Faculty of Engineering

Fayoum University Thermodynamics

Mechatronics Department

Report about
The reason is that the
compression ratio of the
gasoline engine is low

Prepared by: Ibrahim Mohamed Atfi

Prepared for: Dr.Amr Kaood

The combustible mixture in a gasoline engine is uniform with a stoichiometric ratio
near to one. When combustion is initiated by the spark plug a flame front forms and
proceeds in the combustion chamber thus compressing the end gas at the far end. If
the temperature and pressure of the end gas exceed certain limits the end gas may
ignite before the flame front reaches it and creates opposite pressure waves which
when they meet with those created by the flame front make a ringing sound called
spark ignition knock which is known as one of the spark ignition combustion
failures. Another type of failure is pre-ignition, which is the charge's ignition even
before the spark's initiation—this is the reason behind the low compression
efficiency in gasoline engines.

Unlike diesel, gasoline is highly volatile, evaporating instantly into the air to form a
homogeneous mixture of air and fuel at the right chemical ratio for ignition by a
spark. The combustion then begins at the spark and spreads uniformly to engulf the
entire mixture. Gasoline injection does not require a high injection pressure. In diesel
engines, you need very high injection pressure to overcome the high cylinder
pressure and to make the fuel break down into tiny droplets and penetrate as far as
possible into the combustion chamber to mix with the air. Here the mixture is
heterogeneous and combustion may begin anywhere in the combustion chamber
after spontaneous injection has begun. No spark is required to ignite the mixture.