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DISCLAIMER

These notes are not the ultimate ‘look-up’ for Model and University exams. Students are advised to read the
references mentioned at the end thoroughly before the exams

COMBUSTION IN SI ENGINES

INTRODUCTION

Combustion is a rapid chemical combination of hydrogen and carbon in the fuel with oxygen in
the air resulting in liberation of energy in the form of heat. Combustion has been a subject of
intense research for many years and in spite of this is not fully understood today.

The conditions necessary for combustion are:

i. The presence of a combustible mixture;

ii. Some means of initiating combustion, and
iii. Stabilizing and propagation of flame in the combustion chamber.

In SI engines, the combustible mixture is supplied by the carburettor and the combustion is
intitated by a spark from the spark plug.

Chemical Reaction: C8H8 + 12.5 O2 = 8 CO2 + 9 H2O

IGNITION LIMITS

From experiments, we have found out that the ignition is possible only within certain limits of
air-fuel ratio. For hydrocarbon fuels the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio is about 15:1. The air-fuel
ratio ranges from 7:1 to 30:1.

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TYPES OF COMBUSTION

1. NORMAL COMBUSTION: When the flame travels evenly across the combustion
chamber, the combustion is known as normal combustion.
2. ABNORMAL COMBUSTION: When the combustion gets deviated from the normal
behaviour resulting in loss of performance or damage to the engine, its known as
abnormal combustion.

TECHNICAL TERMS

1. FLAME FRONT: Boundary or surface of the flame that separates the burnt charge from
the unburnt one.
2. FLAME SPEED: The speed at which the flame front travels.
3. FLAME TRAVEL: This is related to the time taken for travel of flame.

STAGES OF COMBUSTION IN SI ENGINE

In theory, compression finishes, spark gets applied, and rise in pressure takes place at TDC itself.
But the actual case varies from the theoretical case.

In a SI engine, a sufficiently homogenous mixture of vaporized fuel and air is ignited by a high
temperature spark (spark plug electrodes may go up to 10000oC). Initially a small hollow nucleus
of flame grows gradually at first like a soap bubble. Since the content inside the chamber is not
at rest and is very turbulent, the flame front breaks into a ragged front and increases in surface
area thus radiating its heat and advancing. The rate at which the flame travels depends on the
turbulence.

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I – IGNITION LAG: First stage AB by analogy with diesel engines is called ignition lag, which
is not a correct word to be used for SI engines. In SI engines, there is no practical ignition lag
and the nucleus of combustion arises instantaneously near the spark plug electrodes. But during
the initial period flame front spreads very slowly and the fraction of burnt mixture is so small
that the increase of pressure cannot be detected on the indicator diagram. This is a chemical
process depending upon the nature of the fuel, temperature and pressure and the proportion of the
exhaust gas.

II – FLAME PROPAGATION: The starting point of this stage, B is the point where the first
measurable pressure rise is noticeable (8o before TDC). This can be seen from the deviation from
the motoring curve.

III - AFTERBURNING: The flame velocity decreases during this stage. The piston is already
on its way to expansion stroke and thus does not produce any pressure rise.

EFFECT OF ENGINE VARIABLES ON IGNITION LAG

Ignition Lag in SI engines is a chemical process and may vary from 10o to 20o or 0.0015
seconds. The duration of ignition lag depends on:

1. FUEL: depends on the chemical nature of fuel. The higher the self-ignition temperature,
the longer the ignition lag.

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2. MIXTURE STRENGTH: The ignition lag varies with mixture ratio. If its richer than
stoichiometric, the ignition lag will be minimum as shown in figure.

3. INITIAL TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE: The ignition lag decreases with

increase in temperature and pressure of gas. This is because as the temperature of mixture
increases the rate of chemical reaction increases.

4. TURBULENCE: Turbulence doesn’t affect the ignition lag directly. But turbulence
increases with increase in engine speed. So ignition lag decreases with increase in speed
because for high speed engines all the processes take a faster time to complete.

