SAE TECHNICAL

PAPER SERIES

980164

Determination of the Gas-Pressure Torque of a

Multicylinder Engine from Measurements of the
Crankshafts Speed Variation
Dinu Taraza and Naeim A. Henein
Wayne State University

Walter Bryzik
US Army TARDEC

Reprinted From: Electronic Engine Controls 1998: Sensors, Actuators, and Development Tools
(SP-1356)

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980164

Determination of the Gas-Pressure Torque of a Multicylinder

Engine from Measurements of the Crankshafts Speed Variation
Dinu Taraza and Naeim A. Henein
Wayne State University

Walter Bryzik
US Army TARDEC
Copyright 1998 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

ABSTRACT

the speed variation is also significantly influenced by the

torsional deformation of the crankshaft. The superposition of the torsional oscillations distorts the speed variation and the correlation between speed and torque
becomes more complex.

The local variation of the crankshafts speed in a multicylinder engine is determined by the resultant gas-pressure torque and the torsional deformation of the crankshaft. Under steady-state operation, the crankshafts
speed has a quasi-periodic variation and its harmonic
components may be obtained by a Discrete Fourier
Transform (DFT). Based on a lumped-mass model of the
shafting, correlations are established between the harmonic components of the speed variation and the corresponding components of the engine torque. These
correlations are used to calculate the gas-pressure
torque or the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP)
from measurements of the crankshafts speed.

The dynamic response of the shafting to the input torque

is a function of engine speed and load and a detailed
dynamic analysis of the torsional motion is necessary in
order to isolate the rigid body part of this motion from the
torsional oscillations [7], [8], [9]. If the rigid body motion of
the crankshaft is determined the speed variations may be
correlated to the power strokes of different cylinders indicating possible nonuniformities in their contribution to the
total engine torque but, no indication concerning the
average value of this torque is evident. Additional correlations shall be established in order to extract an information about the average engine torque from the measured
engine speed. This is the main goal of the present paper.

INTRODUCTION
There are many situations, especially in automotive applications when an information regarding the engine torque
is necessary, either to determine the actual engine loading, or to detect if the contribution of a cylinder starts to
deteriorate.

ENGINE TORQUE ESTIMATION FROM

CRANKSHAFTS SPEED MEASUREMENT
In order to determine possible correlations between the
gas-pressure torque and the measured variations of the
crankshafts speed an adequate dynamic model of the
engine shafting shall be considered.

The interest for measuring, on-line, the engine torque is

pointed out by a series of papers published in the recent
time about this subject [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and the development of compact measuring devices [6]. All these
measuring techniques are expensive, the corresponding
torque sensors having a rather complicated construction.
On the other hand, the measurement of the crankshafts
speed is easily and accurately performed by robust and
cheap sensors (usually Hall-effect transducers working in
connection with a teethed wheel) and are already incorporated in modern engine controls.

THE DYNAMIC MODEL OF THE SHAFTING Since

torsional vibration of shaftings driven by I.C. engines
have been investigated, the lumped-mass model has
been used with reasonable accurate results validated by
experiments [10], [11], [12]. Such a model is shown in
Fig. 1.

The crankshafts speed varies during an engine cycle

due to the variation of the gas-pressure in the cylinders
and the inherent speed variation of the reciprocating
masses. At a particular location along the crankshaft axis
1

M2

C1

J1

M3

C2

C3

CN-1

f1 J2 f 2 J3 f 3 J4
r1

r2

Matrix Hk in eq. (2) is the result of the multiplication of all

transfer matrices corresponding to the elements of the
dynamic model of the shafting and may be written as:

MN-1

M4

JN-1
rN-1

r3

h11k h12 k h13 k h14 k h15 k

h21k h22 k h23 k h24 k h25 k

f N-1

H k = h31k h32 k h33 k h34 k h35 k

JN

Constant values of the mass moments of inertia (Ji), torsional stiffens (Ci), local damping (ri) and relative damping (fi) are assumed and a linear system is obtained that
may be studied, under steady-state conditions, by the
transfer matrices method [8], [9].

