Combustion

in
SI Engines, CI Engines, and Gas Turbines
 Combustion Introduction
Combustion is the process of chemical reactions with
oxygen
Combustion is defined as a rapid exothermic reaction
that liberates substantial energy as heat and flames as
combustion reactions with the ability to propagate
through a suitable medium
Characterization of combustion involves measurements
of quantitative combustion characteristics, including
temperature, pressure, heat release, or the amount of
gaseous and particulate emission
Combustion studies involve some concepts and
definitions
 Combustion Introduction
Some definitions
A chemical reaction is the exchange and/or rearrangement
of atoms between colliding molecules
In the course of chemical reaction, the atoms are conserved
but the molecules are not reactant molecules are
rearranged to become product molecules with simultaneous
release of heat
Atoms and molecules are conveniently counted in terms of
amount of substance or mole numbers (unit mol)
The mass is the fundamental property of matter (unit kg)
and molar mass is the mass of 1 mol of the substance
(unit gm/mol)
Mass density (density) has the unit kg/m3 and molar
density (concentration) has the unit mol/m3
 Combustion Introduction

Combustion research in the past was directed to fluid

mechanics that included global heat release by chemical
reaction
The heat release was often described simply with the help
of thermodynamics, which assumed infinitely fast chemical
reaction
This approach was useful to some extent for designing
stationary combustion processes; it was not sufficient for
treating transient processes like ignition or quenching or in
treating pollution formation
Combustion studies, now-a-days, treat the coupling of
chemical reaction and fluid flow
 Combustion Introduction
In combustion processes, fuel and oxidizer (typically air)
are mixed and burned
There are several combustion categories based upon
whether the fuel and oxidizer is mixed first and burned
later (premixed) or whether combustion and mixing
occurs simultaneously (nonpremixed)
Each of these categories is further subdivided based on
whether the fluid flow is laminar (low Reynolds number) or
turbulent (high Reynolds number)
A flame is a combustion reaction which can propagate
subsonically through space
The existence of flame motion implies that the reaction is
confined to a zone which is small in thickness the
combustion chamber
Combustion Systems
 Flames
Laminar premixed flame
With premixed combustion the fuel-oxidizer mixture must
always be close to stoichiometric for reliable ignition and
combustion
The flame moves relative to the reactants, so separating
the reactants and products (velocity of about 0.5 m/s)

A laminar flat flame and a Bunsen flame

 Flames

The burning of freely burning premixed laminar flat flames

into the unburnt mixture can be characterized by laminar
burning velocity or flame velocity or flame speed
The burning velocity depends only on the mixture
composition ( or ), the pressure and the initial temperature
is the fuel-air equivalence ratio a ratio of actual fuel-air
ratio to stoichiometric fuel-air ratio
is the inverse of , and is termed as the relative air-fuel
ratio
If the laminar burning velocity is less than the velocity of
the unburnt gases, the flame blows off
 Flames
Non-premixed or diffusion laminar flames
The flame occurs at the interface between fuel and
oxidizer
The products of combustion diffuse into the oxidizer, and the
oxidizer diffuses through the products
Similar processes occur on the fuel side of the flame, and the
burning rate is controlled by diffusion
The term diffusion applies strictly to the molecular diffusion of
chemical species

Laminar counterflow
and coflow diffusion
flames
 Flames

Non-premixed flames include more complex chemistry

than premixed ones, because the equivalence ratio covers
the whole range from 0 (air) to (pure fuel)
Rich combustion occurs on the fuel side and lean combustion
on the air side
The flame front, which is usually characterized by intense
luminescence, is fixed to regions near the location of
stoichiometric composition = 1, since this is where the
temperature is the highest
Unlike premixed flames, non-premixed flames do not
propagate, and therefore, cannot be characterized by a
laminar flame speed
 Flames
Turbulent premixed flames
In this case, premixed flame fronts burn and propagate
into a turbulent fluid flow
If the turbulence intensity is not too high, curved laminar
premixed flame fronts are formed
The advantage of premixed combustion is that much
greater control of the combustion is possible
By lean premixing ( < 0.7), high temperatures are avoided
and hence combustion with low production of NO is
accomplished; also, a very small amount of soot is formed as
soot is largely a product of rich combustion
It is not widely used because of the potential for accidental
collection of large volumes of premixed reactants, which
could burn in an uncontrolled explosion
 Flames
For premixed combustion the effect of turbulence is to
break up, or wrinkle the flame front
There can be pockets of burnt gas in the unburnt gas and
vice versa thus increasing the flame front area and speeds
up combustion