EFFECT ON ENGINE VARIABLES ON FLAME PROPAGATION

1. AIR-FUEL RATIO: In the case of hydrocarbon fuels the maximum flame velocities
occur when mixture strength is 110% of stoichiometric (10% richer than stoichiometric)
as shown in figure. Lean mixtures release less thermal energy resulting in lower flame
speeds. Richer mixtures have incomplete combustion which results in production of less
thermal energy and hence lower flame speeds.

(Turn Over)

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2. COMPRESSION RATIO: Higher compression ratio increases the pressure and

temperature of gas. This speeds up the second stage of combustion. Increases
compression ratio increases the surface-volume ratio. The flame propagates faster
because of increased contact.

The compression ratio cannot be increased above a certain limit due to knocking
phenomenon. This optimum compression ratio is known as Highest Useful Compression
Ratio (HUCR).

(Turn Over)

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3. INTAKE TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE: Increase in both will increase the

flame speed.

4. ENGINE LOAD: In SI engines as the load is decreased, the throttle is closed and there
is not much pressure of air fuel mixture for compression. This leads to dilution of the
fresh charge by the exhaust gases as they aren’t pushed outside properly. This dilution
reduces the flame propagation. So with increase in loads, the flame propagation
increases.

5. TURBULENCE: The turbulent motion intensifies the motion of the mixture and
increases its heat transfer. This causes an increase in the velocity of flame. Turbulence
accelerates chemical action of mixing the fuel and oxygen. But increased turbulence can
cause the heat flow to the cylinder wall to increase and this can extinguish the flame.
Excessive turbulence can also cause rapid pressure rise and thus lead to vibrations and
knocking.

6. ENGINE SPEED: The higher the engine speed the greater the turbulence inside the
cylinder. This increases the flame speed.

7. ENGINE SIZE: Flame speed is maximum for large engines because the flame has to
travel a longer distance. This can be corrected by reducing the rpm of large engines so as
to compensate with smaller engines.

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ABNORMAL COMBUSTION

So far we covered normal combustion in SI engines. In NORMAL COMBUSTION the flame

travels across the combustion chamber in an even way. But in certain cases, abnormal
combustion may take place which may lead to engine damage or decrease in performance. The
important abnormal combustions are detonation or knock, resignation, run-on etc. Of these
detonation is the most important as it puts a limit on the compression ratio that can be used.

DETONATION OR KNOCKING

Normal combustion and detonation are shown in the figure. In normal combustion, a normal
flame front travels across the combustion chamber from A to D. As the flame front advances it
compresses the unburnt charge BB’D raising its temperature. The temperature is also increased
by radiation form the advancing flame. If this unburnt charge reaches its critical temperature for
auto ignition it will not auto ignite and the flame front BB’ will move across the combustion
chamber in a normal manner.

In the case of abnormal combustion, the end charge reaches auto ignition temperature before the
flame can reach it. During this period certain chemical reactions takes place which prepare the
charge for auto ignition. This time required is called ignition delay. This causes a sudden
pressure rise in the opposite direction and thus the pressure waves clash together producing a
pinging sound or ringing sound known as knocking or detonation.

(Turn Over)

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EFFECTS OF DETONATION

1. Noise and Roughness: As the intensity of knock increases a loud pulsating noise is
produced due to the development of the pressure wave across the cylinder. This produces
noise and rough running of the engine.

2. Mechanical Damage: The increased pressure rise gives rise to wear and tear. Erosion of
piston crown occurs. Pitting of cylinder and head occurs. In large engines, where the
noise is loud and knocking cannot be differentiated, the piston can cease or melt.

3. Carbon Deposit: Detonation results in increased carbon deposit

4. Increase in heat transfer: Knocking is accompanied by an increase of heat transfer to

the walls. The maximum temperature will be 150oC more than normal in a knocking
engine. The major reason is the scouring away of protective layer of inactive stagnant gas
on the cylinder walls due to pressure waves. The inactive gas reduces the heat transfer by
protecting the combustion chamber from direct contact with flame.

