Thermodynamics in a turbocharged direct injection diesel engine

Software has been developed for the calculation of the thermodynamic cycle and the entropy changes in a turbocharged, direct injection, diesel engine based upon the measured cylinder pressure and a shaft encoder output. Assumptions of homogeneous mixture and equilibrium thermodynamic properties are made for the products of combustion and the temporal variation in the fluid thermodynamic state is followed in a quasi-steady manner through a series of adjacent equilibrium states, each separated by finite intervals of one degree crank angle (1 degrees CA). The thermodynamic properties are calculated by either of two equivalent formulations - equilibrium constants or minimization of Gibbs free energy, and are expressed in algebraic equations for the partial derivative of internal energy and gas constant with respect to temperature, pressure and equivalence ratio. The effect of the engine operating conditions on the thermodynamic cycle is studied. Results show that the dynamic fuel injection timing and hence the ignition delay are strongly influenced by the operating conditions, and this explains the reasons for incorporating a fuel injection control system in modern vehicular engines for the optimization of the engine combustion cycle.