ZiR , L
k

1
(Eq. 3)

The elements of submatrix Xk are determined only by the

parameters of the dynamic model ( Ji , Ci , ri , fi ), while
the elements of submatrix Yk are a function of both the
parameters of the dynamic model and cylinder torques
(Mik).

To each element of the dynamic model a complex and

extended matrix may be associated for each harmonic
component k of the engine torque: a point or mass
matrix Pik for every lumped mass Ji and a field or elastic
matrix Eik for every elastic shaft element of stiffness Ci.
The extension of these matrices is necessary for the
introduction of the harmonic components of the cylinder
torques Mik in the point matrices corresponding to the
reciprocating mechanisms of the engine. The state of the
system at an interface between a lumped mass and the
adjacent elastic shaft element is given by a state vector
Zik , whose elements are the real and imaginary parts of
the angular deflection ikRe, ikIm and torque MikRe, MikIm,
respectively:

The torque corresponding to a cylinder i is the sum of

the gas-pressure torque (Mpi) and the reciprocating inertia torque (Mtr i). Both torques may be expressed as a
sum of their significant harmonic components:

(Eq. 4)
where Akpi and Bkpi are the k-order harmonic components of the gas-pressure torque for cylinder i, Bk tr
the k-order harmonic component of the reciprocating
inertia torque, assumed identical for all cylinders and i
the phase angle between the firing of cylinder i and the
firing of the first cylinder. In the complex plane, the korder component of the torque, corresponding to cylinder
i may be expressed as [9]:

R, L

M kRe
= Im
k
M kIm
1 i

h41k h42 k h43 k h44 k h45 k

Figure 1. The torsional dynamic model of the crankshaft

kRe

X k Yk

M k i = ( M kRe ) i cos kt + j ( M kIm ) sin kt

(Eq. 1)

(Eq. 5)

where the real and imaginary parts are given by:

In relation (1) the superscript R or L indicates the right- or

left-hand side interface of mass i. The correlation
between the states at the ends of the system represented
in Fig. 1 is given by the following equation:

( M kRe ) i = Ak p cos k i ( Bk p + Bk tr ) sin k i

i

( M kIm ) i

= Ak p sin k i ( Bk p + Bk tr ) cos k i
i

(Eq. 6)
(Eq. 7)

These are the values that shall be introduced in the complex and extended point matrices corresponding to the
reciprocating mechanisms of the engine.

(Eq. 2)

The tolerances for the reciprocating masses mounted on

the same engine are very tight so that the reciprocating
inertia torque and its harmonic components may be
considered identical for all the cylinders. In this situation,
the submatrix Yk has the following structure:

G1k +

q
i =1

(h
(h
(h
(h

1ki

Ak p + H1k Bk p
i

G2 k + i =1

2 ki

Ak p + H2 k Bk p

Yk = G3k + i =1

3 ki

Ak p + H3 k Bk p

G4 k +

q
i =1

4 ki

Ak p + H4 k Bk p
i

torque vanish: (MNk)Re =(MNk)Im =0. Solving the system

of equations (9) for all significant harmonic components
of the engine torque (usually K = 12), the harmonic components of the speed variation at both ends of the shafting are calculated and the resulting motion may be
obtained by order superposition:

)
)
)

1, N =

1
In this expression the terms G1k to G4k correspond to the
contribution of the k-order component of the reciprocating
inertia torques and are a function only of the average
speed of the engine. The other terms represent the contribution of the k-order components of the gas-pressure
torques of all cylinders of the engine (q represents the
number of cylinders of the considered engine).

cos kt ( Im
k ) 1, N sin kt

(Eq. 10)

SPEED [rpm]

805
800
795
790
785
780
0

180
360
540
CRANKANGLE [degrees]
CALCULATED

720

MEASURED

Figure 2. Calculated and measured speed at 797 rpm

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 show such comparisons for a four cylinder, four stroke automotive diesel engine idling at 797
rpm and 1576 rpm, respectively.

