ME 432 - Assignment 8

Problem 1: SI engine operating at 1200 rpm. B = 10.2 cm. Spark plug is offset by 6
mm from the center. Spark is fired 20o bTDC, and takes 6.5o of engine rotation for
combustion to develop. The average flame speed is 15.8 m/s.
(a) The furthest wall is B/2 + offset away from the spark plug:
x = 10.2/2 cm + 0.6 cm = 5.7 cm.
The flame must travel 5.7 cm to reach the furthest wall. The flame speed is 15.8 m/s,
so the time required for the flame to go 5.7 cm is
t = x/U = 0.057 m / 15.8 m/s = 0.0036 s
(b) First, the number of crank angle degrees moved in the time from (a) must be found.
The engine speed is 1200 rpm = 20 rps. This corresponds to 0.05 s/rev. 0.0036/0.05
s/rev = 0.072 rev. There are 360o in a revolution, so 0.072 rev * 360o/rev = 25.9o. The
crankshaft rotates 25.9o in the combustion.
The spark is fired at 20o bTDC. The combustion starts 6.5o later at 13.5o bTDC.
The combustion ends 25.9o later, which is at 12.4o aTDC.

Problem 2: The engine in Problem 1 is to be run at 2000 rpm. The flame speed is
related to the rotational speed, in this range, by Vf ~ 0.92 N. The flame development
time is the same, and it is desired to terminate the flame at the same crank angle
position.
(a) There are a couple of different ways to interpret the relationship between flame
speed and N. To get the answer in the book,

V f,2000
N 2000
2000
V f,1200 = 0.92 N 1200 = 0.92 1200
Therefore, Vf, 2000 = 24.23 m/s
(b) The flame still needs to propagate 5.7 cm. This corresponds to, with this new flame
speed
t = 0.057 m/24.23 m/s = 0.00235 s.
Similar to problem 1, this corresponds to a crank rotation of 28.2o.
The flame takes a little longer to develop, in terms of crank rotation. In problem 1, the
actual time for flame development is
(6.5o/360o /rev)(0.05 s/rev) = 0.000903 s.
At the new engine speed, this corresponds to 0.03009 rev = 10.8o of crank rotation.

Therefore, to end at 12.4o aTDC, the spark must fire at 12.4o - 28.2o - 10.8o = -26.6o
aTDC, or 26.6o bTDC.
(c) The flame starts 10.8o after the spark, which is at 15.8o bTDC.

Problem 3: A 2-liter, four cylinder, stratified charge SI engine has 22% of the clearance
volume in the secondary chamber. The equivalence ratio of the air-gasoline mixture
entering the secondary chamber is 1.2, and the main chamber equivalence ratio is 0.75.

The easiest way to handle this problem is to first do part (b), and then use that result to
get part (a). The AF of the engine is based on mass, which would require finding the
mass of fuel and air separately for the different chambers, and then finding the overall
AF. However, the equivalence ratio will be the same whether it is found by mass or
molar analysis.
(b) For an ideal gas, the volume fraction is equal to the mole fraction. Therefore, we
can take a volume-weighted average of the equivalence ratios to get the overall
equivalence ratio:
& overall =  x i & i = (0.22)(1.2) + (1 0.22)(0.75)
overall = 0.849
(a) The stoichiometric AF for gasoline is AFs = 14.6
To get the actual overall AF, divide this by the equivalence ratio:
AFact = AFs/overall = 14.6/0.849 = 17.2
Problem 4: The engine from problem 3 has v = 0.92, c = 0.99, (t)i = 0.52, and m =
0.86, when N = 3500 rpm (58.33 rps).
(a) To calculate the brake power, first find the heat input to the engine. From the
volumetric efficiency:
.
.
nm
2ma
 v = ! V aN = 0.92 =
(1.181 kg/m3 )(0.002m 3 )(58.33rps)
a d

.
m a = 0.0634 kg/s
.
From the AF found in problem 3, m f = 0.00368 kg/s
.
.
Q in = m f Q LHV  c = (0.00368 kg/s)(43000 kJ/kg)(0.99) = 156.9 kW
From the thermal efficiency
.
.
W i = ( t ) i Q in = 81.6 kW

and from the mechanical

. efficiency
.
W b =  m W i =70.2 kW
(b) The work for one cycle
will be
.
nW b
W b = N = 2.406 kJ
bmep = Wb/Vd = 1203 kPa
(c) 1% of the fuel passes through unburned, based on 1-c. Based on the mass flow
rate of the fuel determined above, the mass flow rate of the unburned fuel passing
through the engine is 0.132 kg/hr.

.
mf
(d) bsfc = . =189 g/kWhr
Wb