Laminar and turbulent flame fronts for premixed combustion

 Flames
Turbulent non-premixed flames
In this case, turbulent convection mixes the fuel and air
together on a macroscopic basis
Molecular mixing at the small scales, i.e., molecular
diffusion, then completes the mixing process so that
chemical reactions can take place
Turbulence enhances the burning velocity
Fuel is injected as a fine spray into the air which is hot
enough to vaporize and ignite the fuel
The ordered air motion is also important because it
sweeps away the vaporized fuel and combustion products
from the fuel droplets
 Flames
The flames can be further classified as steady or
unsteady
The distinguishing feature here is whether the flame
structure and motion change with time
Flames in engines are unsteady, and are turbulent
Yet another classification of flames comes from the initial
phase of reactants gas, liquid, or solid
The conventional spark-ignition flame is thus a premixed
unsteady turbulent flame, and the fuel-air mixture through
which the flame propagates is in the gaseous state
The diesel engine combustion process is predominantly an
unsteady turbulent diffusion flame, and the fuel is initially in
the liquid phase
 Combustion Stoichiometry
Ideal gas model
The gas species that make up the working fluids in internal
combustion engines (e.g., oxygen, nitrogen, fuel vapor,
carbon dioxide, water vapor, etc.) can usually be treated
as ideal gases
The ideal gas law is: ~
R ~
pV mRT m T nR T
M

where p is the pressure, V the volume, m the mass~of gas,

R the gas constant for the gas, T the temperature, R the
universal gas constant (8314.3 J/kmol K), M the molecular
weight, and n the number of moles
 Combustion Stoichiometry
In combustion, oxygen is the reactive component of air.
It is usually sufficiently accurate to regard air as
consisting of 21 percent oxygen and 79 percent inert
gases taken as nitrogen (often called atmospheric or
apparent nitrogen)
For each mole of oxygen in air there are 3.773 moles of
atmospheric nitrogen
The molecular weight of air is 28.962, usually
approximated by 29
Because atmospheric nitrogen contains traces of other
species, its molecular weight is calculated to be 28.16
Thus, the value for the density of dry air at 1 atmosphere
(1.0133 x 105 Pa) and 25C is 1.184 kg/m3
 Combustion Stoichiometry
The fuels most commonly used in internal combustion
engines (gasoline or petrol, and diesel fuels) are blends
of many different hydrocarbon compounds
These fuels are predominantly carbon and hydrogen
(typically about 86 percent carbon and 14 percent
hydrogen by weight) though diesel fuels can contain up
to about 1 percent sulfur
Other fuels of interest are alcohols (which contain
oxygen), gaseous fuels (natural gas and liquid petroleum
gas), and single hydrocarbon compounds (e.g., ethane,
propane, isooctane) which are often used in engine
research
 Combustion Stoichiometry
By balancing the combustion reaction equation for a
particular fuel one can determine how much fuel and air
should be injected in order to completely burn both
A stoichiometric mixture contains the exact amount of
fuel and oxidizer such that after combustion is
completed, all the fuel and oxidizer are consumed to
form products
This ideal mixture approximately yields the maximum
flame temperature, as all the energy released from
combustion is used to heat the products
Combustion stoichiometry for a general hydrocarbon
fuel, CaHbOg, with air can be expressed as:
 Combustion Stoichiometry
b g b b g
CaHbOg a (O2 3.76N2 ) aCO2 H2O 3.76 a N2
4 2 2 4 2

The coefficients associated with each species in the

above equation are unknown. By balancing the atomic
abundance on both the reactant and product sides, one
can find the coefficient for each species
These coefficients are called the reaction stoichiometric
coefficients
The amount of air required for combusting a
stoichiometric mixture is called stoichiometric or
theoretical air
The above formula is for a single-component fuel and
cannot be applied to a fuel consisting of multiple
components
 Combustion Stoichiometry
There are two typical approaches for systems with
multiple fuels
The first method develops the stoichiometry of combustion
using the general principle of atomic balance, making sure
that the total number of each type of atom (C, H, N, O) is
the same in the products and the reactants
The other method of balancing a fuel mixture is to first
develop stoichiometry relations for each component
individually then, multiply the individual stoichiometry
equations by the mole fractions of the fuel components
and add them
In practice, fuels are often combusted with an amount of
air different from the stoichiometric ratio
 Combustion Stoichiometry
If less air than the stoichiometric amount is used, the
mixture is described as fuel rich
If excess air is used, the mixture is described as fuel lean
The stoichiometric air/fuel ratio (AFR)s or fuel/air ratio
(FAR)s depends on fuel composition
The (FAR)s is given by
1
F A mf Mf