h11 1Re + h12 M1Re + h13 1Im + h14 M1Im +

k
k
k
k
k
k
k k
q

+ G1k + i =1 h1k Ak p + H1k Bk p = Re

Nk
i
i
i
i

h Re + h M Re + h Im + h M Im +
22 k
1k
23 k 1 k
24 k
1k
21k 1k

q
+ G2 k + i =1 h2 k Ak p + H2 k Bk p = M NRek

i
i
i
i

Re
Re
Im
Im
h31k 1k + h32 k M1k + h33 k 1k + h34 k M 1k +

q
+ G3 k + i =1 h3 k Ak p + H3 k Bk p = Im

Nk
i
i
i
i

h41 1Re + h42 M1Re + h43 1Im + h44 M 1Im +

k
k
k
k
k
k
k k
q

+ G4 k + i =1 h4 k Ak p + H4 k Bk p = M NImk
i
i
i
i

(Eq. 9)

1600

1590
SPEED [rpm]

Re
k ) 1, N

810

DIRECT CALCULATION OF THE CRANKSHAFTS

SPEED VARIATION In order to check the accuracy of
the method and validate the dynamic model a direct calculation may be performed according to eq. (2) to obtain
the speed variation at either end of the crankshaft when
the input gas-pressure torque of each cylinder and the
average speed of the engine are known. Developing eq.
(2), with the notations introduced by relation (3), the following system of equations is obtained:

k = 1/ 2

[(

Now, the calculations may be compared to the measurements to check the accuracy of the dynamic model.

(Eq. 8)

1580
1570
1560
1550

180
360
540
CRANKANGLE [degrees]
CALCULATED

The engine must be equipped with pressure transducers

on each cylinder and a shaft encoder at one, or both
ends of the shafting. In this manner, the gas-pressure
torque for each cylinder is determined from the measured
cylinder pressure and by DFT its harmonic components
(Akpi and Bkpi) are calculated. From the measured speed
variation the average value is determined and the terms
G1k to G4k are calculated.

720

MEASURED

Figure 3. Calculated and measured speed at 1576 rpm.

The last mass in the dynamic model is the flywheel and
the speed is measured and calculated at this location. As
it may be seen, the parameters of the dynamic model are
fairly well estimated, the calculated speed variation following quite close the measurements. In this way the
dynamic model is validated and may be further used to
reverse the calculation and reconstruct the engine torque
from the measured crankshafts speed.

The torque acting on the last mass of the dynamic model

is the load of the engine and, usually, for steady-state
operation is constant, or has a very low frequency fluctuation. In this case, for the significant frequencies of the
engine torque the harmonic components of the loading
3

REVERSE CALCULATION OF THE ENGINE TORQUE

FROM THE MEASURED SPEED VARIATION The
correlation between the engine torque variation and the
variation of the crankshafts speed is given by the system
of equations (9). This time, the harmonic components of
the speed variation at one end of the crankshaft and the
average engine speed are known and the harmonic components of the individual cylinder torques are to be determined. If the speed is measured at the front end of the
crankshaft, only the second and fourth equations of system (9) shall be considered and for each harmonic order
there will by a system of two equations with 2q
unknowns. Because, with respect to the other masses of
the dynamic model, the flywheel has a larger mass
moment of inertia the node of the first mode of the torsional vibrations is situated close to the flywheel and the
speed could be measured more accurately at this location. In this situation, for each harmonic order there will
be a system of four equations with 2q+2 unknowns.

(
(

*
*
=
A
k ps si Ak pi + si Bk pi
i =1

*
*
Bk ps = si Ak pi + si Bk pi
i =1

s = 1,2,.... q

(Eq. 12)

Because the determination of coefficients si, si, si, and

si is another undetermined problem the properties of the
basic solutions are further investigated. Considering
again the four cylinder, four stroke diesel engine for which
the flywheel speed variation has been represented in Fig.
2 and Fig. 3, the basic solutions are plotted as vectors in
a plane A* - B* for the harmonic components k= , k=1
and k=2 (Fig. 4).

