Intake, Exhaust, and

In-cylinder Flow
Section 4

Cycle Exhaust Process

In the Otto and Diesel cycles the exhaust process is modeled as
constant volume heat extraction, it does not consider the actual
gas flow.
Pi

Pe
Products

Actual exhaust

Qout
Otto exhaust process 4-1

Air

BC

Ideal Four-Stroke Cycle Intake and Exhaust

Pressure, P

WOT

EV closes
IV opens
IV closes
EV opens

Specific volume, v

The intake & exhaust processes are

often shown as a constant pressure
processes, e.g., 56 and 61
For WOT states 1 and 5 are the same.
Process 5-6 indicates a decrease in
specific volume which is incorrect since
as the cylinder volume decreases so does
the mass specific volume remains the
same!
This inconsistency results from treating
an open system problem with a closed
system model
3

Ideal Intake and Exhaust Strokes

Valves operate instantaneously, intake and exhaust process are adiabatic
and constant pressure.
Unthrottled: Pi = Pe = 1 atm

EV opens

IV closes (state1)
EV closes
IV opens

Throttled: Pi < Pe

EV opens
EV closes

IV closes

6
IV opens

Supercharged: Pi > Pe
IV opens

EV closes

Actual Exhaust Stroke (4 6)

The actual exhaust process consists of two phases:
i) Blowdown ii) Displacement
Pe

Pi Ti

Products

State 4 (BC)

State 5 (BC)

Blowdown

State 6 (TC)

Displacement

Blowdown At the end of the power stroke when the exhaust valve opens
the cylinder pressure is much higher than the exhaust manifold pressure
which is typically at 1 atm (P4 > Pe), so the cylinder gas flows out through the
exhaust valve and the pressure drops to Pe.
Displacement Remaining gas is pushed out of the cylinder by the piston
5
moving to TC.

Exhaust Blowdown
During blowdown the gas remaining in the cylinder undergoes expansion
which can be modelled as isentropic (neglecting heat transfer)

Blowdown

Displacement

5 (Otto/Diesel)

TC

BC

State 5 at the end of blowdown is a fictitious state corresponding to no

actual piston location
P5 Pe
P
T5 T4 5
P4

k 1

P
T4 e
P4

k 1

Residual Gas
The gas remaining in the clearance volume when the piston reaches TC (pt 6)
called the residual gas mixes with intake gas (fuel-air for SI and air for CI)
The residual gas temperature T6 is equal to T5
The Residual gas fraction f is defined as the ratio of the mass of residual
gas to the mass of the fuel-air (assume ideal gas Pv = RT)
m
m V v
1v
1T P 1T P
f 6 6 6 6 4 4 6 4 6
m1 m4 V4 v4 r v6 r T6 P4 r T5 P4
since

T5 P5

T4 P4
1
P5 k

1
f
r P4

k 1

P
6
P4

k 1

1
Pe k

1

r P4

Typically values of f are in the range 3% to 12%, lower in Diesels (larger r)

7

Exhaust Manifold Gas Temperature (T7)

The gas leaving the cylinder during blowdown has kinetic energy which is
converted into thermal energy when the exhaust gas comes to rest in the
exhaust gas manifold gas temperature in the exhaust manifold is
higher than T5.

Fluid leaving the cylinder earliest has higher velocity so temperature higher
when it stagnates in the manifold (T7a > T7b > T7c).
8

Intake Stroke 6 1
When the intake valve opens the fresh gas with mass mi mixes with the
hotter residual gas with mass mR so the gas temperature at the end of the
intake stroke T1 will be greater than the inlet temperature Ti.
Applying conservation of mass:
mi m1 mR m1 m6

Ti

Applying conservation of energy (open system):

U1 U 6 Q61 W61 mi hi
m1u1 m6u6 Pi (V1 V6 ) mi hi

m1 h1 P1v1 m6 h6 P6 v6 Pi (V1 V6 ) m1 m6 hi
h1

m1
m6

1
h

P
v
6
1
6 6
m
i
m1
6

Intake Gas Temperature (T1)

