691

Detection and correction of injection failures in diesel

engines on the basis of turbocharger instantaneous
speed frequency analysis
V Macián, J Galindo, J M Luján, and C Guardiola*
Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, CMT Motores Térmicos, Valencia, Spain

The manuscript was received on 3 April 2004 and was accepted after revision for publication on 12 January 2005.

DOI: 10.1243/095440705X28312

Abstract: Combustion failure diagnosis techniques for reciprocating internal combustion engines
have been developed over the last few years. Nowadays the most usual techniques are based on the
crankshaft instantaneous speed or on engine vibrations. These methods, although successfully in use,
may be applied only to maintenance tasks or to low and moderate engine speeds. In this paper, a
controller for the correction of injection failures is presented. The aim of the algorithm is to ensure
that the same quantity of fuel is injected into each one of the cylinders. This governor can be applied
to the full operating range of the engine. The injection failure detection and identification technique
is based on the measurement of the turbocharger instantaneous speed and its treatment in the
frequency domain. The simulation of the controller shows an effective reduction in the dispersion
between cylinders to a level below 2 per cent.

Keywords: diesel engines, misfire, injection failure, failure analysis, discrete Fourier transforms,
error correction

1 INTRODUCTION where N is the engine speed and z is the number of

Modern diesel engines equipped with a common rail
system have injectors with hole diameters varying
from 140 to 200 mm and injection pressures up to
160 MPa. With these high requirements, minor errors
in the hole diameter, mainly due to manufacturing
dispersion and deposits [1], result in decreasing
engine performance and increasing emissions. Thus,
algorithms for fuel quantity correction are needed.
When working in steady state, reciprocating inter-
nal combustion engines have a mostly periodic
behaviour. If all the injectors supply exactly the same
fuel quantity, the time variation of most of the engine
working variables, such as the crankshaft speed, N,
and acceleration, the temperature and pressure into
the exhaust manifold, and the turbocharger speed,
N , shows a periodic behaviour with a frequency
T
given by the following expression:
zN
f = (1)
z 2
* Corresponding author: Universidad Politecnica de Valencia,
CMT Motores Térmicos, PO Box 22012, E-46071, Valencia, Spain.
email: carguaga@mot.upv.es
cylinders. The 1 factor is adopted for four-stroke
2
engines where each thermodynamic cycle corre-
sponds to two complete crankshaft turns. This fre-
quency, dependent on engine speed, is called the
firing frequency.
Whenever a failure in a single cylinder occurs, the
torque supplied by this cylinder is modified and
the frequency of the variables becomes
N
f = (2)
1 2
The usual failure detection methods are based on the
instantaneous measurement of the crankshaft speed.
When there is no failure present, this signal increases
each time combustion takes place in one of the
cylinders. If one of the cylinders is not working
properly, the increase in the signal corresponding
to that cylinder is smaller than for the rest of them,
thus enabling the clear identification of the faulty
cylinder.
There is extensive technical literature on the study
of instantaneous crankshaft speed and acceleration
[2–8]; the study of the engine block vibrations or
the torque has also been used as a failure detection

D06504 © IMechE 2005 Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
692 V Macián, J Galindo, J M Luján, and C Guardiola

