Investigation into Cycle-to-Cycle Variation

and Flame Kernel Development in Light

Duty Spark Ignited Engines: A Literature
Review

Introduction

Reciprocating internal combustion engines (ICEs) have become ubiquitous in the daily lives of

most people in the developed world. They provide power to generate electricity for our homes

and businesses, irrigate and harvest crops, run construction and mining equipment, and transport

goods and people. In North America, according to Ward’s Auto [1], there were over 18 million

engines produced just for light duty vehicles (LDVs) in 2018, the most prevalent application for

ICEs.

After the first ICE was created by Lenior [2] there was a push to improve its fuel conversion

efficiency and specific power output that continues to today. In 1963, after millions of ICEs were

in use, the United States created the first regulations of LDV emissions with the Clean Air Act [3].

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would later become a department within the Clean

Air Act and continue to increase emissions regulations of LDVs in the US.

To improve efficiency of the ICE, it must be examined as a thermodynamic cycle. An idealized

thermodynamic Otto cycle, assumes isentropic compression and expansion, and adiabatic heat

addition and rejection. Idealized Otto cycle efficiency, eta, can be expressed as Eq 1[2] where r is

the compression ratio and gamma is the ratio of specific heats of the working fluid. Since gamma

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is mostly constrained by the properties of atmospheric air and the fuel selected for use,

compression ratio, r, must be increased, to better cycle efficiency.

1
η= 1( ) Eq 1
𝑟𝑟 𝛾𝛾−1

The amount that compression ratio can be increased is limited by knock [2], an undesirable,

stochastic, phenomena where heat is released rapidly from the fuel, causing mechanical damage

to the engine. Both the specific power output and compression ratio are limited by knock.

One technique to reduce knock and improve efficiency is to dilute the working fluid. Most

commonly done with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) where gasses that were already burned in

the combustion chamber are retained or reintroduced into the combustion chamber. This has three

positive effects: at part load it reduces pumping losses, reduces knock tendency, and improves the

ratio of specific heats or gamma. The undesirable effect of using EGR is that it increases the cycle-

to-cycle variation of power output by each cycle [2, 4]. This unstable combustion is in itself

inefficient [5], but more importantly it is perceived by the customer of the vehicle as a rough

running, vibrating, stumbling engine.

The idealized Otto cycle assumed an instantaneous addition of heat from the combusting fuel. This

assumption is unrealistic, the combustion process, like all natural events, takes time to happen. To

optimize efficiency, combustion duration should be as short as possible [5]. Making the duration

shorter reduces the amount of potential work lost by the system when the exhaust valve is opened,

formally ending the work production phase of the cycle.

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This literature review will cover works that have investigated into finding the mechanism that

causes cycle-to-cycle variation. All of these works point to the spark ignition as playing a large

role, this review will look at attempts to improve ignition.

Cause of Cycle-to-Cycle Variation

Early investigations of cycle-to-cycle variation were able to correlate manifold pressure, spark

timing, ignition duration, relative swirl, relative tumble, air fuel ratio, and EGR ratio, to the

amount of cycle-to-cycle variation [6]. While these investigations are helpful in reducing

variation, they do not give evidence of the mechanism causing variation so that it can be

understood and improved from an elemental level.

Combustion in ICEs is highly turbulent, which is why it occurs much faster compared to a

perfectly quiescent chamber [2, 5, 7]. Agreement was that this turbulent combustion was the

general root of cycle-to-cycle variation. Evidence pointing to exact cause remained elusive.

Optical engines had been used for ICE research since 1872, the first created by Nikolas Otto

himself [7]. Their usefulness was limited by camera and imaging technology available at their

respective times. Bates, in 1989 was successful in using an optical engine along with an

intensified NTSC camera finding the first evidence of the root of cycle-to-cycle variation [8]. He

gives a detailed description of the optical engine developed at the GM Research Center in an

earlier paper [9].

Bates was able to give photographic evidence of the difference in flame kernel development early

in the cycle. He then correlated flame kernels that developed and grew either slowly or rapidly, to

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the overall cycle work output. He concludes that the highly turbulent flow field near the spark

plug, at the time of ignition, is likely the mechanism that causes cycle-to-cycle variation.

