit des
Motors mit abnehmender Höhenlage ab. Eine Änderung
der Höhenlage um 200 m – entsprechend einer Änderung
des Umgebungsdruckes von ca. 3000 Pa – kann zu einer
Änderung des Treibstoffverbrauchs und der volumetris-
chen Effektivität von bis zu 40% führen. Es wird gezeigt,
daß zum Erreichen einer maximalen Leistungsfähigkeit
des Motors, das Treibstoff/Luftgemisch in Abhängigkeit
von der Höhenlage anzupassen ist. Die Kenntnis dieses
Höheneffektes ist für die Verbesserung der Motorenau-
slegung und–konstruktion von grundlegender Bedeu-
tung.
1
Introduction
For a static fluid, pressure varies only with the elevation
within the fluid. Thus plays a major role in many
areas of engineering design and analysis. In fluid flow
there is basically two causes of pressure variation in
addition to the weight effect – these are acceleration and
viscous resistance [1]. In the internal combustion engine
a combustible fuel-air mixture is prepared outside the
engine cylinder. The engine requires a maximum amount
of air in the cylinder to release the most energy from the
on the atmosphere condition and is an important
parameter for the required engine performances. Engine
performances such as indicated power, thermal efficien-
cy, volumetric efficiency, fuel consumption, design of
carburetion system and exhaust emission are also
depending on air–fuel ratios. Several workers investigate
the engine performances like those of [4–9]. In these
literatures the air outside the engine is usually deter-
mined with the assumption that the pressure of the
surrounding air is the standard sea-level pressure of 101
kpa, as given in [1], hence, most automobile carburetors
are calibrated at altitudes near sea level. In fact the
change of atmosphere pressure with elevation above or
below the sea level affects the air mass flow rate through
the venturi and the combustion process as well as the
engine performances.
The purpose of this work is to investigate the effect of
the change in engine altitude and in atmosphere pressure
on air capacity, fuel consumption, air–fuel ratio and vol-
umetric efficiency of the engine.
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 67 (2002)
2 3
Experimental program
The measurements were made on a four-stroke petrol
engine. The engine specifications are as follows:
– 4 Cylinders
– Capacity: 1452 cc
– Compression ratio: 9.1
– Max. Engine speed: 5600 rpm
– Fuel: Gasoline
158
The carburetor is mounted on the engine so that air to the
cylinders passes through the carburetor barrel, which
contains the veturi. The carburetor must measure the
airflow through the induction system and use this mea-
surement to regulate the amount of fuel discharged into
the air stream. To change the altitude of the engine and the
ambient conditions, orifice plate with varying straight-
bore diameters of 40, 35, 30, 25 and 20 mm were installed
in the 63 mm air inlet pipe, Fig. 1.
The engine has been instrumented to indicate mass flow
rates of air and fuel, air temperature and air pressure as
well as engine revolutions. The air mass flow rate through
the orifice plate, at the inlet pipe, was determined by using
the methods outlined by the ISO 5167 [10] and [11]. The
fuel consumption of the engine is measured by deter-
mining the volume flow in a given time interval and
multiplying it by the fuel density. A small glass vessel
having a known volume is used. A stopwatch measures
time taken by the engine to consume this volume. Volume
divided by time will give the volumetric flow rate. The
pressure and the pressure difference, depending on the
parameters ranges, were measured with Bourdon pressure
gages and U-tube manometers contain mercury or water.
Thermocouples and mercury thermo-elements were used
for temperature measurements. The engine speeds were
measured by using of an electrical tachometer. The ranges
of the test parameters are listed in Table 1.
Fig. 1. Induction system
Table 1. Parameter ranges for the determination of the engine
performance
Inlet pipe diameter (mm) 20–63
Atmosphere pressure (bar) 0.90–0.94
Altitude of engine (m) 600–850
Engine speed (rpm) 1000–4000
Air temperature (K) 294–296
Results and discussion
To investigate the engine performance, air capacity, fuel
consumption and volumetric efficiency, all measurements
were made at varying engine speed and varying air inlet
pressure (altitude).
3.1
Air capacity
Air capacity of an engine is defined as the mass flow or
fresh air through the engine per unit time. Experimentally
determined air mass flow rate is shown in Fig. 2, as a
function of the engine altitude and as a function of the
engine speed. Obviously, it can be seen that the inlet mass
flow rate of air increases with increases engine speed. The
power output of the engine depends upon the amount of
air. As the engine speed is increased, more air flows
through the venturi, thus increases its power output. At
low and middle engine speed up to 2500 rpm, the air mass
flow reduces with higher engine altitude. The atmosphere
pressure and the inlet air pressure decreases with higher
altitude, which reduces the density of air. Therefore the air
actually drawn is less. At high engine speed from 3000 to
4000 rpm, more air is required for maximum power.
During suction stroke more air is drawn the venturi and a
pressure difference exist between the atmosphere pressure
and cylinders pressure. Higher geographic engine altitude
lead to higher pressure difference, due to the reducing in
ambient pressure. At high speed this pressure drop is
enough large to overcome the reducing in density. For that
reason the pressure drop is then proportional to the
velocity and supply more air for the cylinders.
3.2
Fuel consumption
Figure 3 gives the fuel mass flow rate as a function of
engine speed and engine altitude. At engine speed from
1000 to 2500 rpm, the fuel consumption reduces with
higher engine altitude and lower engine speed. But at
engine speed from 3000 to 4000 rpm, the fuel mass flow
Fig. 2. Air mass flow as a function of engine altitude
and engine speed
B. A. Shannak, M. Alhasan: Effect of atmospheric altitude on engine performance