tool [9, 10]. Unfortunately, these variables depend

strongly on the engine operating conditions. In the
case of speed and acceleration being considered, the
superposition of the inertial effects and the resist-
ance torque limits its application to certain working
conditions and low to moderate engine speeds. This
is especially important for vehicle engines where the
powertrain and the road features may have non-
negligible effects on the instantaneous engine speed.
The case of vibration analysis shows similar dis-
advantages, and its application is reduced to main-
tenance tasks at idle speed. For high engine speeds Fig. 1 Experimental layout
the energetic contribution of each of the cylinders
becomes unrecognizable.
The fuel injection system is an electronically con-
Although at high engine speeds this superposition
trolled common rail system. The engine control unit
of inertial effects and powertrain noise makes the
(ECU) controls the injection pressure and the start
irregularities disappear, it is nevertheless true that
of injection (SOI). In addition, the amount of fuel
some of the cylinders may be performing out of
injected into each cylinder is independently deter-
design. This may lead to an increase in the con-
mined, and so injection failures can be induced.
taminant emissions or a decrease in the engine
Boost pressure, water temperature, fuel mass, air
efficiency. Unfortunately, the use of speed- or
mass, and torque have all been measured in each
acceleration-based methods does not permit the
test. Besides, instantaneous turbocharger and engine
diagnosis of these situations.
speed, and the exhaust pressure, have been measured
Recent work on turbocharged engines shows
every 0.5° of crankshaft rotation. To measure the
that the use of instantaneous turbocharger speed
turbocharger speed, an eddy current sensor was used.
measurement is a very advantageous alternative [11].
A frequency–voltage converter was used in order to
In the present paper, a controller based on the turbo-
transform the signal.
charger speed will be described. In the next sections,
both the physical principles of the detection method
2.2 Wave action model
and the controller design will be explained.
The WAM is a physical-based model that reproduces
the behaviour of the engine with a high accuracy.
2 FACILITIES Once the model has been fit, it is possible to know
the instantaneous variation in the pressure and tem-
In this work, an experimental set-up and a wave perature at each point of the engine. A turbocharger
action model (WAM) have been used. The experi- model is included in the WAM. This model applies
mental information obtained from the test engine the inertia equation comparing the work supplied by
has been used for the preliminary study of the effects the turbine and the compressor. Thus, instantaneous
of injection failures on the turbocharger instan- turbocharger speed is calculated by the model at
taneous speed and the adjustment of the WAM. The each time step. For further details and remarks on
WAM is used for the development of the controller the model fit and validation, see Appendix 2.
and the simulation of its behaviour. The WAM code allows the modification of the
Both the model and the engine have been tested amount of fuel supplied to each cylinder, and thus
at different operating points, as defined by the engine the injection failures have been simulated. For the
speed and load level. These operating points have simulation of the control system, a link between
been selected in order to cover the full operating the WAM and MatlabA has been used.
range of the engine.

3 EFFECT OF INJECTION FAILURES ON THE

2.1 Experimental set-up
The test engine is a fully instrumented six-cylinder
diesel engine. The layout of the test bench is shown
in Fig. 1. The engine speed is controlled by an
electromagnetic brake.
INSTANTANEOUS TURBOCHARGER SPEED
In a turbocharged engine [spark ignition (SI) or
diesel] the exhaust energy of the combustion gases
is used to accelerate a turbine. This turbine drives a

Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering D06504 © IMechE 2005
 Detection and correction of injection failures in diesel engines
compressor that increases the pressure in the intake
manifold of the engine. In this way, both engine
efficiency and power are increased. A diagram of
such an engine is presented in Fig. 1.
The instantaneous turbocharger speed is mainly a
function of the energy of combustion gases at the
exhaust valve opening. Each time an exhaust stroke
occurs, a pressure wave is produced. It travels along
the manifold and accelerates the turbocharger (see
Fig. 2a). As the available energy depends on the
injection settings (the SOI and the quantity of fuel
injected), small variations in these parameters will
significantly affect the instantaneous turbocharger
speed.
In a common rail injection system, the duration of
the injection is calculated from the pressure at the
rail and the desired fuel quantity. If the dimension
of the injector hole is well defined, the algorithm
works properly and the mass of fuel injected is
very near to the reference one. Unfortunately, manu-
facturing dispersion and deposits in the holes of
the injectors make the effective area unknown and
time dependent. Thus, the fuel quantity injected is
different in each of the cylinders.
If any of the injectors supplies a fuel amount below
normal, the energy contribution from this cylinder
will be smaller than from the others. This means that
Fig. 2 Experimental measured value of the instan-
taneous turbocharger speed in a six-cylinder
engine without injection failures (a) and with a
severe injection failure (b). The operating con-
ditions are high load and low engine speed. The
signal has been filtered to avoid high-frequency
noise
D06504 © IMechE 2005
693
the turbocharger acceleration will be slightly inferior
to the one produced by the other cylinders, and in
this way the failure could be identified (see Fig. 2b).
On the other hand, unlike what happens with the
crankshaft, there is no mechanical nexus between
the turbocharger and the engine load. Thus, the turbo-
charger speed is not affected by the road character-
istics. Besides, since it is a perfectly balanced rotating
machine, it does not show the typical inertial effects
of the crankshaft. In this way, the method can be
used for any engine speed and load, thereby making
it a reliable diagnosis variable.
It has been proved that the turbocharger speed
evolution is in fact an integration of the exhaust
manifold pressure [12]. Thus, methods based on
instantaneous exhaust pressure measurement [13, 14]
would behave in a similar way to the presented
method. However, the measurement of the exhaust
gas pressure in a turbocharged engine must be per-
formed at the turbine inlet in order to avoid pulse
attenuation, subsequently enforcing the use of cooled
sensors, which are neither robust nor low priced.
In addition, as the turbocharger speed signal is an
integration over the instantaneous energy supplied
to the turbine, a highly linear response is achieved.
4 FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF THE
TURBOCHARGER SPEED
Owing to the periodicity of the variables, a fre-
quency domain transformation is used. This frequency
domain treatment simplifies failure detection, identi-
fication, and further correction. Besides, the discrete
Fourier transform (DFT) has been successfully used
in many applications and its computational cost is
low. The notation in the frequency domain will be
N (t) < N ( f )
T T
iN
N =N ( f ), f=
Ti T i i 2
Analysing the absolute value of the turbocharger
speed spectrum, it is relatively simple to detect the
existence of a failure. In Fig. 3 the spectra of a six-
cylinder engine with and without a failure in a single
cylinder are represented.
A more detailed study has been performed with
the WAM, where different failures have been simu-
lated. When there is a failure in a single cylinder, it
can be noticed that the peak at the failure frequency,
|N |, depends linearly on the magnitude of the
T1
failure, Dm , defined as the difference between the
i
nominal mass fuel and the injected fuel at the ith
Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
694 V Macián, J Galindo, J M Luján, and C Guardiola