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5. Decrease in power output and efficiency: Due to increase in heat transfer the power
output as well as efficiency of a detonating engine increases.

6. Pre-Ignition: This increase in heat transfer causes local overheating of spark plug which
may cause the hot spot to ignite the charge even before the spark happens thus causing
pre-ignition. An engine with prolonged detonation may lead to pre-ignition.

EFFECT OF ENGINE VARIABLES ON DETONATION

1. TEMPERATURE FACTORS: Increasing the temperature of the unburnt mixture by

any factor will increase the knocking tendency. The temperature of the unburnt mixture
can be increased in the following ways:

a. Raising the Compression Ratio: Increasing the compression ratio increases both
temperature and pressure. Increase in temperature reduces the ignition delay of
the end gas. It will also lead to collision of molecules resulting in good chemical
reaction responsible for knocking. This increases the tendency to knock. For any
engine there is a critical compression ratio known as Highest Useful
Compression Ratio (HUCR)

b. Supercharging: It also increases both temperature and density

c. Raising the inlet temperature: Delay period decreases, velocity of flame travel
increases.

d. Raising the coolant temperature: Delay period decreases

e. Increasing the load: Increase in load increases the temperature of cylinder and
chamber walls they by raising the end gas temperature. Also the pressure of
charge is increased. Hence the tendency to knock increases.

f. Advancing the spark timing: When the spark is advanced, burning gas is
compressed by the piston rings and therefore both temperatures and pressures are
increased. Thus the tendency to knock increases with advanced spark timings and
decreases with retarded spark timings. By retarding the spark timing the peak
pressures are further reached down on the power stroke and are thus of lower
magnitude. If in a given engine the fuel quality is changed and knock takes place,

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retarding the ignition may eliminate the knock but it also reduce the engine
power.

2. DENSITY FACTORS: Increased the density of the unburned mixture by any of the
following methods will increase the possibility of knock in the engine.

a. Increasing the compression ratio

b. Opening the throttle

c. Supercharging

d. Increasing the inlet pressure

e. Advancing the spark timings

3. TIME FACTORS: Increasing the time of exposure of the unburned mixture to

autoigniton conditions by any of the following factors will increase the possibility of
knock in SI engines.

a. Increasing flame travel distance

b. Combustion chamber shape: more compact the chamber better will be its anti-
knock characteristics since flame travel and combustion time will be shorter. If
turbulence is present the time for exposure is further reduced thus reducing the
tendency to knock.

c. Location of Spark Plug: A centrally located spark plug has minimum tendency
to knock as the flame travel is minimum. Flame travel can be reduced by using
two or more spark plugs.

d. Location of exhaust valve: Exhaust valve should be located closer to the spark
plug so that it is not in the end gas region otherwise the tendency to knock will
increase.

e. Engine Size: Delay period is not much affected by the engine size but for larger
engines, flame has to travel longer distance. Thus they have a greater tendency to
knock. An SI engine is therefore limited to 100mm bore.

f. Decreasing the speed of engine: this reduces the flame travel and increases the
tendency to knock.

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4. COMPOSITION FACTORS: The properties of the fuel and fuel air ratio are the
primary means for controlling knock

a. Octane Rating: Octane Number is the resistance to knock. Higher the octane
number, lesser the tendency to knock. Paraffin series have the maximum and
aromatic series have the minimum tendency to knock.

b. Fuel Air Ratio: The effect of Fuel Air ratio is on the ignition delay. When the
mixture is 10% richer than stoichiometric (F/A = 0.08) ignition lag of the end gas
is minimum and velocity of flame is maximum. The former effect predominates
and thus knocking tendency is increased. By making the mixture leaner or richer
the knocking tendency is decreased.

c. Humidity of Air: Increasing humidity of air decreases the tendency to knock by

decreasing the reaction time.

(Turn Over)

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CONTROL OF DETONATION

From the point of view of efficiency, the engine must be designed for the highest compression
ratio. But this ratio is limited by detonation. The engines are therefore so designed that
detonation takes place at low speed and high manifold pressure, i.e. full throttle. The ignition is
retarded under these conditions to prevent detonation. At high engine speeds and partly open
throttle (cruising) the automatic mechanism returns the ignition to the optimum timing.