of the air/fuel mixture is described by the mixture ratio.

Figure 4 shows how the engine altitude influences air–fuel
ratio. As can be seen clearly, the different engine speeds
give very similar results and a relative decrease in the rate
of mixture ratio as the engine altitude increased. The small
influence of the air–fuel ratio can be explained by different
flow losses in the venturi at different fuel flows.

3.4
Volumetric efficiency
Volumetric efficiency is the ratio of the amount of air the
159
engine takes into the cylinder to the total displacement of
the piston. Anything that decreases the mass of air en-
tering the cylinder during the intake stroke well decreases
the volumetric efficiency. Figures 5 and 6 gives the volu-
metric efficiency as a function of engine speed and engine
altitude. At engine speed from 1000 to 2500 rpm the vol-
umetric efficiency decreases with reducing of engine speed
Fig. 3. Fuel mass flow as a function of engine altitude
and engine speed

rate increases with increases engine speed and engine

altitude. This phenomenon can be explained as follows:
Since the throttle regulates the amount of air flowing up
the venturi tube, it also checks the quantity of fuel issuing
from the nozzle by regulating the vacuum at the throat. At
low engine speeds with part open throttle, low airflow rate
and higher engine altitude, the vacuum at the throat is
small and hence the engine gets a too lean mixture. At
higher engine speeds and higher engine altitude the
vacuum at the throat and the pressure drop during the
combustion process is high and hence the engine get a too
rich mixture. The pressure difference which exist between
the ambient pressure and that in the throat of the venturi
as well as that at the fuel discharge jet is used not only to
supply air for the cylinder, but some of this pressure is
takeoff to serve as a reference pressure for the fuel system.
Maximum fuel consumption of about 11.86 kg/h is found
at high engine speed of about 4000 rpm and at engine Fig. 4. Air–fuel ratio as a function of engine altitude
altitude of about 840 m, however, the minimum value of and engine speed
about 1.46 kg/h is found at low engine speed of about
1000 rpm and at engine altitude of 620 m.
The need for reliability, compactness and low weight
per horsepower has encouraged engine manufacturers to
improve their design, but the increase in the price of
aviation fuel has had perhaps a greater impact on engine
development than any other factor in recent years. The
knowledge about the altitude-effect could therefore lead to
minimum fuel consumption on engine development. At
low engine speeds up to 2500 rpm, a 200 m change on
engine altitude, corresponding to a 3000 Pa, cause to a
change on fuel consumption of about 10% and about 40%
at engine speed higher than 3000 rpm.

3.3
Air–fuel ratio
The power produced by an engine is depend on the
amount of fuel supplied. But the amount of fuel, which
may be usefully burnt, depends upon the amount of oxy-
gen available for its combustion. The oxygen required is Fig. 5. Volumetric efficiency as a function of engine altitude
obtained from air supplied to the engine. The composition and engine speed
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 67 (2002)
160
Fig. 6. Volumetric efficiency as a function of engine altitude
and engine speed
and increasing of engine altitude. While at engine speed References
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Conclusions
In the context of this work further measurements have
been performed and devoted to find the effect of the am-
bient pressure and, hence, the atmospheric altitude of
petrol engine on the engine performances. The basic
performances are the air capacity, fuel consumption,
air-fuel ratio and volumetric efficiency. The results dem-
onstrate that, at low and middle engine speeds the air mass
flow, the fuel consumption and the volumetric efficiency
are decreasing with increasing of the engine altitude.
However, at high engine speeds the engine performances
increases with higher engine altitude. A 200 m change on
the altitude of the engine, corresponding to a change in
atmosphere pressure of about 3000 Pa, has the following
effects:
– Fuel consumption change of about 10% at low and
middle engine speed
– Fuel consumption change of about 40% at high engine
speed
– Volumetric efficiency change of about 10% at low and
middle engine speed
– Volumetric efficiency change of about 40% at high
engine speed
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