Tutorial Problem: Gas Power Cycles
1. A four-cylinder, four stroke, 2.2 L gasoline engine operates on the Otto cycle with a compression ratio
of 10. The air is at 100kPa and 600C at the beginning of the compression process and the maximum pressure
in the cycle is 8 MPa. The compression and expansion processes may be modelled as polytropic with a
polytropic constant 1.3. Using constant specific heats, determine (a) the temperature at the end of the
expansion process, (b) the net work output and the thermal efficiency, (c) the mean effective pressure, (d)
the engine speed for a net power output of 70kW and (e) the specific fuel consumption, in g/kWh, defined
as the ratio of the mass of the fuel consumed to the net work produced. The air-fuel ratio, defined as the
amount of air divided by the amount of fuel intake, is 16. [1335.3K, 715.36kJ/kg, 49.8%, 831.68kPa,
4592rev/min, 296g/kWhr]
2. An ideal diesel engine has a compression ratio of 20 and uses air as the working fluid. The state of air at
the beginning of the compression process is 95kPa and 200C. If the maximum temperature in the cycle is
not to exceed 2200K, determine (a) the thermal efficiency and (b) the mean effective pressure. Assume
constant specific heats for air at room temperature. [63.56%, 933.5kPa]
3. A simple Brayton cycle using air as the working fluid has a pressure ratio of 8. The minimum and
maximum temperatures in the cycle are 310K and 1160K. Assuming an isentropic efficiency of 75% for
the compressor and 82% for the turbine, determine (a) the air temperature at the turbine exit, (b) the net
work output and (c) the thermal efficiency. [734K, 91kJ/kg, 17.59%]
4. In a dual cycle, the pressure and temperature at the beginning of compression are 1.03bar and 303K.
Compression ratio is 12. Maximum pressure is 41.4bar and temperature at the end of heat supply is 1666K.
Find the (a) total heat supplied per kg of air, (ii) the fraction of the total heat supplied at constant volume
and at constant pressure, (iii) the net work done per kg of air and (iv) the thermal efficiency of the cycle.
[795.1kJ/kg, 17.71%, 82.29%, 473.332kJ/kg, 59.53%]
5. (a) Determine the compression ratio and the thermal efficiency of an air standard Otto cycle with the
maximum temperature of 1400K and the exhaust temperature of 700K. The pressure and temperature at
the beginning of compression are 100kPa and 300K respectively. (b) If an air standard diesel cycle operates
with the same input data as in (a) above, what will be the resulting values for the compression ratio and
the thermal efficiency? [5.657, 50%, 10.36, 55%]
6. At the beginning of the compression process of an air-standard dual cycle with a compression ratio of
18, the temperature is 300 K and the pressure is 0.1 MPa. The pressure ratio for the constant volume part
of the heating process is 1.5:1. The volume ratio (cut off ratio) for the constant pressure part of the heating
process is 1.2:1. Determine (a) the thermal efficiency and (b) the mean effective pressure, in MPa.
[68%,0.526MPa]
7. Determine the pressure ratio across the compressor of an ideal Brayton cycle for the maximum net work
output per unit of mass flow if the state at the compressor inlet (T1) and the temperature at the turbine
inlet (T3) are fixed. [ rp = (T3 T1 ) 2( −1) ]
8. Show that the efficiency of an air standard dual cycle can be expressed as,
1 rp rc − 1 ,
dual = 1 −
r ( rp − 1) + rp ( rc − 1)
−1
p3 V V
where, pressure ratio, rp = , cutoff ratio, rc = 4 , compression ratio, r = 1
p2 V3 V2