Fig. 3 Spectra of the turbocharger speed from experimental data. In the graph, the spectra
without injection failures (a), (b) and with a failure in a single cylinder (c), (d) are repre-
sented. High-frequency noise related to the turbocharger speed is present. This noise is
far away from the significant part of the spectra and does not affect the harmonics f , f ,
1 2
and f
3

cylinder. This variation is shown in Fig. 4. The same The value of the different harmonics with no
linear behaviour is observed with N and N (not failure can also be observed in Fig. 5. The value is
T2 T3
shown). small but not exactly zero. In the engine studied
By representing N , N , and N in the complex by the present authors, this effect is due to the
T1 T2 T3
plane, it is possible to characterize the failures in following factors.
the different cylinders. For a six-cylinder engine, the
1. Non-negligible asymmetries in the inlet mani-
failure frequency and their first two harmonics are
fold, which cause the different cylinders to admit
considered. In Fig. 5, failures for different cylinders
different air masses in each stroke. This parti-
are characterized. In a four-cylinder engine, the study
cularly affects the location of harmonics N and
of N and N suffices. T1
T1 T2 N . Simulations with symmetric manifolds con-
T2
siderably reduce the value of these harmonics.
2. Asymmetries in the exhaust manifold, as the
cylinders are subdivided into two major groups
(right and left submanifolds). This effect is noticed
at frequency f , which corresponds to half the
3
firing frequency in a six-cylinder engine.

5 DEVELOPMENT OF A MATRIX
TRANSFORMATION

As said before, for a single failure, a linear behaviour

is observed in each one of the harmonics. Although
compressible fluid dynamics is non-linear, linearity
can be assumed when variations are small.
If e is defined as
Fig. 4 Variation in |N | for a single cylinder fault. e={Re(N ) Im(N ) Re(N ) Im(N )
T1 T1 T1 T2 T2
Failures of different size have been plotted.
Spectra for different failure magnitude are inset Re(N ) Im(N )}T (3)
T3 T3

Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering D06504 © IMechE 2005
 Detection and correction of injection failures in diesel engines 695

if subscript 0 indicates that there is no failure pre-

sent, and if 1 to 6 indicate when there is a single
normalized failure of the respective cylinder, then

e=[e e e e e e ] Dm+e
1 2 3 4 5 6 0
e=K Dm+e
0
(4)

where Dm is a vector containing the difference

between the nominal fuel quantity and the fuel
injected into each one of the cylinders.
In the next sections, the determination of the
K matrix and its inversion in order to obtain an
observer of the injected mass of fuel are discussed.