In both cases, the number of available equations is much

lower than the number of unknowns: the harmonic components of the gas-pressure torque for each cylinder.
Another way to look at the underdetermined system of
linear equations (9) is to consider its basic solutions and
the actual solution as a linear combination of the basic
solutions [7]. A basic solution is the one obtained by
assuming 2q-2 unknowns equal to zero and solving the
resulting system of four equations with four unknowns. If,
for example, A*kpi = B*kpi = 0 is considered for i = 2,
3,....,q, the following system of equations is obtained:

h11 1Re + h13 1Im + h1 Ak* + H Bk* =

1 k1
k
k
k1
p1
p1
k k
Re
Im

= Re
N k G1 k h12 k M1 k h14 k M 1k

h Re + h Im + h A* + H B * =
23 k 1 k
2 k1 k p1
2 k1 k p1
21k 1k

= G2 k h22 k M1Re
h24 k M1Im

k
k

Re
Im
*
*
h31k 1k + h33 k 1k + h3 k1 Ak p1 + H3 k1 Bk p1 =

Re
Im

= Im
N k G3 k h32 k M1 k h34 k M1 k

h41k 1Rek + h43 k 1Imk + h4 k Ak* p + H4 k Bk* p =

1
1
1
1

Re

= G4 k h42 k M1k h44 k M1Im

k

)
)

B p1/2

B
1

*
p1

3
3
*

A p1

A p1/2
2

B
k=1/2

*
p2

k=1

2
3
4
*

A p2

k=2

Figure 4. Vector representation of the basic solutions for

the harmonic orders k= , k=1 and k=2
If the crankshaft would be a rigid body and all cylinders
would operate identically, only the major orders1 will subsist in the harmonic structure of the resultant torque [12].
This characteristic of the resultant torque is consistent
with the configuration of the vectors representing the
basic solutions in Fig. 4. Only for k=2, a major harmonic
order, all vectors representing basic solutions have
almost the same direction. For k= and k=1 the basic
solutions are represented by vectors opposing each
other, making possible a linear combination with a result
close to zero.

(Eq. 11)

B*

This system may be solved for A kp1 and kp1 which

constitutes the basic solution corresponding to the action
of cylinder #1. In the same manner the basic solutions
corresponding to the action of the other cylinders are
obtained. The sought solution of system (9) may be
expressed as ainear combination of the basic solutions:

If all cylinders operate uniformly, the contribution of all

other harmonics excepting the major ones should be
negligible. This assertion is proved by the harmonic
structure of the resultant gas-pressure torque, calculated
from the pressure traces measured in the four cylinder
diesel engine idling at 797 rpm and presented in Table
1. The major orders, for a four-stroke engine,
are multiples of half the cylinder number.
4

The additive property of the major harmonic orders has

been proved in the reconstruction of the gas-pressure
torque variation. Consequently, the calculated amplitudes
of these orders may be divided by the number of cylinders and compared to the corresponding amplitudes of
the cylinder gas-pressure torque at different values of the
indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP). These values
may be determined by DFT of the gas-pressure torque
calculated from the measured pressure traces.

A1, Appendix A. The data in Table A1 show that the most

significant harmonic orders of the resultant torque are the
major orders k=2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. Compared to the amplitude of the second harmonic order, the amplitude of the
twelfth order is less than 2% and the maximum amplitude
of a non-major order (k=1) is about 1%. These results
indicate that the resultant gas-pressure torque could be
reconstructed, with an acceptable accuracy, considering
only the contribution of the significant major harmonic
orders of the individual cylinder torques.