Recall m6 = m1f and assuming ideal gas P6v6 = RT6 and h = cpT

P1
h1 1 f hi fh6 1 fRT6
P6

P1 k 1
T1 1 f Ti fT6 1 1

P
k

In terms of inlet and exhaust conditions P1 = Pi , P6 = Pe , T6 = Te

Pi k 1
T1 1 f Ti fTe 1 1

Pe k

10

Volumetric efficiency

mi
P / P 1
1 i e
iVd
k (r 1)
3

Pumping work

W561 ( Pi Pe )Vd

Pumping mep

pmep Pe Pi
Recall: imep

W34 W12
Vd

2
4

e
i

5
1

Net pmep

imep net imep pmep

Heat input 23

Qin = miqin = (m1-m6) qin = m1(1-f) qin

Note: qin is the heat added per kg of inducted gas

11

Otto Cycle Analysis with Intake and Exhaust

The equations on the following slide are solved iteratively for the
following initial conditions:
Ti
Pe
r
Pi
k
qin

inlet fuel-air mixture temperature

exhaust pressure
compression ratio
inlet pressure
specific heat ratio
heat added per unit mass of gas inducted

In the following equations T1 depends on the residual gas fraction f and

and temperature Te. These values are assumed to start the calculation
and then improved over the subsequent iterations.

12

Otto Cycle Analysis with Intake and Exhaust

e,i -1: Intake stroke

1 - 2: Isentropic compression stroke

P k 1
T1 1 f Ti fTe 1 1 i

Pe k

P1 Pi

P2 P1r k

T2 T1r k 1
2 - 3: Constant volume heat addition

T3 T2 qin (1 f ) / cV
P3 P2 (T3 / T2 )

3 - 4: Isentropic expansion stroke

T4 T3 (1 / r ) k 1

P4 P3 (1 / r ) k
4 - 5: Isentropic blowdown

T5 T4 ( Pe / P4 )

e
i
( k 1) / k

5
1

P5 Pe
5 - e: Constant pressure adiabatic
exhaust stroke

Te T5
Pe P5

f 1 / r ( Pe / P4 )1 / k

13

Computer Program for Cycle Calculations

The Ferguson textbook has a companion web site at:
http://he-cda.wiley.com/WileyCDA/HigherEdTitle.rdr?productCd=0471356174
that has a useful program that does the calculation for you:
Four Stroke Gas Otto Cycle Applet

14

Valve Flow
The most significant gas flow restriction in an IC engine is the flow through
the intake and exhaust valves
The mass flow rate through the valve is given by:

2
k 1

m c f o Av co

Pv

Po

2
k

Pv

Po

k 1
k

Pv

1
2

Pcyl

m , Po , o

Po = upstream stagnation pressure, Pv = valve static (or cylinder pressure)

o = stagnation density, co = stagnation speed of sound, Av = valve area
cf = flow coefficient
If the flow is choked (Po/Pcyl > 1.9) flow only depends on upstream pressure

m cr c f o Av co

k 1
2 ( k 1)

15

Valve Flow
Minimum areas:
low lift - Av = A1= dl
high lift - Av= A2= d2/4

Pcyl

A1
A2

flow coefficient (c f )

effective flow area (A f )

actual valve area (A v )
2

discharge coefficient (c d )

effective flow area (A f )

actual valve area (A v )
1

16

Flow Coefficient Measurement

Set: Av
Measure: mi, Ti, Pi

Pv

Po

2
k

P
v
Po

k 1
k

1
2

Flow coefficient (cf)

Calculate: cf

m 2
cf
o Av co k 1

Nondimensional valve lift (l/d)

17

Valve Opening and Closing

In thermo cycles it is assumed the valves open and close instantaneously

Valve displacement (l)

In reality a cam is used to progressively open and close the valves, the
lobes are contoured so that the valve land gently on the seat.

Duration
Valve starts
to open

CA
Valve completely
closed

18

Valve Sizing
In order to avoid choked flow the intake valves are sized based on:
U
Av 1.3b 2 p
ci
where Av is the average valve area, b is the cylinder bore, U p is average
piston velocity, ci speed of sound of gas in intake port.
Exhaust valves can be smaller since the speed of sound of the exhaust
gas expelled is significantly larger.
Since there is only so much room available for valves it is common to
have multiple intake and exhaust valves per cylinder. This increases
valve area to piston area ratio permitting higher engine speeds.