Knocking can be controlled by the following manipulations:

1. Increasing the engine rpm

2. Retarding spark

3. Reducing pressure in manifold by throttling.

4. Making the ratio too lean or too rich preferably latter. In aircrafts the F/A ratio as high as
0.1 can be used. This measure would reduce efficiency but power output can be
maintained. Making the mixture too lean will reduce the power output.

5. Water Injection: Water injection increases the delay period as well as reduces the flame
temperature .

6. Increasing the turbulence

7. Relocating spark plugs or using two or more spark plugs

8. Suitable combustion chamber design to reduce flame length and temperature of end gas.

9. Use of high octane fuels with additives

DETECTION OF DETONATION

1. Detonation is audible to the human ear if the engine noise is not too high.

2. Temperature of the spark plug gasket can be measured using thermocouple. High
temperature would indicate detonation.

3. Vibrations due to detonation can be measured by a knock meter having vibration

sensitive electric pick-up

4. Presence of intermittent puffs of grey smoke in exhaust indicates detonation.

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ABNORMAL COMBUSTION KNOCK (SURFACE IGNITION)

The phenomenon of knock or detonation discussed above can be termed as NORMAL

COMBUSTION KNOCK. This can be reduced by retarding the spark timing. In addition to
normal combustion knock, knocking can also be caused by a phenomenon known as surface
ignition. This is termed as ABNORMAL COMBUSTION KNOCK.

Surface ignition is defined as the initiation of a flame front by a hot surface other than the spark
plug. The hot surface may be spark plug electrode, exhaust valve head, any carbon particle
deposited on the combustion chamber walls or floating in the chamber.

Mostly it is due to carbon deposits. The deposits occupy space and increase the compression
ratio. They are poor heat conductors and interfere with cooling, raise the surface temperature.
The lead compounds contained in the fuel as additives catalyse the glowing oxidation of the
carbon-like material in deposits, raising temperature still more and providing material for a
variety of unwanted ignition sources; some of the glowing deposits may take off and float about
the combustion chamber making sporadic ignition still easier.

The surface ignition may occur before (pre-ignition) or after (post-ignition) normal ignition.
Note that the surface ignition caused by spark plug electrodes can only be pre-ignition and not
post-ignition.

The surface ignition effects are shown in Fig. 5.20. The surface ignition (both pre-ignition and
post-ignition) may or may not cause knocking. Both knocking and non-knocking surface ignition

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may give rise to phenomenon known as 'Run-on surface ignition' and Run-away surface ignition'.
In addition, knocking surface may give rise to 'wild ping', and non-knocking surface ignition to
'rumble'. Non-knocking surface ignition occurs when this abnormal ignition occurs near the
spark plug, and both inflammations emerge and speed up the early part of the combustion
process. Also surface ignition far away from the spark plug may have the effect of twin ignition
and result in higher rates of pressure rise but with no combustion knock.

EFFECTS OF SURFACE IGNITION

1. Run-On surface ignition: If the engine continues to fire when ignition system is
switched off it is called as run-on.

2. Run-Away surface ignition: It’s a serious case of surface ignition in which the first
cycle of surface ignition heats the source to a still higher temperature and a series of
earlier and earlier pre-ignitions are set up. The run-away surface ignition may lead to
disastrous results – seizure or melting of piston or the engine catching fire as the pre-
ignition advances to the time when the intake is open and fuel air mixture is entering.

3. Wild Ping: Occasionally the knock occurs in a particularly erratic way. Such knock
which is very sharp is known as wild ping. A probable reason for wild ping is that some
fragments of a glowing deposit break free and move erratically through the combustion
chamber causing ignition now and then until they are finally carried out past the exhaust
valve.

4. Rumble: If the deposits and conditions are favourable, ignition may occur at a number of
points in the combustion chamber either before or after normal spark and the fuel will
burn in what is almost a heavy explosion of the mixture.