An analysis of the calculated data for the torque variations represented in Fig. 5 is given in Table B1 in Appendix B. The cycle considered for analysis was quite
uniform from the standpoint of cylinder operation, the
variations of the cylinder torques being between +4.3%
and -3.3% with respect to the mean value. As it may be
seen, the harmonic orders k = 2 and k= 6 have been
slightly attenuated at 92.5% and 95.7% of their actual
value, respectively and slightly shifted (-1.1 to -1.2) with
respect to the actual phase. Harmonic orders k = 4 and k
= 10 have been more attenuated to 83.7% and 83.9% of
their actual value, respectively and, again slightly shifted
( -1). The most distorted harmonics are k = 8 (74.5%
attenuation and 7.5 phase shift) and k = 12 (115%
amplification and 35.4 phase shift). That was the reason
why the harmonic order k = 12 was omitted in the torque
reconstruction presented in Fig. 5.

Based on this observation, if it is assumed Akpi = Akp and

Bkpi = Bkp for i=1, 2,....,q for all significant major orders k
and the system of equations (9) is solved for these
orders, an approximate value of the engine torque variation, corresponding to equal contributions of all cylinders
could be obtained. These reverse calculation method
could be applied for steady-state operation and yield a
result close to the actual one if the differences in the cylinders contribution to the total engine torque is not too
large.
In order to check the validity of these assumptions, the
method has been used to reconstruct the gas-pressure
torque variation for the considered four-cylinder engine
idling at 797 rpm. The measured speed variation has
been subjected to a DFT and the resulting system of
equations (9) has been solved for k = 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10.
The result is shown in Fig. 5.

If the attenuation of different harmonic orders would

remain the same at other loads and speeds a correlation
would be possible between the calculated amplitude of a
certain harmonic and the corresponding IMEP or gaspressure torque. Unfortunately, the reverse calculation
method is very sensitive to the accuracy with which the
characteristics of the dynamic model are determined.
Small inaccuracies in the values of the elements (stiffness or mass moment of inertia) lead to very small differences between the measured and the calculated speed
variation, noticeable in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. On the contrary,
these small inaccuracies determine important distortions
in the reverse calculation, increasing with the increase of
speed and load. The distortions produced by the
assumed dynamic model of the four cylinder diesel
engine in the reversed calculation of the first three major
harmonic orders of the gas-pressure torque are shown in
Fig. 6. as a function of speed.

2000
TORQUE [Nm]

1500
1000
500
0
-500

-1000
-1500
0

180
360
540
CRANK ANGLE [degrees]

720

Pressure Torque PT Reconstructed PT

Figure 5. Gas-pressure torque and its reconstruction by
reverse calculation (four cylinder four stroke
engine)
As it could be seen from Fig. 5, the calculated variation
follows quite closely the actual one. Now, the main problem is to determine the average value of the engine
torque in order to know how much the calculated variation shall be shifted to match the actual gas-pressure
torque variation. The reverse calculation may be applied
to selected harmonic-variable components of the gaspressure torque but, to determine the constant average
value of this torque another approach shall be used.

In order to check this correlation, measurements have

been made for the engine idling at 1000 rpm and two different coolant temperatures. At higher engine temperature the friction losses decreased and the gas-pressure
torque was lower. The results are presented in Fig. 7.
showing that the amplitudes of the major orders k=4 and
k=6 increase with increasing gas-pressure torque. The
harmonic order k = 6 exhibits a better sensitivity to the
gas-pressure torque variation and may be used to determine the IMEP or the gas pressure torque.

AMPLITUDE DISTORTION
40
20
0
-20
-40

1000
1200
SPEED [rpm]
k=2

k=4

1400

1600

k=6

Figure 6. Amplitude distortions produced in the reverse

calculation of the gas-pressure torque
AVERAGE GAS-PRESSURE TORQUE CALCULATION
FROM MEASURED CRANKSHAFTS SPEED If
the
major interest resides in the determination of the average
value of the gas-pressure torque and engine output, a
more convenient method may be derived, based on the
same additive property of the major harmonic orders
used in the reverse calculation.

