The Limits of Engine Performance — Comparison of Actual and Theoretical Cycles

The limits on reciprocating engine performance are set by the idealized constant-volume cycle. Heretofore, fuel-air cycles have been computed by tracing them out on thermodynamic charts — a long and tedious process. By programming the thermodynamic characteristics of the fuel-air media and the cycle processes on a digital computer, it has been possible to compute the characteristics of fuel-air cycles over a wide range of fuel-air ratios, compression ratios, and initial conditions and present the results in graphic form.