ME 508 Automobile Engineering:

Performance Parameters of
Internal Combustion (IC) Engines
Asanga Ratnaweera
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Geometrical Properties
 Compression Ratio (r)
 The ratio of maximum volume to
the minimum volume of an
engine
 Increasing the compression ratio
increases the thermal efficiency.
 However, there is a limit on r
depending upon the fuel.
 Fuels under high temperature
resulting from high compression
ratios will prematurely ignite, 1
causing knock.  th , Otto 1 
rk 1
Geometrical Properties
 Compression ratio:
 Even though higher
efficiency is expected
with high
compression ratio,
practically it is limited
by the onset of
knocking which is self
ignition of gasoline
under high pressure Knock limit is also
and temperature. dependent on the
spark timing
Geometrical Properties
 Mean piston speed

S p 2 LN N crank speed in rev/sec

 Instantaneous piston velocity at any 

ds
Sp 
dt
By rearranging above equations
Sp   cos  
 sin  1  
Sp 2  
R 2  sin 2  1
2

The max value of “mean piston speed” is between 8
to 15 m/s for small and medium size engine.
large for big engines, small for small engines
Max. Mean Piston Speed
Max. mean piston
Description
speed [m/s]
Low speed diesels
 Marines and stationary applications
~8.5

Medium speed diesels

 Trains and trucks
~11

High speed diesels

 Automobile engines
~14

Medium speed SI engines

 Automobile engines
~16

High speed SI engines

 Sport automobile engines or motorcycles
~20 – 25

Competition
 NASCAR and F1 engines ~25
 Top Fuel engines ~30
From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_piston_speed)
Geometrical Properties
 Bore to stroke ratio:
Bore B B
Rbs   
Stroke L 2a
where a  crank radius
If Rbs is small:
 B small or L large (long stroke)
If Rbs is large:
 B is large but if Vd is the same, engine will have
more Heat losses but the Piston speed is slower
which make better lubrication
Typical bore to stroke ratio
Description B/L
Small to medium size engines 0.8 – 1.2
Large slow-speed CI 0.5
Geometrical Properties
 Ratio of connecting rod length to
crank radius
Conrod l
R 
Crank radius a
 If the connecting rod is long, the
movement of the piston will be more
linear which help reducing engine wears
(reduces forces acting on the surface of
the combustion chamber).
 Typical values of conrod to crank radius
ratio
Description l/a
Small to medium size engines 3–4
Large slow-speed CI 5–9
 Indicated Work
 From p-V diagram, we can calculate work per cycle
can call it “Indicated work”
p
Process Interval
(Example)
Intake IVO to IVC
TC
Compression IVC to TC
Expansion TC to BC
Exhaust EVO to EVC
ex
pa
ns
i on “Gross indicated” Wc,ig = +
co
mp
res
sio EVO
“Pumping” Wp = +
n
IVO exhaust “Net indicated” Wc,in = ( + )
EVC intake IVC
–( + )
V = –
VTC VBC
Indicated Work
Indicated Work per Cycle: Wc,i pdV
“Work per 1 cycle”
Wc ,i N N - rev/sec
Indicated Power : Pi 
nR
Where
nR = number of crank revolutions for each
power stroke per cylinder

For 2 stroke engines, nR = 1

4 stroke engines, nR = 2

Indicated work per cycle can be calculated from p-V diagram

Brake Torque and Brake Power
 Use Engine dynamometer (or Engine dyno) to measure torque
 Hydraulic (hydrostatic) engine dyno
 Eddy current engine dyno
 DC engine dyno
 AC engine dyno
 Measurement of Brake torque

 Brake Power
T Fb

rev/sec
P T 
P T 2 N 
Brake torque measurement
Mechanical Efficiency
 When indicated power is compared with the brake
power, a new parameter called “Friction power Pf ” can
be defined.
Pig Pb  Pf

where 
PigIndicated power and PBrake
b  power
 The ratio between Pb and Pig is called “Mechanical
efficiency” Pb Pf
m  1 
Pig Pig
where  m depends on throttle position, engine design and
speed
At full throttle, speed < 1,800 – 2400rpm  m 90%
At max. rated speed  m 75%
At idle speed  m 0
Mean Effective Pressure
 Mean Effective Pressure (MEP) is a fictitious pressure,
such that if it acted on the piston during the entire power
stroke, it would produce the same amount of net work.
 Average cylinder pressure over measuring period:
Pressure normalized to Engine Displacement (VD)
Wnet
MEP 
Vmax  Vmin

mep is a parameter suitable for different

engine size comparisons.
The net work output of a cycle is
equivalent to the product of the mean
effect pressure and the displacement
volume
Mean Effective Pressure
Work per cycle Wc PnR
mep    Four stroke
Displaced volume Vd Vd N
nR = 2
P (kW )nR 103
mep(kPa )  Two stroke
Vd (dm 3 ) N (rev sec)
nR = 1
6.2π N m)
28nRRTT((N.m)
mep(kPa) 
Vd (dm 3 ) Note: 1 dm3 = 1 liter