Average
torque
[Nm]

Amplitude
[rad/s]
k=4

Amplitude
[rad/s]
k=6

Amplitude
[rad/s]
k=8

165.53.6%

790

0.1380.6%

0.03561%

0.00715%

165.92.5%

1600

0.0475%

0.02604%

0.005920%

0.108

0.025

0.106

0.0245

0.104

0.024

0.102

0.0235

0.1

0.023

0.098

0.0225

K=4

K=6

Figure 7. Amplitude variation of the harmonic orders k =

4 and k = 6 versus gas-pressure torque
variation
The results obtained on the four cylinder diesel engine
operated at idling have shown the possibility to map an
engine in such a way as to obtain a reliable correlation
between the amplitude of a major harmonic order of the
measured speed variation and the average IMEP /gaspressure torque for steady state operating conditions.
Such a mapping and correlation has been established for
a six cylinders, four stroke, automotive diesel engine
(Cummins 8.3 L). The engine was loaded with a low inertia hydraulic brake and instrumented with a shaft encoder
on the flywheel and pressure transducers on each cylinder and in the crankcase. A DSP data acquisition system
was used to sample and store the measured parameters.

Amplitudes of the some major harmonic

orders of the engine speed
Speed
[rpm]

0.0255

0.096
0.022
80
90
100 110 120 130
GAS-PRESSURE TORQUE [Nm]

When the reverse calculation is performed to determine

the harmonic components of the gas-pressure torque,
the corresponding harmonic components of the measured speed variation are the inputs. Consequently, for
steady-state operation the magnitudes of the major harmonic components of the crankshafts speed shall deviate very little from a constant average value. This
property is verified on the four cylinder diesel engine, for
the runs at 790 rpm and 1600 rpm for which the speed
variation is shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. Ten consecutive
cycles are considered and the results are presented in
Table 1.
Table 1.

0.11

AMPLITUDE (K=6)

800

AMPLITUDE (K=4)

-60
600

The gas-pressures in the cylinders have been used to

calculate IMEP and gas-pressure torque and the speed
measured by the shaft encoder has been subjected to a
DFT. Analysis of sequences of 10 to 50 cycles has shown
that the amplitude of the major harmonic order k=3 was
fairly constant when the engine was operated at steadystate for different speeds and loads. The correlation
between the amplitude of the major harmonic order k = 3
of the measured speed and the IMEP/gas-pressure
torque, for different engine speeds is represented in Fig.
8. For the considered speeds, the dependency amplitude (k=3) versus IMEP is almost linear (Fig. 8). Deviations from linearity occur only at idling (first point for data
at 1200 rpm) and maximum load (last point for data at
1500 rpm).

As it may be seen, the amplitudes of the major harmonic

orders k=4 and k=6 of the speed variation preserve a
fairly constant value when speed and load are maintained constant. The scatter around the average value of
the amplitude increases with increased engine speed
and becomes very large for harmonic orders higher than
k=6. At the same time, a large scatter of the amplitudes
for all other harmonic orders has been determined. For
this particular case, of the four cylinder engine, the harmonic orders k= 4 and k= 6 may be considered for correlation with the gas-pressure torque.

CONCLUSION
1.4

The speed variation of the crankshaft may be easily

and accurately measured using a teethed wheel and
a Hall effect transducer in conjunction with a high frequency oscillator. Such a system is already built in
the engine electronic controls of modern automotive
engines and may be used also to determine average
value of the gas-pressure torque or IMEP of the
engine under steady-state operating conditions.

IMEP [MPa]

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

The lumped-mass dynamic model of the powertrain

is capable to simulate fairly well the crankshafts
speed variation when the input gas-pressure torque
is known. If a reverse calculation is attempted to
determine the gas-pressure torque from a known
variation of the crankshafts speed, small inaccuracies in the estimation of the parameters of the
dynamic model lead to large errors of the calculated
torque. These errors increase with increasing engine
speed.

