Thermodynamic Analysis of
Internal Combustion Engines
P M V SUBBARAO
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
IIT Delhi
Work on A Blue Print Before You Ride on an Actual Engine.
It is a Sign of Civilized Engineering.
SI Engine Cycle
FUEL
A
I Ignition
R
Fuel/Air
Mixture Combustion
Products
Actual
Cycle
Intake Compression Power Exhaust
Stroke Stroke Stroke Stroke
Actual SI Engine cycle
Total Time Available: 10 msec
Ignition
Early CI Engine Cycle
Fuel injected
A at TC
I
R
Air Combustion
Products
Actual
Cycle
Intake Compression Power Exhaust
Stroke Stroke Stroke Stroke
Modern CI Engine Cycle
Fuel injected
A at 15o bTC
I
R
Air Combustion
Products
Actual
Cycle
Intake Compression Power Exhaust
Stroke Stroke Stroke Stroke
Thermodynamic Cycles for CI engines
In early CI engines the fuel was injected when the piston reached TC
and thus combustion lasted well into the expansion stroke.
In modern engines the fuel is injected before TC (about 15o)
Fuel injection starts
Fuel injection starts
Early CI engine Modern CI engine
The combustion process in the early CI engines is best approximated by
a constant pressure heat addition process Diesel Cycle
The combustion process in the modern CI engines is best approximated
by a combination of constant volume and constant pressure Dual Cycle
Thermodynamic Modeling
The thermal operation of an IC engine is a transient cyclic process.
Even at constant load and speed, the value of thermodynamic
parameters at any location vary with time.
Each event may get repeated again and again.
So, an IC engine operation is a transient process which gets
completed in a known or required Cycle time.
Higher the speed of the engine, lower will be the Cycle time.
Modeling of IC engine process can be carried out in many ways.
Multidimensional, Transient Flow and heat transfer Model.
Thermodynamic Transient Model USUF.
Fuel-air Thermodynamic Mode.
Air standard Thermodynamic Model.
Ideal Thermodynamic Cycles
Air-standard analysis is used to perform elementary analyses
of IC engine cycles.
Simplifications to the real cycle include:
1) Fixed amount of air (ideal gas) for working fluid
2) Combustion process not considered
3) Intake and exhaust processes not considered
4) Engine friction and heat losses not considered
5) Specific heats independent of temperature
The two types of reciprocating engine cycles analyzed are:
1) Spark ignition Otto cycle
2) Compression ignition Diesel cycle
FUEL
A
I
Otto Cycle Ignition
R
Fuel/Air
Mixture Combustion
Products
Actual
Cycle
Intake Compression Power Exhaust
Stroke Stroke Stroke Stroke
Qin Qout
Air
Otto TC
Cycle
BC
Compression Const volume Expansion Const volume
Process heat addition Process heat rejection
Process Process
Air-Standard Otto cycle
Process 1 2 Isentropic compression
Process 2 3 Constant volume heat addition
Process 3 4 Isentropic expansion
Process 4 1 Constant volume heat rejection
Compression ratio:
v1 v4
r
v2 v3
Qin
Qout
v2 v1
BC TC BC
TC
First Law Analysis of Otto Cycle
12 Isentropic Compression AIR
Q W
(u 2 u1 ) ( in )
m m
Win
(u2 u1 ) cv (T2 T1 )
m
k 1
T2 v1 k 1
P2 T2 v1
r P1 T1 v2
T1 v2
23 Constant Volume Heat Addition
Qin W
(u3 u 2 ) ( ) Qin
m m AIR
TC
Qin
(u3 u2 ) cv (T3 T2 )
m
P3 T3
P2 T2
3 4 Isentropic Expansion
Q W
(u 4 u3 ) ( out ) AIR
m m
Wout
(u3 u4 ) cv (T3 T4 )
m
k 1
T4 v3 1 P4 T4 v3
T3 v4 r k 1 P3 T3 v4
4 1 Constant Volume Heat Removal
Qout W
(u1 u 4 ) ( )
m m AIR Qout
Qout
(u4 u1 ) cv (T4 T1 ) BC
m
P4 P1
T4 T1
First Law Analysis Parameters
Net cycle work:
Wcycle Wout Win mu3 u4 mu2 u1
Cycle thermal efficiency:
Wcycle u3 u4 u2 u1 u3 u2 u4 u1 1 u4 u1
th