 If we use “indicated work”, we will get “indicated mep

(imep)”
 If we use “brake work”, we will get “brake mep (bmep)”
 imep = bmep + fmep where fmep is “friction mep”
Typical Values for bmep
Engine Types bmep [kPa]
Naturally aspirated SI engines
 At max torque (~3,000 rpm) 850 – 1,050
 At max rated power 10% to 15% lower than the above values
Turbocharged SI engines
 At max torque 1,250 – 1,700
 At max rated power 900 – 1,400
Naturally aspirated 4-stroke diesels
 At max torque 700 – 900
 At max rated power ~ 700
Turbocharged 4-stroke diesels
 At max torque 1,000 – 1,200
 At max torque (with aftercooling) Up to 1,400
 At max rated power 850 – 950
Large low-speed 2-stroke diesels Up to 1,600
Reference: Heywood [1988], pp. 50-51
Engine Performance

Reference: Heywood [1988], pp. 50-51

Air-Fuel Ratio
 For combustion to take place, the proper ratio of air and
fuel must be present in the cylinder.
 The air-fuel ratio is defined as

 For a SI engine the AF is in the range of 12 to 18 depending on the

operating conditions.
 For a CI engine, where the mixture is highly non-homogeneous and the
AF is in the range of 18 to 70.

 Equivalence ratio
 Air-fule ratio normalized to the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio
Air-Fuel Ratio
Volumetric Efficiency
 The volumetric efficiency is defined as a mass of
air inducted into the cylinder divided by the mass
that would occupy the displaced volume at the
density of the air a,i in the intake manifold.
 Volumetric efficiency is calculated by mass, “not
by volume”
mass of air inducted into the cylinder
v 
mass that would occupy the displaced volume
Volumetric Efficiency

ma
 a,i
Vd
N
nR cycle
Volumetric Efficiency
 For an ideal engine cycle

xr = Residual mass fraction (xr = mr /m)

mr = Residual mass, kg
m – Total in-cylinder mass, kg (= mr +ma +mf)
F/A = Fuel air ratio
V1 = Volume at bottom dead center
rc = Compression ratio
Specific Fuel Consumption: sfc
 sfc is the rate of fuel consumption per unit power

P – Engine Power, kW
 For typical engine comparisons, we use P as Pb (brake power)
and call the above term as “Brake specific fuel consumption”.
consumption (bsfc)”

Note: CI engines consume less fuel than SI engines

SI Engine CI Engine
Fuel Conversion Efficiency
 or “Thermal Efficiency” is the ratio of work over
energy containing in fuel (heating valve)
where
Wc Wc = work per 1 cycle
f 
m f QHV m f = fuel mass per 1 cycle
QHV = Heating valve = 42 – 44 MJ/kg

Rearrange:

1
or f 
sfc QHV
Fuel Conversion Efficiency
 Theoretically Thermal
efficiency increases as the
compression ratio is increased.

Top dead centre

Stroke

Bottom dead centre

Ideal efficiently
1 Practical limit is about 16
 1 
rc  1
Brake Specific Fuel Consumption vs Size
BSFC decreases with engine size due to reduced heat
losses from gas to cylinder wall.

Note: cylinder surface to volume ratio reduces with bore diameter.

cylinder surface area 2rL 1
 2 
cylinder volume r L r
 Brake SFC vs Speed
 There is a minimum in the bsfc versus engine speed curve

 At high speeds the bsfc increases due to increased friction i.e.

smaller W b
 At lower speeds the bsfc increases due to increased time for heat
losses from the gas to the cylinder and piston wall, and thus a W i
smaller
 Bsfc reduces with compression ratio due to higher thermal efficiency
Engine Performance Parameters

1
f 
sfc QHV

W Pn
mep  c  R
Vd Vd N

P

2N
Normalized Performance
Parameters
IC Engine Performance
 Vehicle Engine Displ. Max Power Max Torque BMEP at BMEP at
type (L) (HP@rpm) (lb-ft@rpm) Max BT Rated BP
(bar) (bar)
Mazda L4 1.839 122@6000 117@4000 10.8 9.9
Protégé LX
Honda L4 2.254 150@5700 152@4900 11.4 10.4
Accord EX
Mazda L4 2.255 210@5300 210@3500 15.9 15.7
Millenia S Turbo
BMW L6 2.793 190@5300 206@3950 12.6 11.5
328i
Ferrari V8 3.496 375@8250 268@6000 13.1 11.6
F355 GTS
Ferrari V12 5.474 436@6250 398@4500 12.4 11.4
456 GT
Lamborghini V12 5.707 492@7000 427@5200 12.7 11.0
Diablo VT
Engine performance Vs. Speed
Example
 A 3 L spark ignition four stroke V6 engine runs at a speed of
3600 rev/min. The compression ratio of the engine is 9.5 and
the stoke to bore ratio is 1. A dynamometer test shows that
the engine produces a brake output torque of 205 Nm at 3600
rev/min at air-fuel ratio of 15. At this speed air enters the
cylinders at 85 kPa and 60°C, and the mechanical efficiency of
the engine is 85%. Assume that the air fuel mixture enters the
engine as idea gas with R = 0.287 kJ/kg.K , calorific value of the
fuel is 44,000 kJ/kg and the density of ambient air is 1.18
kg/m3. Find, brake power, indicated power, brake mean
effective pressure, power lost in friction, fuel flow rate to the
engine, brake thermal efficiency, volumetric efficiency, brake
specific fuel consumption.