Others would build on Bates work such as Herweg and Maylay [10]. They developed a math

model of flame kernel development that included accounting for the turbulence and flow through

the spark plug gap at the time of ignition. A sample output of their model in Figure 1 shows a

kernel growth that has a wondering path, which is caused by that turbulence.

Figure 1 Flame Kernel Development Math Model Output [10]

Herweg and Maylay went on to validate their model by using an optically accessible side

chamber engine depicted in Figure 2. In this engine there is a side chamber placed away from

the reciprocating piston, adjoined with a connecting throat. This throat creates a strong swirl in

the chamber. The side chamber gives excellent optical access and allowed a Schlieren diagnostic

to be used.

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 Figure 2 Schematic of Side Chamber Engine [10]

To vary the flow field at the point of ignition, the position of the igniter, two stainless steel rods

were tested in two locations. The locations had different axial distances from the center of the

chamber. The flow is stronger the farther the igniter is from the center. Good correlation was

found between the model and experiment.

Aleiferis [11] noticed that Bates, Herweg, and Maylay had compromises with their engine

configurations. Aleiferis used a modern Honda 1.5 liter engine with a pent-roof combustion

chamber that had optical access available to one cylinder. He set up a singular intensified camera

and a system of mirrors that allowed the fame to be imaged from two orthogonal views. With

these two views captured, the flame area could be calculated with accuracy.

Even with a different engine configuration, and publishing 18 years later, Aleiferis had similar

conclusions to Bates. He notes that the early growth rate of the flame kernel has a significant

impact on the cycle’s heat release rate, likely again to the flow near the spark plug. He also

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investigates the importance of the orientation of the spark plug, total spark energy, and spark

discharge duration.

Omura et al [12] decided to optimize the flow near the spark plug at the time of ignition when

designing Toyota’s new high tumble engine that is in production today. Flow near the plug was

altered by changing the geometry of the valve seat and intake runner. Three different tumble ratios

were examined experimentally with laser doper velocimetry (LDV) which was used to validate

computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models that could be used to extract more data and run

broader simulations.

Figure 3 shows the flow at the spark plug relative to crankshaft position, positive y-axis values

have a tumble towards the exhaust, negative values towards the intake. Notice that the green line,

representing tumble ratio 2.7, crosses over from the exhaust direction to the intake direction at

approximately -35° ATDC, which is near the time of ignition.

Figure 3 Flow Magnitude and Direction at the Spark Plug for Toyota High Tumble Engine

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From optimizing this flow the authors were able to create an engine that was more efficient than

their previous design. The reason for the increase efficiency was because of faster combustion

rates, improved EGR tolerance, and lower cycle-to-cycle variation. This was possible because of

the optimized flow at the spark plug.

Ignition System Effects on Flame Kernel Development and

Combustion

Aleiferis and Wang [11, 13] used optical engines to look at what effect the orientation, or

clocking, of the spark plug had on cycle stability. They both agree that the cross flow position is

ideal for the lowest cycle-to-cycle variation. Figure 4 shows the two cross flow positions on the

bottom half.

Wang also looked at different spark plug electrode configurations [14]. It was known that the

different configurations he tested had different aerodynamic characteristics but were not

quantified. He measured ignition energy and duration with the spark plugs in an apparatus that

allowed him to flow compressed air across the plug at different angles in two axis.

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Figure 4 Spark Plug Orientations

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Of the six spark plugs tested, two types performed better than the others, they are shown as ‘A’

and ‘E’ in Figure 5. Although ‘E’ performed the best in these tests, it is known from previous

works, including Herweg and Maylay [5, 10, 15, 16] that this design with have high heat losses

of the flame kernel, degrading combustion stability. Spark plug ‘A’ is colloquially known as a

double fine wire (DFW).

Figure 5 Electrode Configurations

Chen [4] looked at total spark energy, spark plug electrode gap, as well as having two spark

events per cycle in an attempt to reduce cycle-to-cycle variation under lean and dilute conditions.

