Technical Paper
Design and Simulation of Engines: A Century of Progress
1999-09-28
1999-01-3346
The paper discusses briefly the development of the theory of unsteady gas flow from a position of being totally misunderstood from the turn of this century until the 1940's, developed in the 1950's, and from which juncture the advent of the digital computer has turned such theory into a comprehensive design tool by the present day. While the most extensive use of this design method is for engines with a high performance specification, its employment as a design tool for industrial engines has been largely ignored. In the paper, a design for a small generating set engine at 3600 rpm is examined in great detail and the use of pressure wave effects is shown to enhance the engine performance considerably, either in terms of power gain, reduction of fuel consumption, reduction of hydrocarbon emissions, or reduction of noise levels.