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45

AMPLITUDE (k = 3)
1200 rpm

1500 rpm

1700 rpm

1800 rpm

Figure 8. Correlation between the amplitude of the

harmonic order k = 3 and IMEP for the six
cylinder engine at four different speeds.
The map shown in Fig. 8 is also valid for non-uniform cylinder contribution to the total engine torque. For example,
the engine was operated with cylinder #5 disconnected at
1200 rpm. While the operating cylinders had an IMEP
between 0.69 and 0.74 MPa, the IMEP of cylinder #5 was
only 0.037 MPa. The average IMEP for all cylinders was
0.6 MPa and the amplitude of the third harmonic order of
the engine speed was 0.301.5% [rad/s]. As it may be
seen on Fig. 8 this point lays very close to the curve corresponding to 1200 rpm.

The reverse calculation method developed in this

paper may be successfully applied when very accurate values for the parameters of the dynamic model
are available and, usually, only at low engine speed.
If the cylinders contribution to the total engine output
is reasonable uniform, the resultant gas-pressure
torque of a multicylinder engine is determined mainly
by the contribution of the major harmonic orders of
the considered engine. The major harmonic orders
are multiples of the number of cylinders (two-stroke
engines) or the half of this number (four-stroke
engines). The basic property of the major harmonic
orders is the summation, with the same phase, of the
contribution of each cylinder.

In order to determine the possibility to use the map

shown in Fig. 8 to determine the IMEP from measurements of the engine speed alone, a run at 1365 rpm has
been considered. The average value of the amplitude of
the third harmonic order of the measured speed, for ten
successive cycle was determined to be 0.3651.1% [rad/
s]. Interpolating this value between 1200 and 1500 rpm in
Fig 8, an IMEP of 1.034 MPa has been determined.
Comparing this value with the actual IMEP = 1.1 MPa,
calculated from the pressure traces, an error of -6% has
resulted. The accuracy of the method may be considerable improved by decreasing the speed interval between
which the interpolation is performed.

The DFT of the measured crankshafts speed under

steady state operation of the engine shows fairly constant values of the lower major harmonic orders.
Such a major harmonic order may be used to correlate its amplitude to the IMEP/gas-pressure torque
for a given engine speed. This correlation may be
stored as a map in the PROM of the engine controls
and used to determine on-line the IMEP/gas-pressure torque of the engine.

If an additional parameter will be considered: the coolant

temperature for example, the mechanical efficiency of the
engine may be also mapped and a correlation between
the engine power and the amplitude of the third harmonic
order of the measured engine speed, engine temperature
and crankshafts speed could be established.

The method is valid also for non-uniform contributions of the cylinders to the total engine output and
may be used to detect malfunctions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the technical support and
sponsorship of the Automotive Research Center by the
US Army National Automotive Center and TARDEC,
Waren Michigan.

REFERENCES

APPENDIX A
HARMONIC STRUCTURE OF THE RESULTANT
GAS-PRESSURE TORQUE

1. Champoussin J.C., Ginoux S. Engine Torque Determination by Crank Angle Measurements: State of the Art,
Future Prospects. SAE Paper 970532.
2. Garshelis I.J., Conto C.R.,Fiegel W.S. A Single transducer
for Non-contact Measurement of the Power, Torque and
Speed of a Rotating Shaft. SAE Paper 950536.
3. Hoyt C.D. Engine Mounted Torque Sensor Provides Diagnostic, Prognostic and Performance Data in Real Time in
the Vehicle. SAE Paper 950006
4. Sobel J.R., Jeremiason J., Wallin C. Instantaneous Crankshaft Torque Measurement. SAE Paper 960040.
5. Garshelis I.J., Aleksonis J.A., Rotay R.M. Development of a
Magnetoelastic Torque Transducer for Automotive Transmission Applications. SAE Paper 970603.
6. **** Easy fit torque sensor fits between flanges. Design
Engineering, July/August 1995.
7. Taraza D. Possibilities to Reconstruct Indicator Diagrams
by Analysis of the Angular Motion of the Crankshaft. SAE
Paper 932414.
8. Taraza D. Estimation of the Mean Indicated Pressure from
measurements of the Crankshaft Angular Speed Variation.
SAE Paper 932413.
9. Taraza D., Henein A.N., Bryzik W. Experimental Determination of the Instantaneous Frictional Torque In Multicylinder Engines. SAE Paper 962006.
10. Hafner K.E., Maass H. Torsionsschwingungen in der Verbrennungskraftmaschine. Springer Verlag, Wien, New
York, 1985.
11. Chen K.S., Chang T. Crankshaft Torsional and Damping
Simulation - An Update and Correlation With Test Results.
SAE Paper 861226.
12. Taraza D. Dynamics of Internal Combustion Engine (in
Romanian), Editura Didactica si Pedagogica, Bucuresti,
1985.