Where there were two spark events, he determined the optimum spacing or phasing between

them. He found that increasing electrode gap improved the tolerance of the engine for lean and

dilute conditions. A second spark discharge also improved dilution tolerance, reducing misfires.

Zhang [16] also looked at the phasing between two spark events in one cycle. He used an

optically accessible combustion chamber. Inside the chamber there was a fan to create flow

across the spark plug, Figure 6. He found that there was an ideal phasing between the two sparks

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to create a robust flame kernel. The green area in Figure 7 shows the optimum phasing is

between 1.0-1.3 ms between discharges.

Figure 6 Spark Plug and Shrouded Fan for Use in Combustion Vessel

Figure 7 Optimum Phasing Between Spark Discharges for Two Spark Strategy

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Conclusions

Improved engine efficiency is desired for modern LDVs. This can be achieved by use of EGR

but cycle-to-cycle variation becomes an issue. The cause of cycle-to-cycle variation is from the

turbulent flow near the spark plug at the time of ignition that has a large impact on the heat

release rate later in the cycle. Optimization can also be performed around the ignition system.

The orientation of the spark plug has importance, and performs best in a cross flow

configuration. Spark plug electrode geometry effects the flow though the plug; double fine wire

plugs have shown to reduce cycle-to-cycle variation, and improve EGR tolerance. Two spark

events can also be used to improve cycle-to-cycle variation and EGR tolerance. An optimum

spacing of the sparks is 1.0-1.3ms.

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References

[1] Auto, W., Engine Specification Data. 2018. 2018.

[2] Heywood, J.B., Internal combustion engine fundamentals. McGraw-Hill series in
mechanical engineering. 1988, New York: McGraw-Hill. xxix, 930 p., 2 p. of plates.
[3] National Emissions Standard Act. Wikipedia, 2018.
[4] Chen, W., et al., Impact of Ignition Energy Phasing and Spark Gap on Combustion in a
Homogenous Direct Injection Gasoline SI Engine Near the EGR Limit, in SAE Technical
Paper Series. 2013.
[5] Stone, C.R., A.G. Brown, and P. Beckwith, Cycle-by-Cycle Variations in Spark Ignition
Engine Combustion - Part II: Modelling of Flame Kernel Displacements as a Cause of
Cycle-by-Cycle Variations. 1996, SAE International.
[6] Young, M.B., Cyclic Dispersion in the Homogeneous-Charge Spark-Ignition Engine—A
Literature Survey. 1981, SAE International.
[7] Miles, P.C., The history and evolution of optically accessible research engines and their
impact on our understanding of engine combustion. ASME 2014 Internal Combustion
Engine RFall Technical conference, Columbus, IN, 2015.
[8] Bates, S.C., Flame Imaging Studies of Cycle-by-Cycle Combustion Variation in a SI
Four-Stroke Engine. 1989, SAE International.
[9] Bates, S.C., Flame Imaging Studies in a Spark-Ignition Four-Stroke Internal Combustion
Optical Engine. 1989, SAE International.
[10] Herweg, R. and R.R. Maly, A Fundamental Model for Flame Kernel Formation in S. I.
Engines. 1992, SAE International.
[11] Aleiferis, P.G., et al., Cyclic Variations of Initial Flame Kernel Growth in a Honda
VTEC-E Lean-Burn Spark-Ignition Engine. 2000, SAE International.
[12] Omura, T., et al., Research on the Measures for Improving Cycle-to-Cycle Variations
under High Tumble Combustion. 2016, SAE International.
[13] Wang, Y., et al., Investigation of Flow Conditions and Tumble near the Spark Plug in a
DI Optical Engine at Ignition. 2018, SAE International.
[14] Wang, Y., et al., An Experimental Study on the Interaction between Flow and Spark Plug
Orientation on Ignition Energy and Duration for Different Electrode Designs. 2017, SAE
International.
[15] Lord, D.L., et al., The Effects of Charge Motion on Early Flame Kernel Development.
1993, SAE International.
[16] Zhang, A., et al., The Impact of Spark Discharge Pattern on Flame Initiation in a
Turbulent Lean and Dilute Mixture in a Pressurized Combustion Vessel. SAE
International Journal of Engines, 2013. 6(1): p. 435-446.

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