19

Valve Sizing
Heads are often wedge-shaped or domed, this permits Av/Ap up to 0.5.
Double overhead cams per cylinder bank are used to accommodate
multiple valves, one cam for each pair of intake and exhaust valves

20

Valve Overlap
In real engines in order to ensure that the valve is fully open during a
stroke, for high volumetric efficiency, the valves are open for longer than
180o.
The exhaust valve opens before BC and closes after TC and the intake
valve opens before TC and closes after BC.
At TC there is a period of time called valve overlap where both the intake
and exhaust valves are open.

2
4

e
i
TC

5
1
BC
BC

TC

BC

CA

21

Valve overlap
When the intake valve opens bTC the cylinder pressure is at roughly P e
Part throttle (Pi < Pe): residual gas flows into the intake port. During intake
stroke the residual gas is first returned to the cylinder then fresh gas is
introduced. Residual gas reduces part load performance.
WOT (Pi = Pe): some fresh gas can flow out the exhaust valve reducing
fuel efficiency and increasing emissions.
Supercharged (Pi > Pe): fresh gas can flow out the exhaust valve
Pe

Pi

Throttled
Pi < Pe

Pi

Pe

Supercharged
Pi > Pe

22

Engine Operating Conditions

Conventional engines operate at low rpms, with idle and part load fuel
economy being most important.
High performance engines operate at high rpms, with WOT torque (i.e.,
volumetric efficiency) being most important.

Engine load

WOT bmep

sfc

Engine speed:
Idle - 1000 rpm
Economy - 2500 rpm
Performance - 4000 rpm

23

Valve Timing

Conventional

Performance
EVO

EVO

e
i

IVO
IVC
EVC

TC

180o

BC

e
i

IVO

TC

IVC
EVC
180o

BC

@1000 rpm intake duration: 230o = 38.4 ms

@2500 rpm
230o = 15.4 ms
@5000 rpm
230o = 7.7 ms, 285o = 9.5 ms
24

Valve Timing
Overlap
15o
65o

At high engine speeds less time available for fresh gas intake so need more
crank angles to get high volumetric efficiency large valve overlap
At low engine speed and part throttle valve overlap is minimized by reducing
the number of CA the intake valve stays open.
Variable Valve Timing used to obtain optimum performance over wide a
range of engine speeds and load

25

Honda Variable valve Timing and lift Electronic Control (VTEC)

Each pair of valves has three cam lobes, two that operate the valves at
low-rpm, and a third that takes over at high rpm (4500 rpm). During low-rpm
operation, the two rocker arms riding the low-rpm lobes push directly on the
top of the valves. At high rpm a pin locks the three rocker arms and the
valves follow the larger center cam lobe.

First introduced in 1991 Honda NSX model.

26

Solenoid Activated Valves

Needs a large alternator to supply high current, also gently seating the
valve is difficult, needs sophisticated electronics

27

Intake and Exhaust Processes in 4-Stroke Cycle

1st crank shaft rev: 1 - 3 2

2nd crank shaft rev: 4

P = cylinder pressure
Lv = valve displacement

P, Lv

Lv, exh

Exhaust

Lv, int

Ppo o

Intake

Po

WOT
Part throttle
e
i
TC

BC

TC

4
2

BC

28

Valve Float
The valve spring normally keeps the top of the valve stem in contact with
the cam lobe
At very high engine speeds, and thus high camshaft speeds, it is difficult to
maintain contact between the cam lobe and the top of the valve stem as a
result the valves stay open longer than desired.

