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Theories of Combustion in SI Engine

There are three stages of combustion in a SI engine: 1. Ignition lag stage - The time between spark and noticeable pressure rise due to combustion. 2. Flame propagation stage - Once a flame is formed, it must propagate through the air-fuel mixture. 3. After burning stage - Combustion continues after peak pressure is reached. The rate of flame propagation depends on factors like air-fuel ratio, compression ratio, engine load, turbulence, and others. A near-stoichiometric ratio of 10% rich provides maximum flame speed. Higher compression ratios and loads increase pressure and temperature, reducing ignition lag and increasing flame speed. Turbulence also increases flame speed through better mixing and heat transfer

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178 views4 pages

Theories of Combustion in SI Engine

There are three stages of combustion in a SI engine: 1. Ignition lag stage - The time between spark and noticeable pressure rise due to combustion. 2. Flame propagation stage - Once a flame is formed, it must propagate through the air-fuel mixture. 3. After burning stage - Combustion continues after peak pressure is reached. The rate of flame propagation depends on factors like air-fuel ratio, compression ratio, engine load, turbulence, and others. A near-stoichiometric ratio of 10% rich provides maximum flame speed. Higher compression ratios and loads increase pressure and temperature, reducing ignition lag and increasing flame speed. Turbulence also increases flame speed through better mixing and heat transfer

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BALAMBAL R
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© © All Rights Reserved
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22. (a).

Explain briefly the stages of combustion in SI engines elaborating the flame front
propagation. (14)
Theories of Combustion in SI Engine
Combustion in SI engine may roughly is divided into two general types: Normal and
Abnormal (knock free or knocking). Theoretical diagram of pressure crank angle diagram is
shown in figure below. (a to b) is compression process, (b to c) is combustion process and (c
to d) is an expansion process. In an ideal cycle it can be seen from the diagram, the entire
pressure rise during combustion takes place at constant volume at TDC. However, in actual
cycle this does not happen.

Three Stage of Combustion:


According to Ricardo, There are three stages of combustion in SI Engine as shown
1. Ignition lag stage
2. Flame propagation stage
3. After burning stage

1. Ignition lag stage:


There is a certain time interval between instant of spark and instant where there is a
noticeable rise in pressure due to combustion. This time lag is called IGNITION LAG.
Ignition lag is the time interval in the process of chemical reaction during which molecules
get heated up to self- ignition temperature , get ignited and produce a self- propagating
nucleus of flame. The ignition lag is generally expressed in terms of crank angle (deg). The
period of ignition lag is shown by path (a-b). Ignition lag is very small and lies between
0.00015 to 0.0002 seconds. An ignition lag of 0.002 seconds corresponds to 35 deg crank
rotation when the engine is running at 3000 RPM. Angle of advance increase with the speed.
This is a chemical process depending upon the nature of fuel, temperature and pressure,
proportions of exhaust gas and rate of oxidation or burning.

2. Flame propagation stage:


Once the flame is formed at “b”, it should be self-sustained and must be able to propagate
through the mixture. This is possible when the rate of heat generation by burning is greater
than heat lost by flame to surrounding. After the point “b”, the flame propagation is
abnormally low at the beginning as heat lost is more than heat generated. Therefore pressure
rise is also slow as mass of mixture burned is small. Therefore, it is necessary to provide
angle of advance (30-35) degrees, if the peak pressure to be attained (5-10) degrees after
TDC. The time required for crank to rotate through an angle ( ) is known as combustion
period during which propagation of flame takes place.
3. After burning:
Combustion will not stop at point “c” but continue after attaining peak pressure and this
combustion is known as after burning. This generally happens when the rich mixture is
supplied to engine.

Factors Affecting the Flame Propagation:


Rate of flame propagation affects the combustion process in SI engines. Higher
flame propagation velocities can achieve higher combustion efficiency and fuel
economy. Unfortunately flame velocities for most of fuel range between [10-30]
(m/second).
The factors that affect the flame propagations are:
1. Air fuel ratio
2. Compression ratio
3. Load on engine
4. Turbulence and engine speed
5. Other factors
1. A/F ratio: The mixture strength influences the rate of combustion and amount of heat
generated. The maximum flame speed for all hydrocarbon fuels occurs at nearly 10% rich
mixture. Flame speed is reduced both for lean and as well as for very rich mixture. Lean
mixture releases less heat resulting lower flame temperature and lower flame speed. Very rich
mixture results incomplete combustion, and also results in production of less heat and flame
speed remains low. The effects of (A/F) ratio on P-v diagram and P-theta diagram are shown

2. Compression ratio: The higher compression ratio increases the pressure and temperature
of the mixture and also decreases the concentration of residual gases. All these factors reduce
the ignition lag and help to speed up the second phase of combustion. The maximum pressure
of the cycle as well as mean effective pressure of the cycle with increase in compression
ratio. Figure below shows the effect of compression ratio on pressure (indirectly on the speed
of combustion) with respect to crank angle for same (A/F) ratio and same angle of advance.
Higher compression ratio increases the surface to volume ratio and thereby increases the part
of the mixture which after-burns in the third phase.

3. Load on Engine: With increase in load, the cycle pressures increase and the flame speed
also increases. In S.I. engine, the power developed by an engine is controlled by throttling. At
lower load and higher throttle, the initial and final pressure of the mixture after compression
decrease and mixture is also diluted by the more residual gases. This reduces the flame
propagation and prolongs the ignition lag. This is the reason, the advance mechanism is also
provided with change in load on the engine. This difficulty can be partly overcome by
providing rich mixture at part loads but this definitely increases the chances of afterburning.
The after burning is prolonged with richer mixture. In fact, poor combustion at part loads and
necessity of providing richer mixture are the main disadvantages of S.I engines which causes
wastage of fuel and discharge of large amount of CO with exhaust gases.

4. Turbulence : Turbulence plays very important role in combustion of fuel as the flame
speed is directly proportional to the turbulence of the mixture. This is because, the turbulence
increases the mixing and heat transfer coefficient or heat transfer rate between the burned and
unburned mixture. The turbulence of the mixture can be increased at the end of compression
by suitable design of the combustion chamber (geometry of cylinder head and piston crown).
Insufficient turbulence provides low flame velocity and incomplete combustion and reduces
the power output. But excessive turbulence is also not desirable as it increases the
combustion rapidly and leads to detonation. Excessive turbulence causes to cool the flame
generated and flame propagation is reduced. Moderate turbulence is always desirable as it
accelerates the chemical reaction, reduces ignition lag, increases flame propagation and even
allows weak mixture to burn efficiently.

5. Other Factors: Among the other factors, the factors that increase the flame speed are
supercharging of the engine, spark timing and residual gases left in the engine at the end of
exhaust stroke. The air humidity also affects the flame velocity but its exact effect is not
known. Anyhow, its effect is not large compared with (A/F) ratio and turbulence.

(OR)
22. (b). Following data relate to 4 cylinder four-stroke petrol engine. Air- fue1ratio by
weight = 16: 1, calorific value of the fuel = 45200 kJ/kg, mechanical efficiency = 82%, air-
standard efficiency = 52%, relative efficiency = 70%, volumetric efficiency = 78%,
stroke/bore ratio =1.25, suction conditions = 1 bar and 25°C, speed = 2400 rpm and power
at brakes = 72 kW. Calculate the:
(i) Compression ratio.
(ii) Indicated thermal efficiency.
(iii) Brake specific fuel consumption.
(iv) Bore and stroke. (14)

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