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Online combustion efficiency optimization in a variable-valve-timing (VVT) gasoline engine requires the real-time knowledge of in-cylinder pressure and its various derivatives. The in-cylinder pressure measurements, however, are still inapplicable to current light duty vehicles due to the high cost of fast pressure sensors. In this paper, an effective combustion model is developed to provide online prediction of crank-angle resolved (CAR) in-cylinder pressure evolution given five representative initial states at intake valve closing (IVC). The prediction of the combustion pressure is made by incorporating mean-value mass/energy flow models with the first law thermodynamics. To achieve real-time calculation for end-use engines, this paper improves the validity region of the existing mass/energy flow models while preserving their simplicity.

Intake volumetric efficiency (VE) of a spark-ignition engine varies with valve timings, engine speeds, and manifold air loads. The existing approaches to reveal the underlying effects of these VE factors on instant valve flows remain complicated and expensive. In an effort to develop an applicable approach to analyze the detail valve flows, a naturally aspirated production engine with dual independent VVT was dynamometer-tested with fast in-cylinder pressure measurements and slow manifold pressure measurements. Both intake and exhaust valve flow was then reproduced using a new model, DQS model, in crank-angle resolution (CAR). One new flow mechanism, the flow wave subsidence, has been revealed to be one of the major drives of VE changes. We propose a dynamic quasi-steady (DQS) flow model to reproduce the valve flow profile from the measured pressure data. The DQS model features two manifold dynamics and a delay in the use of in-cylinder pressure measurements.