A s F s ma s a b g 4.76 M
a
4 2
where mf and ma are the respective masses of the fuel
and the air and where Mf and Ma (~28.84 kg/kmol) are
the average masses per mole of fuel and air,
respectively
 Combustion Stoichiometry
Most hydrocarbon fuels have a stoichiometric fuel-air
ratio, (FAR)s, in the range of 0.050.07, i.e., the
stoichiometric AFR of gasoline is about 14.7
For most hydrocarbon fuels, 1420 kg of air is needed for
complete combustion of 1 kg of fuel

Normalizing the actual FAR by the stoichiometric FAR

gives the equivalence ratio,
(FAR )actual
1
(FAR )s
1 : lean mixture

1 : stoichiometric mixture
1 : rich mixture

 Combustion Stoichiometry
The amount of air in excess of the stoichiometric amount
is called excess air (EA) the percent excess air %EA is
defined as

ma mas ma
%EA 100 100 1
mas mas

Given one of the three variables (f, , and %EA), the

other two can be deduced as summarized in the following
table with their graphic relations
Combustion Stoichiometry
 Combustion Stoichiometry
In general, the products of combustion include many
different species in addition to the major species (CO2,
H2O, N2, O2), and the balance of the stoichiometric
equation requires the use of thermodynamic equilibrium
relations
However, assuming that the products contain major
species only (complete combustion) and excess air, the
global equation for lean combustion 1 is
1 b g
CaHb Og a (O2 3.76N2 )
4 2
b 3.76 b g b g 1
aCO2 H2O a N2 a 1 O2
2 4 2 4 2
 Combustion Stoichiometry

100
In terms of %EA, may be replaced by and the result is
%EA + 100
%EA b g
CaHb O g 1 a (O2 3.76N2 )
100 4 2
b %EA b g b g %EA
aCO2 H2O 3.76 1 a N2 a O2
2 100 4 2 4 2 100

The amount of excess air can be deduced from measurements of

exhaust gases
The ratio of mole fractions between CO2 and O2 is
x CO2 a %EA a

x O2 b g %EA 100 b g x CO2
a 4 2 100 a 4 2 x
O2
 Combustion Stoichiometry
For rich combustion (>1), the products may contain CO,
unburned fuels, and other species formed by the
degradation of the fuel
Often additional information on the products is needed for
complete balance of the chemical reaction
If the products are assumed to contain only unburned
fuel and major combustion products, the corresponding
global equation can be written as
1 b g
CaHb Og a (O2 3.76N2 )
4 2
a b 3.76 b g 1
CO2 H2O a N2 1 CaHbO g
2 4 2
 Combustion Thermodynamics
In a combustion process, fuel and oxidizer react to
produce products of different composition
The actual path by which this transformation takes place
is understood only for simple fuels such as hydrogen and
methane
For fuels with more complicated structure, the details are
not well defined
The first law of thermodynamics relates changes in
internal energy (or enthalpy) to heat and work transfer
interactions
Care must be exercised in relating the reference states at
which zero internal energy or enthalpy for each species or
groups of species are assigned
 Combustion Thermodynamics
Consider a system of mass m which changes its
composition from reactants to products by chemical
reaction as indicated below

Applying the first law to the system between its initial and
final states gives
QR-P W R-P = UP UR
 Combustion Thermodynamics
First consider a constant-volume process where the
initial and final temperatures are the same, T', then the
equation becomes
QR-P = U'P U'R = (DU)V, T'
The internal energy of the system has changed by an
amount (DU)V, T' which can be measured or calculated
Combustion processes are exothermic, therefore, the
systems internal energy decreases, i.e., QR-P and (DU)V, T'
are negative
If the above eqn is expressed per mole of fuel, then
(DU)V, T' is known as the increase in internal energy at
constant volume, and is known as the heat of reaction at
constant volume at temperature T'
 Combustion Thermodynamics
For a constant-pressure process where the initial and
final temperatures are the same, T', the eqn can be
rewritten as
QR-P p(V'P V'R) = U'P U'R
or QR-P = (U'P + pV'P) (U'R + pV'R)
= H'P H'R = (DH)p, T'
since for a constant pressure process
WR P pdV p(VP VR )
P
R

