Internal

Combustion
Engines
Alireza Mashayekh
Spring 2024
Engine Cycles
Outline
● Air-standard cycles
● Real engine cycles
● Comparison of cycles
● Cycle simulations
● Other
Engine Cycles
● This section will introduce:
○ A number of engine cycles
○ Some simple thermodynamics associated with idealized engine cycles
○ A brief discussion of more accurate engine cycle simulations

● Some of the first attempts at modeling the IC engine

involved using simple concepts, ideal gas models, and
simplistic combustion processes
● For example, the “Otto” cycle is based on an air-standard
cycle using constant volume heat release to model the
combustion process
Heat Engines vs Chemical Conversion Engines
● The “Otto” cycle represents a heat engine
● The energy into and out of the engine is via heat
transfer
● Actual combustion engines are in a class of chemical
conversion engines
● The “heat” energy originates from the fuel chemical
energy
● This is a fundamental difference, and dictates whether or
not certain limits may apply
○ For example, the Carnot efficiency is applicable to a heat engine,
but does not apply to a combustion engine (although the second law
still applies to combustion engines)
Heat Engines vs Chemical Conversion Engines
Heat Engine Chemical Conversion Engine

● A “heat” engine involves the transfer of energy via heat transfer

○ A good example of this is the standard Rankine, steam power plant

● A “chemical conversion” or combustion engine is a device in which

the “heat release” occurs within the working fluid during a chemical
process
The Air-Standard Cycle
● The air-standard cycles are based on a
collection of approximations to the real
processes:
1. The gases are approximated as pure air (as an ideal gas)
2. The cycle is assumed closed (no gas exchange)
3. Combustion is replaced with a heat addition (this could
be specified as constant volume, constant pressure, … )
4. Exhaust is replaced with a heat rejection – usually at
constant volume
5. Compression and expansion strokes are approximated as
isentropic
The Air-Standard Cycle
● Depending on the details of the cycle, several
versions of these air-standard cycles can be
proposed:
1. “Otto” cycle: constant volume heat addition
2. “Diesel” cycle: constant pressure heat addition
3. “Dual” cycle: combination of constant volume and constant
pressure heat addition
4. “Atkinson” and “Miller” cycles: larger expansion ratio than
compression ratio
5. “Lenoir” cycle: an historic engine that was based on no
compression
6. Many other variations
“Otto” Cycle
● The “Otto” cycle is an
application of an air-standard
cycle which uses a constant
volume heat addition

● The name “Otto”:

○ Comes from Nicholaus Otto (1832-1891)
○ A German inventor
○ Built the first practical four-stroke
cycle engine in 1876
“Otto” Cycle
● The Otto cycle is based
on:
○ 1→2: isentropic compression
○ 2→3: constant volume
combustion
○ 3→4: isentropic expansion
○ 4→1: constant volume heat
rejection
“Otto” Cycle
● The Otto cycle is based on:
140
"Otto" Cycle
3
Air Standard Analysis ○ 1→2: isentropic compression
120 q/(Cv T1) = 13.9
○ 2→3: constant volume combustion
= 1.30
r = 8.0
○ 3→4: isentropic expansion
100 ○ 4→1: constant volume heat
rejection

80
● Although the Otto cycle is
considered a representation of
p/p1

60
a four-stroke, SI engine, it
really is a two-stroke cycle
Qin
Isentropic
Expansion
40
in its elementary form
● Two additional strokes can be
20
Isentropic 4 Q
added to form an “ideal” four-
stroke, Otto cycle – however,
2
Compression out

0 1 this extension is not too

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 useful
V/Vmin
“Otto” Cycle Thermodynamics
● A thermodynamic evaluation of the Otto
cycle provides some interesting insights:
○ 1→2: isentropic compression
■ 𝑤1−2 = 𝑢2 − 𝑢1 = 𝐶𝑣 𝑇2 − 𝑇1
○ 2→3: constant volume combustion
■ 𝑞2−3 = 𝑢3 − 𝑢2 = 𝐶𝑣 𝑇3 − 𝑇2
○ 3→4: isentropic expansion
■ 𝑤3−4 = 𝑢4 − 𝑢3 = 𝐶𝑣 (𝑇4 − 𝑇3 )
○ 4→1: constant volume heat rejection
■ 𝑞4−1 = 𝑢1 − 𝑢4 = 𝐶𝑣 𝑇1 − 𝑇4
“Otto” Cycle Thermodynamics
● Now, the thermodynamic states may be defined:

