Investigations of turbulent flow in the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine

The thesis describes an investigation into the turbulent flow existing in the two limiting designs of spark ignition engine combustion chamber, i.e. 'squish' and cylindrical disc designs. The analysis is concentrated on the compression stroke and the early part of the expansion stroke. The application of hot-wire anemometry to such work is described especially with regard to anemometer adjustment for optimum frequency response and hot wire probe calibration. The latter was achieved by utilizing an analytical procedure in which a heat balance of the wire was generated. The varying effects of temperature, pressure and flow velocity on the wire's convective heat loss characteristics were catered for by the Nusselt Number–Reynolds Number relationship of Collis and Williams. Excellent calibrations were achieved. [Continues.]