(Turn Over)

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PRE-IGNITION

If surface ignition occurs before the passage of the spark it is called pre-ignition. Pre-Ignition
is generally caused by an overheated spot which may occur at the spark plug, combustion
chamber deposit or exhaust valves. Mostly it is the spark plug insulator or electrode. Very
high surface temperatures of the order of 1100oC are usually required to produce pre-ignition.

Detection

Pre Ignition may be detected by shutting off the ignition. If the engine continues to firing the
possibility is that pre-ignition was taking place. Secondly, sudden loss of power with no
evidence of mechanical malfunctioning is a good evidence of pre-ignition.

Pre-Ignition inhibitors: Water is a very effective inhibitor of pre-ignition. That is why in

alcohol, which is commercial form always contains a small proportion of water, pre-ignition
is not troublesome.

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SI ENGINE COMBUSTION CHAMBER

Basic Requirements of Combustion Chamber

1. High Power

a. High compression ratio

b. Small or no excess air

c. Complete utilization of air-No dead pockets

d. Optimum degree of turbulence

e. High volumetric efficiency

2. High Thermal Efficiency

a. High compression ratio

b. Small heat loss during combustion

c. Good scavenging of exhaust gases

3. Smooth engine operation

a. Moderate rate of pressure rise during combustion

b. Absence of detonation

TYPES OF COMBUSTION CHAMBERS

Before describing the modern designs of combustion chamber it would be helpful to study the
development of combustion chamber from the beginning. This would bring out many principles
of combustion chamber design which are accepted today.

1. T-HEAD COMBUSTION CHAMBER: In the earliest engines T-head design shown in Fig.
5.23 was used. Ford utilised this design in his famous model 'T’ introduced in 1908. The T-
head design had the disadvantages of

(a) Having two camshafts;

(b) Being very prone to detonation, the distance across the combustion chamber was
long. There was violent detonation even at a compression ratio of 4. This was also
because the average octane number of the petrol available at that time was 45-50.

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2. I-HEAD OR SIDE VALVE COMBUSTION CHAMBER: In the period 1910-30 the side
valve engine was most commonly used in petrol engines. In the side valve engines, valves
are placed side by side and are in the block. A side valve engine has an advantage both from
a manufacturing and maintenance point of view. It is easy to enclose and lubricate the valve
mechanism, and the detachable head can be removed for decarbonizing without disturbing
either the valve gear or the main pipe work. The side valve design also affords a neat and
compact layout.

A typical side-valve combustion chamber of pre-World War I period is shown in Fig. 5.24. The
combustion chamber was in the form of a more or less flat slab extending over the piston and the
valve with the sparking plug usually situated immediately over the exhaust valve. In this original
form, however, it gave a poor performance because of the following main defects:

(a) Lack of turbulence as the air had to take two right angle turns to enter the cylinder and in
doing so lost much of its initial velocity.

(b) Extremely prone to detonation due to large flame length and slow combustion process due to
lack of turbulence.

(c) Extremely sensitive to ignition timing due to slow combustion process.

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Due to these defects side valve engines could not employ as high compression ratio as
contemporary overhead valve engines and hence could not compare with them in power or
economy. The popularity of side valve engine was, therefore, varying and it would have been
completely superseded by the overhead valve engine but for the intensive research and
development done by Ricardo into both the mechanism of detonation and the influence of
turbulence which culminates! in the design of a new head known as 'turbulent head' for side
valve engines. It gave performance as good as any overhead valve design of the time and was
universally adopted.

3. RICARDO TURBULENT HEAD SIDE VALVE DESIGN

Ricardo turbulent head design (1919) is shown in Fig. 5.25. The

main objectives of this design were to obtain fast flame speed and
reduced knock. In the Ricardo design the main body of the
combustion chamber was concentrated over the valves, leaving a
slightly restricted passage communicating with the cylinder. Thus,
additional turbulence was created during the compression stroke as
the gases were forced back again through the passage. By varying
the throat area of the passage it was possible to achieve any desired
degree of general turbulence within the main body of the combustion
chamber. The design also ensured a more homogeneous mixture by
scouring away the layer of stagnant gas clinging to the chamber
walls. Both these factors contributed to the increase of flame speed.