Spring

29

Intake and Exhaust System for Single Cylinder Engine

P
Air cleaner

Cylinder

Muffler

30

Intake and Exhaust Manifold

The intake manifold is a system designed to deliver air to the engine from
a plenum to each cylinder through pipes called runners.
Velocity magnitude (m/s)

Exhaust manifold used to duct the exhaust gases from each cylinder to
a point of expulsion such as the tail pipe.
31

Manifold Pressure

3000 rpm

6000 rpm

32

Volumetric Efficiency
Recall the volumetric efficiency is defined as:

ma
a ,oVd

Volumetric efficiency is affected by :

i) Fuel evaporation
ii) Mixture temperature
iii) Pressure drop in the intake system
iv) Gasdynamic effects

Note: mean piston speed proportional

to air flow velocity
or engine speed

N ( S / 2) U p
33

Factors affecting v
Heat transfer:
All intake systems are hotter than ambient air, so the density of the air
entering the cylinder is lower than ambient air density.
Injection system and throttle bodies are purposely heated to enhance fuel
evaporation.
Greatest problem at lower engine speeds more time for air to be heated.

Pcyl

m f
m a

34

Factors affecting v
Fluid friction:
The air flows through a duct through an air filter, throttle and intake valve
Air moving through any flow passage or past a flow restriction undergoes a
pressure drop
The pressure at the cylinder is thus lower than atmospheric pressure
Greatest problem at higher engine speeds when the air flow velocity is high

35

Factors affecting v
Fuel evaporation:
In naturally aspirated engines (no supercharging) the volumetric efficiency
will always be less than 100% because fuel is added and the fuel vapour
will displace incoming air.
The earlier the fuel is added in the intake system the lower the volumetric
efficiency because more of the fuel evaporates before entering the cylinder.
In Diesels fuel is added directly into the cylinder so get a higher efficiency.

36

Factors affecting v
Residual gas:
Recall the residual fraction given by

f 1 / r ( Pe / P4 )1 / k

As (Pe/Pi) increases, or r decreases the fraction of cylinder volume

occupied by residual gas increases and thus volumetric efficiency
decreases.
EO

Opening intake valve before TC (valve overlap):

e
i
TC

IO
IC
EC

BC

The longer the valve overlap, more exhaust gases are pushed into the
intake port.
Greatest problem at lower engine speeds when there is more time for
exhaust gases to back up.

37

Pressure losses over the length of the intake system

P

Po = atmospheric pressure

Pair = pressure losses in air cleaner

Air cleaner

Po

Pair

Pu = intake losses upstream of throttle

Pthr = loss across throttle
Pvalve = loss across intake valve

Pu

Pthrottle

Pvalve

WOT
Part throttle
Cylinder

Muffler

Extreme case of flow restriction is when the flow chokes at the intake valve
as engine speed increases flow velocity remains the same have less fill38
time.

Factors affecting v
Closing the intake valve after BC (backflow):
When the piston reaches BC there is still a pressure difference across the
intake valve and the fuel-air mixture continues to flow into the cylinder,
therefore close the intake valve after BC.
As the piston changes direction the mixture is compressed, when the
pressure equals the intake manifold pressure the flow into the cylinder stops.
Best time to close the intake valve is when the manifold and cylinder
pressures are equal, close the valve too early and dont get full load, too late
and air flows back into the intake port.
At high engine speeds larger pressure drop across intake valve because of
higher flow velocity, so ideally want to close valve later after BC (60 o aBC).
At low engine speeds smaller pressure drop across the intake valve so
ideally want to close the intake valve earlier after BC (40o aBC).
39

Factors affecting v
RAM Effect:
As the intake valve closes at higher engine speeds, the inertia of the air in the
intake system increases the pressure in the intake port, called the ram effect.
This effect becomes progressively more important at higher engine speeds.
To take advantage of ram effect close intake valve after BC.

40

Factors affecting v
Intake and exhaust tuning:
When the intake valve opens the air suddenly rushes into the cylinder and an
expansion wave propagates back to the intake manifold at the local speed of
sound relative to the flow velocity.
When the expansion wave reaches the manifold it reflects back towards to
intake valve as a compression wave. The time it takes for the round trip
depends on the length of the runner and the flow velocity.
If the timing is appropriate the compression wave arrives at the inlet at the
end of the intake process raising the pressure above the nominal inlet
pressure allowing more air to be injected.

For fixed runner length the intake is tuned for one engine speed (flow velocity)
Similarly the exhaust system can be tuned to get a lower pressure at the
exhaust valve increasing the exhaust flow velocity.
41

Factors affecting v as a function of engine speeds

Fuel vapour pressure

42

In-Cylinder Fluid flow

Three parameters are used to characterize large-scale in-cylinder fluid
motion: swirl, squish, and tumble.
Swirl is the rotational flow about the cylinder axis.

