What torque curves tell us
Torque is the average twisting force that a running engine generates. It is directly proportional to what is called the brake mean effective pressure, (bmep), which is the stroke-averaged net combustion pressure. The actual combustion pressure rises above compression pressure as the piston nears TDC on its compression stroke, as a result of the ignition spark having set the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder burning – converting chemical energy into heat, and heat into pressure.
That combustion pressure