If the eqn is written per mole of fuel, (DH)p, T' is called the
increase in enthalpy at constant pressure and (DH)p, T' is
called the heat of reaction at constant pressure at T'
 Combustion Thermodynamics

Note that the slope of

these lines increases with
increasing temperature;
also, the magnitude of
(DU)V, T' [or (DH)p, T']
decreases with increasing
temperature because cv,
(or cp) for the products is
greater than for the
reactants
 Combustion Thermodynamics

The difference between (DH)p, T' and (DU)V, T' is

(DH)p, T' (DU)V, T' = p(VP VR)
Only if the volumes of the products and reactants in the
constant pressure process are the same are (DH)p, T'
and (DU)V, T' equal
If all the reactant and product species are ideal gases,
then the ideal gas law gives
(DH)p, T' (DU)V, T' = Ru(n'P n'R)T'
any inert gases do not contribute to (n'P n'R)
 Combustion Thermodynamics
With a hydrocarbon fuel, one of the
products, H2O, can be in the
gaseous or liquid phase
The internal energy (or enthalpy) of
the products in the constant volume
(or constant pressure) processes will
depend on the relative proportions of
the water in the gaseous and liquid
phases
The internal energy differences
between the curves is m H2Ou'fg H2O ,
where the first term is the mass of
water in the products and the second
term is the internal energy of
vaporization of water at the
temperature and pressure of the
products
 Combustion Thermodynamics
Similar curves and relationships
apply for enthalpy

For some fuels, the reactants

may contain the fuel as either
liquid or vapor
The U-T (or H-T) line for the
reactants with the fuel as liquid
or as vapor will be different
The vertical distance between
the two reactant curves is m f
ufgf (or mf hfgf) where the
subscript f denotes fuel
 Heating Values of Fuels
In combustion processes, reactants are consumed to
form products and energy is released which comes from
a rearrangement of chemical bonds in the reactants to
form the products
The enthalpy of formation of a chemical compound is
the enthalpy increase associated with the reaction of
forming one mole of the given compound from its
elements, with each substance in its thermodynamic
standard state at the given temperature
Elements at their reference state are arbitrarily assigned
zero enthalpy at the datum temperature
Enthalpies of formation are tabulated as a function of
temperature for all commonly occurring species
 Heating Values of Fuels
For inorganic compounds, the JANAF Thermochemical
Tables are the primary reference source
The molar base enthalpy of formation has units of MJ/kmol,
and the mass base enthalpy of formation has units of
MJ/kg
Elements in their most stable forms, such as C(graphite), H2,
O2, and N2, have enthalpies of formation of zero
For a given combustion reaction, the enthalpy of the
products at the standard state relative to the enthalpy
datum is given by
~o
HPo ni D h
products f,i
 Heating Values of Fuels
and the enthalpy of the reactants is given by
~o
HRo ni D h
reac tan ts f,i

The enthalpy increase,( DH)p,T , is then obtained from the

o

difference (HP HR )
o o

Heating values of a fuel (units of kJ/kg or MJ/kg) are

traditionally used to quantify the maximum amount of heat
that can be generated by complete combustion with air at
standard conditions (STP) (25C and 101.3 kPa)
For fuels where the precise fuel composition is not known, the
enthalpy of the reactants cannot be determined from the
enthalpies of formation of the reactant species the heating
value of the fuel is then measured directly
 Heating Values of Fuels
The heating value QHV or calorific value of a fuel is the
magnitude of the heat of reaction at constant pressure or
at constant volume at a standard temperature [usually
25C (77F)] for the complete combustion of unit mass of
fuel QHV ( DH)p,T
p o

and QHVV ( DH)V,To

For fuels containing hydrogen, H2O in the products is in
the liquid or gaseous phase affects the value of the heat
of reaction
The term higher heating value QHHV (or gross heating
value) is used when the H2O formed is all condensed to the
liquid phase; the term lower heating value QLHV (or net
heating value) is used when the H2O formed is all in the
vapor phase
 Heating Values of Fuels
The two heating values at constant pressure are related
by
mH2O
QHHVp QLHVp hfg H2O
mf