5.1 Determination of the K matrix

To create a controller applicable in a real engine,
the number of parameters must be low and the
algorithm robust. In this section, the possibility
of using a single transformation matrix for all the
engine operating range is justified.
In a first step, it is possible to define a K matrix for
each of the operating points of the engine (defined
by a load level and an engine speed). To determine
such a matrix, a failure is induced in the engine and
the spectrum is stored. The failure is created by
injecting less fuel than the nominal mass of fuel into
one of the cylinders. The value of the spectrum is
normalized with the amount of fuel not injected and
the original spectrum

ê −ê
e= i 0 (5)
i Dm
i

where ˆ denotes the measured value and Dm is the

i
default of fuel at the ith cylinder.
Experience shows that the matrix has slight differ-
ences with the engine operating at the same speed.
Then, the matrix can be constructed as media of
the different K matrix, which are calculated for
N,j
different load conditions at the same engine speed

1 n
K = ∑ K (6)
N n N,j
Fig. 5 Characterization in the complex plan of the e j=1
vectors for failures in different cylinders. e is
0 Another possibility is to choose directly a matrix at
the engine in perfect order operation. The six
cases of failure in a single cylinder are repre- half-load. Both possibilities yield similar results.
sented. The results have been normalized for a When changing the engine speed, the K matrix
failure of 1 mg: (a) frequency f ; (b) frequency rotates in the complex plane (see Fig. 6). It is easy to
1
f ; (c) frequency f develop a transformation between the matrix at the
2 3

D06504 © IMechE 2005 Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
696 V Macián, J Galindo, J M Luján, and C Guardiola

actual engine speed, N∞, and at the reference speed, N

K =W(N∞)K (7a)
N∞ N
tcos(Q ) −sin(Q ) 0 0 0 0 u
N 1 1 N
N sin(Q1 ) cos(Q1 ) 0 0 0 0 N
N N
N 0 0 cos(Q ) −sin(Q ) 0 0 N
W(N∞)= 2 2 (7b)
N 0 0 sin(Q ) cos(Q ) 0 0 N
N 2 2 N
N 0 0 0 0 cos(Q ) −sin(Q )N
N 3 3 N
v 0 0 0 0 sin(Q ) cos(Q ) w
3 3
where Q are angles that depend on the engine speed
This last operation ensures that further corrections
and the harmonic being considered.
do not affect significantly the total engine torque.
However, computationally, it is better to transform
This aspect must be guaranteed in order not to
the measured spectrum than to rotate the matrix.
disturb the drivability of the engine.
The e ∞ vector, measured at engine speed N∞, must be
N Removing the last equation of (4) and including
multiplied by the matrix W(N∞) of equation (7b) but
equation (9), then
replacing Q with −Q. As a conclusion, only a K matrix
must be stored in the controller and the spectra Dm=K̃−1(ẽ−ẽ ) (10a)
0
are adapted to different engine speeds by means of
tRe(N )u tDm u
a rotation. For simplicity, in the next sections the N T1 N N 1N
matrix calculated at engine speed N will be referred NIm(NT1 )N NDm2N
to as K, instead of K , and the spectrum once rotated N N N N
N Re(N )N Dm N
C D
N T2 N 3 K
will be referred to as e. ẽ= N , Dm= N , K̃= 5×6
Im(N )N Dm N 1…1
N T2 N N 4N
5.2 Inversion of the K matrix. Development of an NRe(N )N NDm N
N T3 N N 5N
observer of the injected fuel v 0 w vDm w
6
If the K matrix could be inverted, then it is obvious (10b)
that
where K is the matrix formed with the first five
Dm=K−1(e−e ) (8) 5×6
0 rows of K.
Thus, from the spectrum of the turbocharger speed,
the value of the engine fault in each one of the
cylinders could be obtained. 6 CONTROLLER DESIGN
Unfortunately, the matrix is singular and the
inversion is not possible. The analysis of its eigen- The controller proposed is shown schematically in
values shows that one of them is equal to zero. Fig. 7. It has some remarkable aspects.
This is consistent with the idea that the vector 1. A pass band filter is used. The filter has a double
Dm=[1 1 1 1 1 1]T should make e not vary. mission: on the one hand it may eliminate the
When such a Dm is applied, the operating point of high-frequency noise caused by the turbocharger
the engine is changed without causing a failure. If rotation, and on the other hand it may filter the
the actual eigenvector associated with the eigenvalue low frequency associated with the transient pro-
0 is numerically calculated, the result is very close to cesses of the engine. This last operation is not
the expected one. always possible, and the controller is not activated
In order to avoid this effect, one of the redundant if the instantaneous variation in the injected fuel
equations is replaced with a new one. Since it is during an acceleration rises above a threshold. For
impossible to know the real value of the failures by implementation in the engine, the use of an
this transformation, the total correction is forced to analogical filter is proposed.
be zero 2. The information is stored in a circular buffer con-
taining ten engine cycles. The use of this buffer
∑ Dm =0 (9)
i contributes to the algorithm robustness.
i

Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering D06504 © IMechE 2005
 Detection and correction of injection failures in diesel engines 697

Fig. 7 Block diagram of the proposed controller

3. The information is acquired every 6° of engine

rotation. This frequency is compatible with current
commercial engine control units. As the filtering
is previously performed, there is no problem with
aliasing effects. As the acquisition is triggered
by a frequency that depends on engine speed,
the studied frequencies ( f and its harmonics)
1
are constant for the processor. Consequently, the
calculation is quite simple.
4. The result of the controller is a vector of
corrections in the duration of the injection. This
correction multiplies the value of the nominal
duration. When the operating point of the engine
changes, this value is maintained, accepting that
the failure is always proportional to the desired
fuel quantity.
5. The correction is recalculated every 17 engine
cycles. This period is the minimum to avoid
transitory effects on the turbocharger speed
measurement.
6. As the K matrix is constant, it can be inverted
offline. It results in a low computational cost.

The control algorithm has been modelled and

tested for different engine operating points. In Fig. 8
the results of the simulation can be observed. In
the simulation, a considerable dispersion between
injectors has been admitted. Consequently, the
injected fuel quantity presents significant differences
Fig. 6 Components of the K matrix when varying the between cylinders. Once the controller corrects the
engine speed: (a) frequency f ; (b) frequency f ; injected fuel quantity, the error is kept below 2 per
1 2
(c) frequency f cent.
3