4. OVERHEAD TYPE COMBUSTION CHAMBER (I-HEAD):

The overhead valve engine is superior to side valve or L-Head engine at high
compression ratios for the following reasons:

a. Lower pumping losses and higher volumetric efficiency from better breathing of the
engine from larger valves or valve lifts and more direct passageways.

b. Less distance for the flame travel and therefore greater freedom from knock, or in
other words, lower octane requirements.

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c. Less force on the head bolts and therefore less probability of leakage. The projected
area of the side valve combustion chamber is inevitably greater than that of an
overhead valve chamber.

d. Removal of the hot exhaust valve from the block to the head thus confining heat
failures to the head. Absence of exhaust valve from block also results in more
uniform cooling of cylinder and piston.

e. Lower surface volume ratio and therefore less heat loss and less air pollution

f. Easier to cast and hence lower cost.

Types of Overhead Valve C.C

 Bath Tub Form: This is a simple and mechanically convenient form. This consists of
an oval-shaped chamber with both valves mounted vertically overhead and with the
sparking plug at the side. The flanks of the oval overhang the cylinder bore and afford
areas which may be used for 'squish'. The only objection to this design is common to
all forms of combustion chamber which involve placing the valves in a single row
along the cylinder block, namely, that the size of the valves is limited (which limits
the breathing capacity, unless of course the overall length of the engine is increased).
However, the modern tendency is to use smaller strokes and bigger bores (stroke/bore

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ratio of nearly unity). Thus more space is available for valves within the bore
diameter and this point has become less important.

 'Wedge' form of Combustion Chamber: In this design slightly inclined valves are
used. This design also has given very satisfactory performance. A modern wedge type
design (1967) for Plymouth V -8 engine ' having compression ratio 9: 2 is shown in
Fig. 5.28(b).1t has a stroke of 99 '10m and bore 84 mm.

5. F-HEAD COMBUSTION CHAMBERS:

Combustion chambers in which one valve is in head and other in block are known as F-head
combustion chamber (see Fig. 5.29). This design is a compromise between side valve (L-head)
combustion chamber and overhead valve (I-head) combustion chamber. The early F-head
combustion chamber is shown in Fig. 5.29 (a) -with exhaust valve in head and inlet valve in
block. This gave a rather poor performance. The modern F-head engines have inlet valve in the
head and exhaust valve in the block. One of the most perfect F-head engines (wedge type) is the
one used by the Rover company for several years. This is shown in Fig. 5.29 (b). It has a piston
with a shaped crown and a correspondingly sloping cylinder head. The inlet and exhaust valves
are inclined as shown in the figure. The plug is in an excellent position in the flat roof of the
chamber. Flat roof allows use of an inlet valve bigger than exhaust valve. The valve and plug
cooling is efficient, the effective flame travel short, and the end gas is reduced to a thin layer
bounded by the relatively cool piston and inlet valve; hence resistance to detonation is good. This
design possesses practically all the desired combustion chamber requirements -high volumetric
efficiency, maximum compression ratio for fuel of a given octane rating and high thermal
efficiency. It can operate on leaner air-fuel ratios without misfiring. The drawback of this design
is the complex mechanism for operation of valves and expensive special shaped piston.

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Another successful design of F-head combustion chamber is shown in Fig. 5.29(c). It is used in
Willy’s jeep. In this also the combustion chamber is wedge-shaped but is longer and narrower
than that of the Rover engine. The left-hand portion of the piston crown, when at top dead"
centre, creates a 'squish' region that promotes turbulence. In this arrangement the side exhaust
valve stem is practically vertical while overhead inlet valve is not inclined to an appreciable
angle. Inlet valve is of larger area than the exhaust valve.

References

 Internal Combustion Engines: Mathur and Sharma

 Internal Combustion Engines: V. Ganeshan

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