Swirl is used to:

i) promote rapid combustion in SI engines
ii) rapidly mix fuel and air in gasoline direct injection engines
iii) rapidly mix fuel and air in CI engines
The swirl is generated during air induction into the cylinder by either:
i) tangentially directing the flow into the cylinder, or
ii) pre-swirling the incoming flow by the use of helical ports.

43

Cylinder Swirl and its Generation

Swirl motion

Helical port

Tangential injection

Contoured valve

44

Swirl Theory
Swirl can be simply modelled as solid body rotation, i.e., cylinder of gas
rotating at angular velocity, .
Tangential flow velocity is v = r
The swirl ratio, Rs, is defined as the ratio of the gas angular velocity and
the crank shaft angular velocity, i.e.,

Rs
2N
where N is the engine speed (revolutions per second)
is the air solid-body angular velocity (rad/s)

45

Swirl Theory
The angular momentum, , and moment of inertia, I, of a rotating
volume of gas is:
I

I rdm

MB 2
for a cylinder I
8

where M is the total gas mass

B is the cylinder bore
During the cycle some swirl decays due to friction, but most of it persists
through the compression, combustion and expansion processes.
Neglecting friction, angular momentum I is conserved,
I decreases increases

46

Engine Swirl
Many engines have a wedge shape cylinder head cavity or a bowl in the
piston where the gas ends up at TC.

During the compression process as the piston approaches TC more of the

air enters the cavity and the air cylinder moment of inertia decreases and
the angular velocity (and thus the swirl) increases.
47

Squish and Tumble

Squish is the radial flow occurring at the end of the compression stroke in
which the compressed gases flow into the piston or cylinder head cavity.

As the piston reaches TC the squish motion generates a secondary flow

called tumble, where rotation occurs about a circumferential axis near the
outer edge of the cavity.

48

Intake Flow
The intake process governs many important aspects of the flow within the
cylinder. The gas issues from the valve opening as a conical jet with radial
and axial velocities that are about ten times the mean piston velocity.
The jet separates from the valve producing shear layers with large velocity
gradients which generate turbulence.
The jet is deflected by the cylinder wall down towards the piston and up
towards the cylinder head producing recirculation zones.
Additional turbulence is generated by the velocity gradient at the wall
in the boundary layer.
Shear layers
Large vortices become unstable
and eventually break down into
turbulent motion

49

Turbulent Flow
Turbulent flow is characterized by its transient and random nature.
Steady flow

Turbulent flows are always dissipative, viscous shear stresses result in an

increase in the internal energy at the expense of its kinetic energy.
So energy is required to generate turbulence, if no energy is supplied
turbulence decays.
A common source of energy for turbulent velocity fluctuations is shear in
the mean flow, e.g., jets and boundary layers.

50

Turbulence
The fluid velocity measured at a point in a specific direction:
Ux(t)
Ux mean velocity (steady)

Ux(t1)

u(t2)
t1

t2

Reynolds decomposition for statistically steady flow:

U (t ) U u ' (t )
1
where U tt U(t)dt mean velocity
t
u' is the fluctuating component
2

It is common practice to define the turbulent fluctuation intensity, ut, in

terms of the root-mean-square of the fluctuations:
ut u 'rms u '2

where u '2

1 t
2
t u ' (t ) dt
t
2

51

Turbulence Measurements in Engines

The following shows the velocity measurement at a point in the cylinder
over time for a two-stroke engine (cycle has 360 CA)

TC

Cycle i

Instantaneous

BC
Measurement
point

BC

TC

Individual cycle mean

BC

TC

BC

CA

In engines the flow is statistically periodic (the flow pattern changes with
crank angle) not steady.
The instantaneous velocity measured at a specific crank angle in a
particular cycle i is:
U ( , i ) U ( ) u ' ( , i )

52

Turbulence Measurements in Engines

There are both cycle-by-cycle variations in the mean flow at any point in the
cycle as well as turbulent fluctuations about that specific cycles mean flow.
u

