Need Engine Book Recommendation
 

I would like to buy a book which goes into detail on the theory and design parameters of internal combustion engines. I was a mechanical engineer in undergrade and took a basic course in internal combustion engine design. However, the course was very basic and I yearn more theory and knowledge.
For example, I would like to know why continued increases in compression ratio eventually platau the power yield curve(why does this occur????) I want this explained to me in terms of chemistry, thermodynamics and heat transfer. I am not looking for the answer to these questions in this post/forum, instead one or two book recommendations which explain these principles would be great.
Thanks in advance!
Mark Masotto

I was going to say Wayne's book, but that does not sound like what you want. If you don't have it, search the web for "Bosch Automotive Handbook, 7th Edition" to see if that might be something you want.

Would something like this be what you want:

The Internal-Combustion Engine in Theory and Practice
Volume 1: Thermodynamics, Fluid Flow, Performance 2nd Edition Revised
Charles Fayette Taylor
ISBN: 0-262-70026-3

There is also a second volume.

I second that recommendation. The books were written a long time ago, so they won't be up tp date with the latest knowledge, but they will cover the questions like the one you posed above.

JR

Taylor's successor at MIT, whose name I can't remember though I interviewed him years ago, was said to be the country's leading ICE expert. I would think he'd at least written a textbook...

John Heywood?

Heywood, J.B., Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals, McGraw-Hill, 1988.

http://www.amazon.com/Internal-Combustion-Engine-Fundamentals-Heywood/dp/007028637X/ref=ed_oe_h


JR

John Heywood. You got it. Although I see his book is $160, a typical wildly inflated textbook price.

...available on Amazon or Alibris, used or in paperback form, for less money....

You have experience in publishing a book (which I bought and read, BTW.) Is the price high on Heywood's book because of the limited audience, thus limited sales? I figure it can't sell better than Perry's book on aircraft structure, which works better than a sleeping pill on me. By page 3 I'm gone, works every time.

JR

There is some theory in this book:
Engine Testing theory and practice
Michael Plint And Anthony Martyr
Butterworth Heinemann
ISBN 0 7506 1668 7

Also check in the SAE papers and books.

http://www.sae.org/technical/books/

It's not so much that it's a limited audience as it is that it's a captive audience. If a professor writes a textbook and assigns it as a requirement for participation in the class, you'll pay whatever they ask for it, or find a used copy, or share one with a friend or whatever. You have no other options.

I may be wrong, that Heywood's book isn't classwork at all, but the title ("Fundamentals") sure makes me think it is.

And after all, what is a "limited audience"? Heywood's book is ranked 88,544 in Amazon sales. My gold-plated Porsche book is ranked 280,000-something, though the other day it was 75,000. That number isn't all that reliable, since if five people buy a book within a few hours of each other you can leap way up the ranking, but it is an indication that Heywood's book is actively selling. After all, there are many books sales-ranked in the millions on Amazon.

Heywood's book is definitely a textbook but at least it is 930 pages. So you can fool yourself into thinking you at least got something good for your money. I'm sure it still has end of chapter problems because Taylor's book has them as well.

I still remember paying $150 for about a 100 page textbook on electromagnetic theory in undergraduate engineering. Then again, how many pages can you write about four equations?

Heywood's book is good. Chapter 15 is worth reading. There is some really good information there. The rest is a lot of theory on proper combustion cycles.

I like A. Graham Bell's books. They may not be as in depth as what you're looking for, but they're worth a look even for an engineer. Some of the SAE books are pretty good, but they can be tedious.

+1 CF Taylor - The internal combustion engine in theory & practice - MIT Press

How about downloading an entire MIT course on Internal Combustion here (link is on the right side of the page):
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mechanical-Engineering/2-61Spring2004/CourseHome/

Course Description
This course elaborates on the fundamentals of how the design and operation of internal combustion engines affect their performance, operation, fuel requirements, and environmental impact, study of fluid flow, thermodynamics, combustion, heat transfer and friction phenomena, and fuel properties, relevant to engine power, efficiency, and emissions, examination of design features and operating characteristics of different types of internal combustion engines: spark-ignition, diesel, stratified-charge, and mixed-cycle engines. The project section details the Engine Laboratory project. We have aimed this course for graduate and senior undergraduate students.

Oh - and here are some lecture notes:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mechanical-Engineering/2-61Spring2004/LectureNotes/index.htm