The term in the bracket is the ratio of mass of H2O

produced to mass of fuel burned
 Adiabatic Flame Temperature
One of the most important features of a combustion
process is the highest temperature of the combustion
products that can be achieved
The temperature of the products will be greatest when
there are no heat losses to the surrounding environment
and all of the energy released from combustion is used to
heat the products
The final temperature of the products in an adiabatic
combustion process is called the adiabatic flame
temperature
For an adiabatic constant-volume process
UP UR = 0
when UP and UR are evaluated relative to the same
datum
 Adiabatic Flame Temperature
Frequently, however, the tables or graphs of internal
energy or enthalpy for species and reactant or product
mixtures which are available give internal energies or
enthalpies relative to the species or mixture value at
some reference temperature To, i.e., U(T) U(To) or
H(T) H(To) are tabulated
Since
UP(To) UR(To) = (DU)V, To
it follows that
[UP(T) UP(To)] [UR(T) UR(To)] = - (DU)V, To
relates the product and reactant states
Given the initial state of the reactants (TR, V) one can
determine the final state of the products (T P, V)
 Adiabatic Flame Temperature
Similar relationships may be developed for an adiabatic
constant-pressure combustion process
[HP(T) HP(To)] [HR(T) HR(To)] = - (DH)p, To
Given the initial state of the
reactants (TR, p) one can determine
the final state of the products (TP, p)
 Combustion Efficiency
The combustion efficiency is defined as the fraction of
fuel energy supplied released during the combustion
processes
The exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine
contains incomplete combustion products as well as
complete combustion products
Under lean operating conditions the amounts of
incomplete combustion products are small
Under fuel-rich operating conditions these amounts
become more substantial since there is insufficient oxygen
to complete combustion
 Combustion Efficiency
The engine can be analyzed as an open system which
exchanges heat and work with its surrounding
environment (the atmosphere)
Reactants (fuel and air) flow into the system; products
(exhaust gases) flow out
The net chemical energy release due to combustion
within the engine for a mass, m, is given by
~o ~o
[HR (TA ) HP (TA )] m ni D hf,i ni D hf,i
i, reac tan ts i, products

Enthalpy is the appropriate property since pR = pP = patm.

ni is the number of moles of species i in the reactants or
products per unit mass of working fluid
 Combustion Efficiency
The amount of fuel energy supplied to the control volume
around the engine which can be released by combustion
is mf QHV
Hence the combustion efficiency is given by
HR (TA ) HP (TA )
c
mf QHV
 Maximum Work and Efficiency
By applying the second law of thermodynamics to a
control volume surrounding the engine, one can derive
an expression for the maximum useful work that the
engine can deliver
For a mass m of fluid passes through the control volume
surrounding the engine, the first law gives
DQ DW U = DH
where DW U is the useful work transfer (i.e., non-p dV
work) to the environment and DH = HP HR
Since the heat transfer DQ occurs only with the
atmosphere at ambient temperature T A, from the second
law:
 Maximum Work and Efficiency
DQ
DS
TA
These equations combine to give
DW U - (DH TADS) = - DB
where B is the steady-flow availability function, H TAS
Usually pR = pA and TR = TA
The maximum work will be obtained when p P = pA and TP
= TA
Under these conditions,
DWU [(H TS )PT (H TS )RT ] ( DG)TA ,PA
A ,PA A ,PA

or DWU max ( DG)TA ,PA

 Maximum Work and Efficiency
G is the Gibbs free energy, H TS
A fundamental measure of the effectiveness of any
practical internal combustion engine is the ratio of the
actual work delivered compared with this maximum work
This ratio called the availability conversion efficiency, a,
is given as
DW DW
a
DWU max ( DG)TA ,PA

The property availability is the maximum useful work

transfer that can be obtained from a system-atmosphere
(or control-volume-atmosphere) combination at a given
state
 Maximum Work and Efficiency
We saw earlier that the fuel conversion efficiency is
defined as:
Wc
f
mf QLHV

The fuel conversion efficiency is the most commonly

used definition of engine efficiency because it uses an
easily measured quantity, the heating value (usually
lower heating value), to define the usable fuel energy
supplied to the engine
For hydrocarbon fuels, the fuel conversion efficiency and
the availability conversion efficiency are closely
comparable in value
 Maximum Work and Efficiency
In practice, not all the fuel energy supplied to the engine
is released by the combustion process since combustion
is incomplete: the combustion efficiency is less than
unity
It is sometimes useful to separate out the effects of
incomplete combustion by defining an efficiency which
relates the actual work per cycle to the amount of fuel
chemical energy released in the combustion process
This is the thermal conversion efficiency t:
Wc Wc Wc
t
HR (TA ) HP (TA ) ( DH)TA cmf QHV

