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

Fuel/Air
Mixture

Combustion
Products

Actual
Cycle

Intake
Stroke

Compression
Stroke

Power
Stroke

Exhaust
Stroke

Actual SI Engine cycle

Total Time Available: 10 msec
Ignition

Early CI Engine Cycle

Fuel injected
at TC

A
I
R

Combustion
Products

Air

Actual
Cycle

Intake
Stroke

Compression
Stroke

Power
Stroke

Exhaust
Stroke

Modern CI Engine Cycle

Fuel injected
at 15o bTC

A
I
R

Air

Combustion
Products

Actual
Cycle

Intake
Stroke

Compression
Stroke

Power
Stroke

Exhaust
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 15 o)
Fuel injection starts

Early CI engine

Fuel injection starts

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

Fuel/Air
Mixture

Combustion
Products

Actual
Cycle

Intake
Stroke

Otto
Cycle

Compression
Stroke

Qin

Air

Power
Stroke

Exhaust
Stroke

Qout

TC

BC

Compression
Process

Const volume
heat addition
Process

Expansion
Process

Const volume
heat rejection
Process

Air-Standard Otto cycle

Process 1 2
Process 2 3
Process 3 4
Process 4 1

Isentropic compression
Constant volume heat addition
Isentropic expansion
Constant volume heat rejection

Compression ratio:

r
Qin

Qout
v2

v1

TC

BC

TC

BC

v1 v4

v 2 v3

First Law Analysis of Otto Cycle

12 Isentropic Compression

(u 2 u1 )

AIR

W
Q
( in )
m
m

Win
(u2 u1 ) cv (T2 T1 )
m

T2 v1

T1 v2

k 1

k 1

P2 T2 v1

P1 T1 v2

23 Constant Volume Heat Addition

(u3 u 2 ) (

Qin W
)
m
m

Qin
(u3 u2 ) cv (T3 T2 )
m

P3 T3

P2 T2

AIR

Qin
TC

3 4 Isentropic Expansion

(u 4 u3 )

W
Q
( out )
m
m

AIR

Wout
(u3 u4 ) cv (T3 T4 )
m

T4 v3

T3 v4

k 1

1
r k 1

P4 T4 v3

P3 T3 v4

4 1 Constant Volume Heat Removal

(u1 u 4 ) (

Qout W
)
m
m

AIR

Qout
(u4 u1 ) cv (T4 T1 )
m

Qout
BC

P4 P1

T4 T1

First Law Analysis Parameters

Net cycle work:

Wcycle Wout Win m u3 u4 m u2 u1

Cycle thermal efficiency:

th

Wcycle
Qin

u3 u4 u2 u1 u3 u2 u4 u1 1 u4 u1
u3 u 2
u3 u 2
u3 u 2

cv (T4 T1 )
T
1
1 1 1 k 1
cv (T3 T2 )
T2
r

Indicated mean effective pressure is:

imep

Wcycle
V1 V2

imep Qin r
1 Qin / m

th
P1
P1V1 r 1
k 1 u1

th
r 1

Effect of Compression Ratio on Thermal Efficiency

th

const cV

1
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

th

const cV

1
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)

imep

(ii)

4
Qin

Wcycle

4
4

(i)
1

V2

V1

Wcycle
V1 V2

Qin r

th
V1 r 1

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
Process

Const pressure
heat addition
Process

Expansion
Process

Const volume
heat rejection
Process

Air-Standard Diesel cycle

Process 1 2
Process 2 3
Process 3 4
Process 4 1

Isentropic compression
Constant pressure heat addition
Isentropic expansion
Constant volume heat rejection
Cut-off ratio:

Qin

rc

Qout

v2

v1

TC

BC

TC

BC

v3
v2

Thermal Efficiency

Diesel
cycle

Qout m
u4 u1
1
1
Qin m
h3 h2

For cold air-standard the above reduces to:

Diesel

const cV

1 1 rck 1
1 k 1

r k rc 1

recall,

Otto 1

1
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, Q in,
run engine at higher speed to get the same power.

Thermodynamic Dual Cycle

Qin

Dual
Cycle

Qin

Qout

Air

TC

BC

Compression
Process

Const volume
heat addition
Process

Const pressure
heat addition
Process

Expansion
Process

Const volume
heat rejection
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

Qin

Qin

4
1

2.5

Qout

Qin
(u2.5 u2 ) ( h3 h2.5 ) cv (T2.5 T2 ) c p (T3 T2.5 )
m

Thermal Efficiency

Dual 1
cycle

Qout m
u4 u1
1
Qin m
(u2.5 u2 ) (h3 h2.5 )

Dual

const cv

where rc

rck 1
1 k 1
r ( 1) k rc 1
1

v3

v2.5

and

P3

P2

Note, the Otto cycle (rc=1) and the Diesel cycle (=1) are special cases:

Otto 1

1
r k 1

Diesel

const cV

1 1 rck 1
1 k 1

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
rc 1

k 1
k

Qin 1
1

k 1

P
V
k

1
r
1 1

1 P3
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

and the same compression ratio P2/P1:

For the same inlet conditions P1, V1

and the same peak pressure P3:

Pressure, P

Pmax

th 1
Po
Specific Volume

Temperature, T

tto
O al
Du
sel
Die

Entropy

Qout
Qin

Po

Specific Volume

1
4 Tds
3
2 Tds

Tmax

Temperature, T

Pressure, P

x 2.5

el
Dies

al
Du
to
Ot

Entropy