● 1→2: isentropic compression

○ For variable properties: 𝑠1 𝑇1 , 𝑃1 = 𝑠2 𝑇2 , 𝑃2

𝑣1 𝑘−1
○ For constant properties: 𝑇2 = 𝑇1 = 𝑇1 𝑟 𝑘−1
, 𝑃2 = 𝑃1 𝑟 𝑘
𝑣2

● 2→3: constant volume combustion

○ For variable properties: 𝑢3 𝑇3 = 𝑢2 𝑇2 + 𝑞2−3
𝑞2−3
○ For constant properties: 𝑇3 = 𝑇2 +
𝐶𝑣
“Otto” Cycle Thermodynamics
● 3→4: isentropic expansion
○ For variable properties: 𝑠4 𝑇4 , 𝑃4 = 𝑠3 𝑇3 , 𝑃3

𝑣3 𝑘−1 1 𝑘−1 1 𝑘
○ For constant properties: 𝑇4 = 𝑇3 = 𝑇3 , 𝑃4 = 𝑃3
𝑣4 𝑟 𝑟

● 4→1: constant volume heat rejection

○ For variable properties: 𝑢4 𝑇4 = 𝑢1 𝑇1 + 𝑞4−1
𝑞4−1 𝑅𝑇4
○ For constant properties: 𝑇4 = 𝑇1 + , 𝑃4 =
𝐶𝑣 𝑣4
“Otto” Cycle Thermodynamics
● Now, the overall cycle efficiency may be determined
○ For constant properties:
𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤3−4 − 𝑤1−2 𝐶𝑣 𝑇3 − 𝑇4 − 𝐶𝑣 𝑇2 − 𝑇1
𝜂𝑡 = = =
𝑄𝑖𝑛 𝑞2−3 𝐶𝑣 𝑇3 − 𝑇2
𝑇4
𝑇4 − 𝑇1 𝑇1 𝑇1 − 1
𝜂𝑡 = 1 − =1−
𝑇3 − 𝑇2 𝑇2 𝑇3 − 1
𝑇2

● Although this is a correct statement of the cycle

efficiency, the use of temperatures is not too convenient
since only 𝑇1 may be known
● It would be better to have efficiency in terms of known
input or design parameters
“Otto” Cycle Thermodynamics
● To convert the efficiency expression, we need to relate temperatures
to volumes
● The isentropic processes yield:
𝑇2 𝑣1 𝑘−1 𝑣4 𝑘−1 𝑇3 𝑇4 𝑇3
= = = or =
𝑇1 𝑣2 𝑣3 𝑇4 𝑇1 𝑇2

𝑇4
𝑇1 −1 𝑇1 𝑣2
𝑘−1
𝑇1
𝜂𝑡 = 1 − = 1− = 1−
𝑇2 𝑇3 𝑇2 𝑣1
−1
𝑇2
𝑘−1
1 1−𝑘
𝜂𝑡 = 1 − = 1− 𝑟
𝑟
“Otto” Cycle Thermodynamics
● For an analysis with variable properties, no simple
formula exists so we need to use the actual energy
values:

𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑥𝑝 − 𝑤𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝 𝑢3 − 𝑢4 − 𝑢2 − 𝑢1

𝜂𝑡 = = =
𝑞𝑖𝑛 𝑞𝑖𝑛 𝑢3 − 𝑢2

𝑞𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝜂𝑡 = 1 −
𝑞𝑖𝑛

● Variable thermodynamic properties for air are next

Thermodynamic Air Tables
Otto Cycle Results
𝑘−1
1 1−𝑘
𝜂𝑡 = 1 − =1− 𝑟
𝑟

● The Otto cycle results show

increasing efficiency with
increases of compression
ratio and with increases of
the ratio of specific heats
● These trends are verified
by actual data, but the
Otto cycle values are high
by roughly a factor of two
Otto Cycle Results
𝑘−1
1 1−𝑘
𝜂𝑡 = 1 − =1− 𝑟
𝑟

● Both compression ratio

and the ratio of specific
heats (“k”) are important
parameters relative to
high efficiency engines
Otto Cycle Results – Ratio of Specific Heats
● The ratio of the specific
heats for the burned
gases (𝑘𝑏 or 𝑏) as a
function of temperature
for different equivalence
ratios for 5000 kPa
Otto Cycle Results –Specific Heats
6.0
p = 100 kPa
● The specific heat at
5.0 constant pressure for the
p = 1000 kPa
burned gases as a
4.0 function of temperature
Cp,b (kJ/kg K)

p = 10000 kPa for an equivalence ratio

3.0
of 1.0 for three
2.0 "Frozen"
pressures
Composition

1.0 Isooctane-Air Mixtures, = 1.0

Equilibrium Composition (solid lines)
"Frozen" Composition (dashed line)