D06504 © IMechE 2005 Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
698 V Macián, J Galindo, J M Luján, and C Guardiola
Fig. 8 Result of the simulation of the proposed con-
troller. Lines represent the injected fuel in each
of the cylinders. After the first iteration, the dis-
persion of the injected mass fuel is corrected
(N=1500 r/min; reference mass of fuel 170 mg)
The adaptation of the controller to load transients
is presented in Fig. 9. When the reference fuel
quantity changes, the controller freezes the control
action and recalculates the spectra. After a few cycles
the convergence criterion is reached.
Fig. 9 Result of the simulation of the proposed con-
troller when varying the reference mass of fuel
(dotted line). The solid line represents the
mean injected fuel in the cylinders. The error
bars mark the dispersion between cylinders.
The response of the controller with ramps
and steps in the reference can be observed
(N=1500 r/min)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
7 CONCLUSIONS
A new methodology for injection failure detection
and correction for turbocharged engines has been
presented in this paper.
This methodology solves the effects of the manu-
facturing dispersion and the ageing of the injectors
in diesel engines. Further applications on spark
ignition turbocharged engines are possible. This
methodology, unlike those based on crankshaft speed
or vibrations, may be used across the full engine
operating range. In addition, load conditions do not
affect its applicability, since there is no mechanical
nexus between load and turbocharger.
A generic methodology for the design of the
controller has been presented too, and a real time
control oriented algorithm has been developed. This
algorithm has been applied to the wave action model
with satisfactory results.
The design methodology can be applied to a real
engine in order to develop an algorithm that can be
integrated in a commercial ECU.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank E. J. Cotillas and M. Moretti for
their work modelling the engine and processing the
data.
REFERENCES
1 Schmidt, M., Kimmich, F., Straky, H., and
Isermann, R. Combustion supervision by evaluating
the crankshaft speed and acceleration. SAE paper
2000-01-0558, 2000.
2 Williams, J. An overview of misfiring cylinder engine
diagnostic techniques based on crankshaft angular
velocity measurements. SAE paper 960039, 1996.
3 Freestone, J. W. and Jenkins, E. G. The diagnosis of
cylinder power faults in a diesel engine by flywheel
speed measurement. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part D:
J. Automobile Engineering, 1986, 200, 37–43.
4 Jewitt, T. H. B. and Lawton, R. The use of speed
sensing for monitoring the condition of military
vehicle engines. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part D:
J. Automobile Engineering, 1986, 200, 45–51.
5 Rizzoni, G. Diagnosis of individual cylinder misfires
by signature analysis of crankshaft speed fluctuations.
SAE paper 890884, 1989.
6 Ribbens, W. B. and Bieser, S. Advanced signal pro-
cessing for misfire detection in automotive engines.
ICASSP-95, 1995, Vol. 5, pp. 2963–2966.
D06504 © IMechE 2005
 Detection and correction of injection failures in diesel engines
7 Citron, S. J., O’Higgins, J. E., and Chen, L. Y.
Cylinder by cylinder engine pressure and pressure
torque waveform determination utilizing speed
fluctuations. SAE paper 890486, 1989.
8 Liu, S., Gu, F., and Ball, A. The on-line detection of
engine misfire at low speed using multiple feature
fusion with fuzzy pattern recognition. Proc. Instn
Mech. Engrs, Part D: J. Automobile Engineering, 2002,
216, 391–402.
9 Rizzoni, G. and Connelly, F. Real time estimation of
engine torque for the detection of engine misfire.
Trans. ASME, J. Dynamic Syst. Measmt, and Control,
1994, 116(2).
10 Nishibe, Y., Nonomura, Y., Tsukada, K., Takeuchi, M.,
Miyashita, M., and Ito, K. Determination of engine
misfiring using magnetoelastic torque sensor. IEEE
Trans. Instrum. and Measmt, 1998, 47, 760–765.
11 Payri, F., Lujan, J. M., Broatch, A., and Guardiola, C.
Failure detection using turbocharger instantaneous
speed frequency analysis on reciprocating internal
combustion engines. EAEC 2001, 2001.
12 Macián, V., Luján, J. M., Bermúdez, V. R., and
Guardiola, C. Exhaust pressure pulsation obser-
vation from turbocharger instantaneous speed
measurement. Measmt Sci. and Technol., 2004, 15,
1185–1194.
13 Ceccarani, M., Rebottini, C., and Bettini, R. Engine
misfire monitoring for a V12 engine by exhaust
pressure analysis. SAE paper 980516, 1998.
14 Willimowski, M. and Isermann, R. A time-domain-
based diagnostic system for misfire detection in
spark-ignition engines by exhaust-gas pressure
analysis. SAE paper 2000-01-0366, 2000.
15 Benson, R. S. The Thermodynamics and Gas
Dynamics of Internal Combustion Engines, 1982,
Vol. 1 (Clarendon Press, Oxford).
16 Payri, F., Benajes, J., and Chust, M. D. Programme
pour étude assistée par ordinateur de systèmes
d’admission et d’échappement de moteurs. Entropie,
1991, 162, 17–23.
17 Lax, P. D. and Wendroff, B. Systems of conservation
laws. Commun. Pure Appl. Math., 1960, 15, 217–237.
18 Benajes, J., Reyes, E., and Lujan, J. M. Modelling
study of the scavenging process in a turbocharged
diesel engine with modified valve operation. Proc.
Instn Mech. Engrs, Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering
Science, 1996, 210.
19 Payri, F., Benajes, J., and Reyes, M. Modeling
of supercharger turbines in internal combustion
engines. Int. J. Mech. Sci., 1996, 38, 853–869.
20 Benajes, J., Reyes, E., Galindo, J., and Peidró, J.
Predesign model for intake manifolds in internal
combustion engines. SAE paper 970055, 1997.
APPENDIX 1
Notation
f frequency (subscripts denote the
multiplicity of the cycle frequency)
D06504 © IMechE 2005
699
K fault matrix
K fault matrix at engine speed N
N
N engine speed
N turbocharger speed
T
N turbocharger speed Fourier transform
Ti
content at frequency f
i
t time
z number of cylinders
Dm injected mass fuel defect at the ith
i
cylinder
Dm vector of injected mass fuel defects
e spectral vector
e spectral vector in fault free conditions
0
e spectral vector with a normalized fault in
i
the ith cylinder
Q angle
W rotation matrix
Superscripts
˜ reduced dimension
ˆ measured quantities before normalization
APPENDIX 2
Wave action model fundamentals
The wave action model (WAM) is a software that
allows the simulation of reciprocating internal com-
bustion engines. The software has been developed
at CMT-Motores Térmicos from the method pro-
posed by Benson [15, 16]. The core of the model
is a one-dimensional gas dynamic model based
on the Lax–Wendroff scheme of the resolution of
gas dynamics equations [17]. This system solves
the evolution of pressure waves in the manifolds.
Besides, the different elements of the engine, such
as the cylinders, the valves, and the turbocharger, are
included as boundary conditions [18, 19].
As the model is based on physical equations, even
when the adjustment of the model is not very good,
the results obtained from the WAM can be inter-
preted in a qualitative way, since the WAM model
behaves as a generic engine. This last property, which
is not present in black-box models, makes the WAM
a useful tool for engine research [20].
In the same way, it is possible to modify some
operating conditions, such as the fuel injected into
each of the cylinders, and extrapolate the model out
of the range where it has been validated. Then, the
accuracy of the model cannot be guaranteed but
the results are qualitatively consistent.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering
700 V Macián, J Galindo, J M Luján, and C Guardiola