Individual cycle
mean

Instantaneous

UEA

Ensemble average

CA

Flows that are statistically periodic are treated using ensemble average:
1n
U EA ( ) U ( , i )
n i
where n is the number of cycles averaged.
53

Turbulence Measurements in Engines

The difference between the mean velocity in a particular cycle and the
ensemble average is defined as the cycle-by-cycle variation in mean velocity:
U ( , i ) U ( , i ) U EA ( )
Thus, the instantaneous velocity can be split into three components:
U ( , i ) U EA ( ) U ( , i ) u ' ( , i )
If the cycle-by-cycle variations are small then the cycle mean is equal to
the ensemble average.
The turbulent intensity is determined by ensemble averaging:
1

ut ( ) u '2 ( , i )
n i 1

54

Turbulence Measurements in Engines

At the end of compression when the piston is at TC, the turbulence
fluctuating intensity is about one-half the mean piston speed:
1
ut U P
2

The two data sets shown with red

lines are for individual cycle
turbulence intensity.
The rest of the points are for
ensemble averaged, which means
they include cycle-by-cycle
variations in the mean velocity,
making it larger by up to 2 times.

55

Turbulence Length-Scales
Turbulent flow is comprised of eddies (vorticies) with a multitude of length
scales and vorticities (measure of angular velocity).
The largest eddies in the flow are limited in size by the enclosure with
characteristic length-scale of L (e.g., large eddy associated with swirl).
The integral scale l represents the largest turbulent vortex size, determined
by the fluctuating velocity frequency.
Superimposed on the large scale flow is a range of eddies of smaller and
smaller size.
Most of the KE of the flow is contained in the large eddies.
The KE is converted to thermal energy via viscous effects.

56

The Length-Scales of Turbulence

The Reynolds number (Re#) is the ratio of inertia to viscous forces
The Re# of an eddy with circulation velocity u' and size L is:

u '2 L2

3
u ' L
inertia force per unit volume
L
Re

u ' L

viscous force per unit volume

3
L

Viscous forces are only important in the smallest scale where the Re# 1
The eddy size at which the flow KE is dissipated by viscous effects is
known as the Kolmogorov scale, and the eddy dimension is .
There is one more length-scale between the integral and Kolmogorov scales
known as the Taylor microscale which represents the distance over which
viscous effects can be felt, or the mean spacing between dissipative eddies.
57

The Length-Scales of Turbulence

The scales are: Integral (l), Taylor micro (l), Kolmogorov ()

Gas flow through

intake valve

58

The Length-Scales of Turbulence

Dimensional analysis leads to the following relationships between the scales:
l C1 L
12

15
Re t1 2

l C

1 4
C Re t3 4
l
where C1, C, and C are numbers unique to the flow.
The turbulent Reynolds number is based on the integral scale and the
turbulent velocity
ul
Re t t

If the integral scale can be determined so can all the other scales.
As the engine speed increases the Re# increases so the smaller scales
of turbulence decrease in size.

59

Two-Stroke Engine In-Cylinder Flow

Most common two-stroke engines are crankcase-scavanged
Another class of two-stroke engine uses a separate compressor to deliver
air into the cylinder to scavange the combustion products, fuel is
Injected directly into the cylinder.

AIR
PROD
AIR

60

Scavanging Performance

Delivery ratio, Dr

Dr

Trapping efficiency,

Scavanging efficiency, es

mass of delivered air per cycle

displaced volume ambient density

mass of delivered air retained

mass of delivered air

es

mass of delivered air retained

mass of trapped cylinder charge

If the cylinder volume is completely filled with air the delivery ratio is
given by:

Dr

a Vbc Vbc
r

1
a Vd Vd r 1

61

Scavanging Models
A. Perfect scavanging no mixing, air displaces the products out the exhaust
(if extra air is delivered (delivery ratio > r/r-1) it is not retained)
B. Short circuiting the air initially displaces all the products within the path
of the short circuit and then flows into and out of the cylinder
C. Perfect mixing the first air to enter the cylinder mixes instantaneously
with the products and the gas leaving is almost all residual
(for larger delivery ratio most of gas leaving is air)

62