Qin u3 u2 u3 u2 u3 u2
cv (T4 T1 ) T 1
1 1 1 1 k 1
cv (T3 T2 ) T2 r
Indicated mean effective pressure is:
Wcycle imep Qin r 1 Qin / m r
imep
th th
V1 V2 P1 P1V1 r 1 k 1 u1 r 1
Effect of Compression Ratio on Thermal Efficiency
1
th 1
const cV r k 1
Typical SI
engines
9 < r < 11
k = 1.4
Spark ignition engine compression ratio limited by T3 (autoignition)
and P3 (material strength), both ~rk
For r = 8 the efficiency is 56% which is twice the actual indicated value
Effect of Specific Heat Ratio on Thermal Efficiency
1
th 1
const cV r k 1
Specific heat
ratio (k)
Cylinder temperatures vary between 20K and 2000K so 1.2 < k < 1.4
k = 1.3 most representative
Factors Affecting Work per Cycle
The net cycle work of an engine can be increased by either:
i) Increasing the r (12)
ii) Increase Qin (23)
Wcycle Qin r
3 imep th
P V1 V2 V1 r 1
3 (ii)
4
Qin 4
Wcycle
4
2
(i)
1
1
V2 V1
Effect of Compression Ratio on Thermal Efficiency and MEP
imep Qin r 1
1 k
P1 P1V1 r 1 r
k = 1.3
Ideal Diesel Cycle
Qin Qout
Air
BC
Compression Const pressure Expansion Const volume
Process heat addition Process heat rejection
Process Process
Air-Standard Diesel cycle
Process 1 2 Isentropic compression
Process 2 3 Constant pressure heat addition
Process 3 4 Isentropic expansion
Process 4 1 Constant volume heat rejection
Cut-off ratio:
Qin
v3
rc
v2
Qout
v2 v1
TC BC
TC BC
Thermal Efficiency
Qout m u u
Diesel 1 1 4 1
cycle Qin m h3 h2
For cold air-standard the above reduces to:
Diesel 1 k 1
1 1 rck 1 Otto 1
1
const cV
r k rc 1
recall,
r k 1
Note the term in the square bracket is always larger than one so for the
same compression ratio, r, the Diesel cycle has a lower thermal efficiency
than the Otto cycle
Note: CI needs higher r compared to SI to ignite fuel
Thermal Efficiency
Typical CI Engines
15 < r < 20
When rc (= v3/v2)1 the Diesel cycle efficiency approaches the
efficiency of the Otto cycle
Higher efficiency is obtained by adding less heat per cycle, Qin,
run engine at higher speed to get the same power.
Thermodynamic Dual Cycle
Qin Qin Qout
Air
Dual TC
Cycle
BC
Compression Const volume Const pressure Expansion Const volume
Process heat addition heat addition Process heat rejection
Process Process Process
Dual Cycle
Process 1 2 Isentropic compression
Process 2 2.5 Constant volume heat addition
Process 2.5 3 Constant pressure heat addition
Process 3 4 Isentropic expansion
Process 4 1 Constant volume heat rejection
2.5 3 Qin
3
2 Qin
2.5
4
4 2
1
1 Qout
Qin
(u2.5 u2 ) (h3 h2.5 ) cv (T2.5 T2 ) c p (T3 T2.5 )
m
Thermal Efficiency
Qout m u4 u1
Dual 1 1
cycle Qin m (u2.5 u2 ) (h3 h2.5 )
1 rck 1
Dual 1 k 1
const cv r ( 1) k rc 1
v3 P3
where rc and
v2.5 P2
Note, the Otto cycle (rc=1) and the Diesel cycle (=1) are special cases:
Otto 1
1 Diesel
1 k 1
1 1 rck 1
r k 1 const cV
r k rc 1
The use of the Dual cycle requires information about either:
i) the fractions of constant volume and constant pressure heat addition
(common assumption is to equally split the heat addition), or
ii) maximum pressure P3.
Transformation of rc and into more natural variables yields
k 1 Qin 1 1 1 P3
rc 1
k P1V1 r k 1 k 1 r k P1
For the same inlet conditions P1, V1 and the same compression ratio:
Otto Dual Diesel
For the same inlet conditions P1, V1 and the same peak pressure P3
(actual design limitation in engines):
Diesel Dual otto
For the same inlet conditions P1, V1 For the same inlet conditions P1, V1
and the same compression ratio P2/P1: and the same peak pressure P3:
Pmax
Pressure, P
x 2.5
Pressure, P
Qout
th 1
Po
Qin
Po
Specific Volume
1
Specific Volume 4 Tds
1 3
2 Tds Tmax
Temperature, T
Temperature, T
Entropy Entropy