Adjustment process
The adjustment process corresponds to the following
scheme.

1. Reference experimental tests. These tests are per-

Fig. 10 Instantaneous variation in the exhaust manifold
pressure with no injection failures (a) and with
a 20 per cent default of fuel in a single cylinder
(b). The solid line represents the experimental
measurement; the dotted line represents the
modelled value (N=1500 r/min; reference mass
of fuel 170 mg)
formed in the experimental installation. As the
aim of the controller must be applicable to the
whole operating range of the engine, the tests
cover the range from low load and engine speed
conditions to high load and speed. In these refer-
ence tests no injection failures are provoked.
2. Model fit. The different coefficients (such as
pressure loss coefficients, turbine efficiency, and
so on) of the WAM are modified in order to approxi-
mate the simulated values to the measured ones
as much as possible. The targets of this adjust-
ment are the mean values of the intake air mass
flow, boost pressure, and turbocharger speed and
the instantaneous value of the pressure at the
turbine inlet.
3. Validation tests. Since this is the first time that the
WAM code has been used for the simulation of
injection failures, it is necessary to verify that
the model behaves in a similar way to the engine.
For the validation tests, single cylinder injection

Fig. 11 Instantaneous variation in the turbocharger speed with no injection failures provoked
(a), (b) and with a 20 per cent fuel lack in a single cylinder (c), (d). Left plots correspond
to experimental measurements; right plots correspond to the simulated values
(N=1500 r/min; reference mass of fuel 226 mg)

Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering D06504 © IMechE 2005
 Detection and correction of injection failures in diesel engines 701

failures of different magnitude have been pro-

voked and the experimental spectra of the turbo-
charger instantaneous speed are compared with
those obtained from the model.

Results of the adjusted model

The result of the validation of the model for the
pressure evolution at the exhaust manifold can be
observed in Fig. 10a. Although there are slight differ-
ences in the phase and the peak value, the model fits
quite well the behaviour of the baseline engine. In
Fig. 10b the results when an injection failure is pro-
voked are presented. Both the experimental measure-
ment and the prediction from the model experience
an important decrease in the third pressure peak,
which corresponds to the lack of fuel in the corre-
sponding cylinder.
Fig. 12 Value of |N | for different operating and failure
In Fig. 11 the instantaneous turbocharger speed is T1
conditions. The percentage denotes default of
represented both for the model and the experimental fuel in a single cylinder
measurements. Although the amplitude of the main
harmonic, f , when there is no failure, is quite differ- do not fit perfectly the experimental data, the model
6
ent in the model (Figs 11a and b), the variations must be considered to have been adjusted with data
in the variable at frequency f largely agree when a without injection failures. Besides, the experimental
1
failure is provoked (Figs 11c and d). As the controller data are affected by minor errors in the injectors that
is based on the low frequencies ( f , f , and f ), the affect the regularity even when no additional failure
1 2 3
results from the model will be quite similar to the is provoked (in Fig. 11a a small irregularity can be
ones from the engine. observed).
When the experimental value of N is compared With these considerations it can be concluded that
T1
with the simulated value for different operating the WAM reproduces the engine behaviour and it is
and failure conditions, good results are obtained as possible to use it for the development of an injection
shown in Fig. 12. Although the results of the model failure controller.

D06504 © IMechE 2005 Proc. IMechE Vol. 219 Part D: J. Automobile Engineering