0.0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

Temperature (K)
P-V diagrams for Different “k” Values
● This figure represents the
pressure-volume diagrams
for the various “𝑘” values
● Note that the most
important feature of the
higher “𝑘” values is the
higher pressures that are
generated with the same
“heat” input
● This leads to the higher
work outputs, and the
higher efficiencies
Comparison of Ideal and Actual Cycles
How well does the Otto cycle
represent an actual SI engine
cycle:
● Compression:
○ the isentropic approximation is
not too bad
● Combustion:
○ the constant volume heat release
is a poor representation and
results in much too high
pressures
● Expansion:
○ the adiabatic assumption is poor
due to the high temperatures
● Exhaust:
○ the assumption of constant volume
heat rejection is poor, but the
impact is modest
Temperature-Entropy Diagrams
12

11
IASE Cycle
r=8
● The T-s diagrams for the
Q* = 9.05
10 ideal, Otto cycle and for
9 an actual cycle from the
8
engine simulation are
7
presented
T/Tinitial

4
● This represents another
3 weakness of the simple
2
Cycle Simulation
b = 60
o Otto cycle
1400 rpm
1 pinlet = 95 kPa
IASE entropy match point r = 8.0
0
6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0
SPECIFIC ENTROPY (kJ/kg-mix-K)
Summary of Deficiencies of Simple, Air-Standard Cycles (1/2)
● Traditionally, the Otto cycle analysis has been used to
model IC engines
● This is incorrect for a number of reasons (next slide)
● The fact that several features of the Otto cycle are
consistent with IC engines has obscured the fact that the
Otto cycle is fundamentally incorrect as a model for IC
engines
● Features that are consistent with IC engines are:
1. The compression and expansion processes
2. Temperature and pressure increases due to thermal energy addition
3. The mechanical conversion of pressure increases to work
Summary of Deficiencies of Simple, Air-Standard Cycles (2/2)
● Based on “heat engines” not chemical conversion devices
(no combustion)
● Does not include cylinder heat transfer
● Does not utilize “progressive” combustion
● Based on air and not the actual working fluid (air, fuel
vapor, and combustion products)
● Does not include flow processes or residual gases
● Other features not included: blow-by, incomplete
combustion, chemical dissociation, mechanical and fluid
friction, and valve timings
Other Ideal Cycles
Rudolph “Diesel”
● Rudolph Diesel (1858-1913)
● Inventor of the diesel engine
● patented (in 1898) the concept of an
engine operating in an “ideal” fashion
● Based his ideas on Carnot’s vision
even though the final engine did not
possess “constant temperature” heat
addition
● For their time, the early diesel
engines were highly efficient (~25%)
● This was partly due to their large
size and slow speed
“Diesel” Cycle
● Characterization of a P-V
diagram for an older,
slow diesel engine
● Note: how could we
approximate the heat
release? (At constant
pressure?)
“Diesel” Cycle
● The Diesel cycle is
based on:
○ 1→2: isentropic
compression
○ 2→3: constant pressure
combustion
○ 3→4: isentropic
expansion
○ 4→1: constant volume
heat rejection
“Diesel” Cycle Thermodynamics
Thermodynamic evaluation of the Diesel cycle provides
some interesting insights:
● 1→2: isentropic compression 𝑤1−2 = 𝑢2 − 𝑢1 = 𝐶𝑣 𝑇2 − 𝑇1
● 2→3: constant pressure combustion 𝑞2−3 = ℎ3 − ℎ2 = 𝐶𝑝 𝑇3 − 𝑇2
● 3→4: isentropic expansion 𝑤3−4 = 𝑢4 − 𝑢3 = 𝐶𝑣 𝑇4 − 𝑇3
● 4→1: constant volume heat rejection 𝑞4−1 = 𝑢1 − 𝑢4 = 𝐶𝑣 (𝑇1 − 𝑇4 )