The resultant gas-pressure torque of a four stroke, four

cylinder diesel engine has been calculated from the pressures measured in each cylinder and in the crankcase.
The engine was idling at 797 rpm and the resultant gaspressure torque has been subjected to a DFT yielding the
following results.
Table A1 Harmonic structure of the resultant gaspressure torque. Four stroke, four cylinder
diesel engine idling at 797 rpm.
Harmonic
order k

1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
11
11
12

Cosine term Akp

[Nm]
5.0750
-4.1758
0.5447
27.7838
-2.0320
0.1824
-1.3044
-57.5490
-1.7661
1.4888
-1.2010
-54.2515
0.0720
1.1975
-0.7743
-40.2175
0.1317
1.4043
-0.6248
-27.6419
0.1038
1.0694
0.0224
-18.2652

Sine term
Bkp [Nm]
5.2971
-9.9423
7.2151
967.5115
3.1885
-0.2939
3.3391
509.9000
0.2341
-0.7327
0.6883
220.6090
-0.6766
-0.9299
0.2742
84.1596
-0.6199
0.6594
-0.5030
24.8266
-0.4277
0.0041
0.0831
1.8787

Amplitude
Ckp [Nm]
7.3359
10.7836
7.2356
967.9103
3.7809
0.3259
3.5848
513.1373
1.7816
1.6594
1.3843
227.1817
0.6804
1.5162
0.8215
93.2754
0.6337
1.5515
0.8021
37.1543
0.4401
1.0694
0.0861
18.3615

APPENDIX B
COMPARISON BETWEEN ACTUAL AND
RECONSTRUCTED GAS-PRESSURE TORQUE
The reverse calculation method introduced in this paper
and used to calculate the gas-pressure torque variation
of a multicylinder engine during a cycle is subjected to
errors caused by uncertainties in the determination of the
parameters of the dynamic model. Table B1 presents the
actual and calculated values of the harmonic components of the gas-pressure torque for a four cylinder, four
stroke diesel engine.

Table A2 STEADY-STATE OPERARION, IMEP = 0.2470.1 MPa. = 83.13 rad/sec.

Nonuniformities: Cyl.#1 (+4.3%); Cyl.#2 (-2.9%); Cyl.#3 (-3.3%); Cyl.#4 (+1.9%)
Harmomic component

k=2
k=4
k=6
k=8
k = 10
k = 12

Pressure measurement
Ak2+Bk2
K [degree]
Ck=
[Nm]
88.120.3
240.83%
-84.20.5
127.81.35%
-77.30.6
57.00.55%
-66.11.0
23.60.55%
-44.02.1
9.60.3%
-12.74.5
4.712%

Reverse calculation
Ck=
Ak2+Bk2
k [degree]
[Nm]
222.8
86.97
107.0
85.38
54.6
-78.44
17.6
-58.6
8.1
-45.6
5.4
22.7

Ck %
[Nm]
-7.5%
-14.3%
-4.3%
-25.5%
-16.1%
+15%

Errors
k[degree]
-1.14
-1.19
-1.14
+7.5
-0.7
35.44