The fuel conversion, thermal conversion, and

combustion efficiencies are related by: f = ct
Equilibrium Composition of Products

The equilibrium composition of the products of combustion of isooctane-air

mixtures at selected temperatures and 30 atm pressure at various
equivalence ratios
 Self-Ignition Temperature
If the temperature of an air-fuel mixture is raised high
enough, the mixture will self-ignite without the need of a
spark plug or other external igniter
The temperature above which this occurs is called the
self-ignition temperature (SIT)
This is the basic principle of ignition in a compression
ignition engine
Self-ignition (or pre-ignition, or auto-ignition) is not
desirable in an SI engine, where a spark plug is used to
ignite the air-fuel at the proper time in the cycle
When self-ignition does occur in an SI engine higher than
desirable, pressure pulses are generated which can cause
damage to the engine and quite often are in the audible
frequency range, termed as knock
 Self-Ignition Temperature
If the temperature of a fuel is
raised above the self-ignition
temperature (SIT), the fuel
will spontaneously ignite after
a short ignition delay (ID)
time
The higher above SIT which
the fuel is heated, the shorter
will be ID
The values for SIT and ID for
a given air-fuel mixture are
ambiguous, depending on
many variables which include
temperature, pressure,
density, turbulence, swirl,
fuel-air ratio, presence of
inert gases, etc.
 Flame Propagation
In normal combustion, the forward boundary of the
reacting zone is called the flame front
In stationary flames the gas moves through the flame,
rather than the flame through the gas usually seen in gas
turbines
The motion of a flame in a mixture confined in a chamber
of constant volume is complicated by the fact that
expansion of the burned gases compresses the
unburned part of the charge
The boundary of the unburned charge next to the flame
front moves relative to the chamber
The observed flame motion is the sum of two
movements:
 Flame Propagation
The rate at which the flame moves into the unburned
portion of the charge is called the burning velocity
The rate at which the flame front is pushed forward by the
expansion of the burned gases is called the transport
velocity
The relation between flame position and pressure can be
determined by means of the observed fact that the
fraction of the mass burned is proportional to the fraction
of the total pressure rise; i.e.,
Mb p p1 where, Mb = mass burned
M = total mass of the charge
M p2 p1
p1 = initial pressure
p2 = pressure at the end of combustion
p = pressure at the instant under
consideration
 Flame Propagation
If it is assumed that the unburned portion of the charge is
compressed adiabatically and is a perfect gas, then
pVumu
Mb M Mu M
RTu
(k 1) / k
p
Also Tu T1
p1
where the subscrcipt u refers to the unburned portion
Combining the above equations, we obtain
1/ k
p p1 p1Vumu p
1
p2 p1 MRT1 p1
 Flame Propagation

Burning angle or burning time: is the period between

spark and peak pressure
Lag angle or lag time: is the period between ignition
spark and the appearance of a measurable rise of
pressure above the motoring-pressure curve
Effective burning angle or time: is the difference
between the burning angle and lag angle
Average flame speed: is the distance from the spark to
the most remote part of the combustion chamber,
divided by the burning time
Parameters Affecting Flame Propagation

Effect of engine speed

The flame speed must increase nearly in proportion to
engine speed
The increase of flame speed with increasing engine speed is
due to the marked effect of turbulence
Effect of inlet and exhaust pressure
Flame speed increases with increasing inlet pressure
Effect of exhaust to inlet pressure
Dilution with inert gas reduces flame speed
In engines, increasing ratio of exhaust to inlet pressure
increases the fraction of residual gas in the charge and thus
reduces flame speed
Parameters Affecting Flame Propagation
Fuel-air ratio
The lean limit is where the flame speed is zero, i.e., the
flame will not propagate
The value of lean limit varies with fuel composition, engine
design, and operating conditions, but is generally in the
neighbourhood of 60-80% of the chemically correct
mixture
The burning velocity peaks slightly
rich of stoichiometric for all fuels
Other operating variables
The following variables have small
effects on flame speed: air-inlet
temperature, humidity, and engine
operating temperatures