○ Note: constant pressure heat addition involves volume change

○ This also introduces a new parameter, the “cut-off” ratio
𝑣 𝑇
𝛽 = 𝑣3 = 𝑇3 (what does this ratio mean?)
2 2
“Diesel” Cycle Thermodynamics
Now, the thermodynamic states may be
defined:
● 1→2: isentropic compression
○ For variable properties: 𝑠1 𝑇1 , 𝑃1 = 𝑠2 𝑇2 , 𝑃2
𝑣1 𝑘−1
○ For constant properties: 𝑇2 = 𝑇1 = 𝑇1 𝑟 𝑘−1 ,
𝑃2 = 𝑃1 𝑟 𝑘
𝑣2
● 2→3: constant pressure combustion
○ For variable properties: ℎ3 𝑇3 = ℎ2 𝑇2 + 𝑞2−3
𝑞2−3
○ For constant properties: 𝑇3 = 𝑇2 + , 𝑝3 = 𝑝2
𝐶𝑝
“Diesel” Cycle Thermodynamics
● 3→4: isentropic expansion
○ For variable properties: 𝑠4 𝑇4 , 𝑃4 = 𝑠3 𝑇3 , 𝑃3
𝑣3 𝑘−1 𝑣3 𝑘
○ For constant properties: 𝑇4 = 𝑇3 𝑣 , 𝑃4 = 𝑃3 𝑣
4 4
𝑤3−4 = 𝐶𝑣 (𝑇4 − 𝑇3 )
● 4→1: constant volume heat rejection
○ For variable properties: 𝑢4 𝑇4 = 𝑢3 𝑇3 − 𝑞4−1
𝑞4−1 𝑅𝑇4
○ For constant properties: 𝑇4 = 𝑇3 − , 𝑝4 =
𝐶𝑣 𝑣4
“Diesel” Cycle Thermodynamics
● Now, the overall cycle efficiency may be determined (for
constant properties):

𝑊𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤2−3 + 𝑤3−4 − 𝑤1−2 𝑃2 𝑣3 − 𝑣2 + 𝐶𝑣 𝑇3 − 𝑇4 − 𝐶𝑣 𝑇2 − 𝑇1

𝜂𝑡 = = =
𝑄𝑖𝑛 𝑞2−3 𝐶𝑝 𝑇3 − 𝑇2

𝑅 𝑇3 − 𝑇2 + 𝐶𝑣 𝑇3 − 𝑇4 − 𝐶𝑣 𝑇2 − 𝑇1
𝜂𝑡 =
𝐶𝑝 (𝑇3 − 𝑇2 )
1 𝑘−1 𝛽 𝑘 −1
𝜂𝑡 = 1 − (details in the textbook)
𝑟 𝑘 𝛽−1
○ Note:
■ This is similar to the expression for the Otto cycle
■ The factor in square brackets is larger than 1
■ So, the final efficiency is always less than the Otto cycle for the same
compression ratio
“Diesel” Cycle Results
𝑘−1
1 𝛽𝑘 − 1
𝜂𝑡 = 1 −
𝑟 𝑘 𝛽−1

● The Diesel cycle results show

increasing efficiency with
increases of compression ratio
and with increases of the ratio
of specific heats – but the
values are lower than for the
Otto cycle with the same
compression ratio
● (The dual or “limited pressure”
Fuel conversion efficiency as a function of cycle (explained next) provides
compression ratio, for constant-volume,
an intermediate value for the
constant-pressure, and limited-pressure ideal
gas cycles. 𝛾=1.3 , 𝑄 ∗/(𝑐𝑝 𝑇1 ) = 9.3(𝑟𝑐 − 1 )/𝑟𝑐 . For efficiency)
limited-pressure cycle, 𝑝3 /𝑝1 = 33, 67, 100
“Dual” Cycle
● The “dual” cycle includes
part of the heat release
at constant volume and
the rest of the heat
release at constant
pressure
● This should provide a
better “match” to an
actual pressure curve,
but with more variables
“Lenoir” Cycle
● The Lenoir engine was built
in the 1860s (one of the
first commercial engines)
● Used no compression, and
operated on a two stroke
cycle
● It is reported to have had
a thermal efficiency of ~5%
“Atkinson” or “Miller” Cycle
● The Atkinson or Miller
cycle is an overexpanded
cycle that attempts to
generate more work by using
an expansion that is
greater than the
compression
● This can be accomplished by
a mechanism (Atkinson) or
by valve timing (Miller)
 End:
Engine Cycles
Engine Cycle Simulation

Brief Introduction
Reference Book
● A nice reference book
focused on thermodynamic
cycle simulation of ICE
Engine Cycle Simulations
Engine Cycle Simulations
Engine Cycle Simulations
Some Features of Thermodynamic Cycle Simulations
● The cylinder contents are
defined as the system
● The first law energy equation
is applied at each instant
● The computations can be
completed at some fraction of
a crank angle
● Piston work, cylinder heat
transfer, and intake/exhaust
flows are included
● The working fluid is air, fuel
vapor, and combustion products
(based on chemical equilibrium
considerations)
● Combustion may be described by
prescribed functions
Some Features of Thermodynamic Cycle Simulations
● The flow rates are determined
from one-dimensional flow
equations using appropriate
discharge coefficients
● Actual valve timings are used
including valve overlap
conditions
● Cylinder heat transfer and
mechanical friction is
estimated from empirical
correlations
● Calculations are completed for
several complete cycles until
convergence is achieved
Example Results
Example Results
CFD Simulations
● Some videos of CFD simulation are shown as examples!