Fuel 185 (2016) 718733

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Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel

Full Length Article

The effect of added ethanol to diesel fuel on performance, vibration,

combustion and knocking of a CI engine
Ahmad Taghizadeh-Alisaraei , Abbas Rezaei-Asl
Department of Mechanical Biosystems, Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 386, Gorgan, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Gasoline and diesel as fossil fuels are widely used in industry and agricultural field, and have different
Received 17 May 2016 performance, combustion and vibration characteristics in the internal-combustion engines. Added biofu-
Received in revised form 18 July 2016 els to fossil fuels effect on the mentioned characteristics. Ethanol is considered as a renewable fuel in dif-
Accepted 9 August 2016
ferent countries, which is produced from plant, sugary and starchy biomass. Ethanol as an important
additive to gasoline and diesel fuel can improve the engine performance and reduce emissions. In this
study, the ethanol was added to pure diesel fuel with concentrations of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12%. The pro-
Keywords:
duced torque and power, brake thermal efficiency (BTE), combustion, and vibration levels were evalu-
Ethanol
Diesel engines
ated. For this, a six cylinders CI engine in the five rotational speeds of 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, and
Vibration 2000 rpm was used under full load mode. The results showed that the torque and power increase on
Knocking average by 3.8% at fuel blend with concentration of 6% ethanol (D94E6) as compared with those of pure
Time-frequency analysis diesel fuel. For this fuel, the RMS and kurtosis of vibration on the engine block enhance 4.75% and 7.75%
as compared with pure diesel, respectively, that shows the more shocks is created. The RMS value is more
dependent on engine speed, while kurtosis value is more sensitive to the fuel blend. Despite the increase
in power for the D94E6 fuel blend, some irregularity is observed in engine performance, and engine
works more non-uniform. It seems that with increasing the ethanol concentration more than 8% in diesel
fuel, ignition delay rises and engine operates irregularity. In other words, the pressure changes are
increased inside the cylinders and knocking is occurred.
2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Compression ignition (CI) engines are widely employed in
industry and agriculture field for mobile and stationary applica-
tions [1] due to their reliability, durability and high fuel efficiency
[25]. However, many strategies have been adopted to reduce NOx
and soot emissions simultaneously to achieve the emission targets
[3,4,6]. Many researchers are considerably focused on biomass
based fuels (renewable fuel) derived from agricultural products,
which are applicable in CI engines [7]. Since, the use of these fuels
reduces greenhouse gases, air pollution, dependence on fuel
imports, and cost of energy, and these fuels cover a part of energy
demand [5]. These fuels can be used in pure or blended forms with
fossil fuels in transport systems, heating homes, buildings, and
industrial processes [8,9]. Bioethanol as an important renewable
fuel is considered in different countries. Ethanol has oxygen in its
molecular structure, so, it requires less oxygen for combustion in
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ahmadtza@yahoo.com (A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei).
comparison with the diesel and gasoline fuel and creates lower
pollutants [10]. Bioethanol production from plant material is com-
mon in the world. Ethanol can be produced via hydrolyze and fer-
mentation of cellulose, sugar, and starch [1116].
The first source of engine vibration is reciprocating and rota-
tional movements of engine component, and other source is the
explosion way of the fuel in the combustion chamber. The first fac-
tor of vibration depends on of the engine speed and second factor
of vibration is controlled by type of fuel and fuel injection method.
Vibrations of SI and CI engines have been studied in different
investigations [8,17]. Sound and vibration caused by the combus-
tion process in the engine could have direct effects on durability
and wear of engine parts. This is especially occurred in the engines
with high compression ratios and fast rising combustion pressures.
Injection timing, injectors spraying, fuel quantity, and fuel type
[8,18] in SI and CI engines effect on engine block vibration [8,19].
For example, the addition of biodiesel to petro-diesel fuel changes
the engine block vibration due to the combustion and fluctuation
of pressure inside the cylinder [8,20].
Vibration signals of the engine body can supply dynamic and
invisible information for current condition of machine [21]. These

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2016.08.041
0016-2361/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733 719

Nomenclature

Abbreviations Kurt Kurtosis

A the area above the piston kW kilo Watt
aBDC after Bottom Dead Center l connecting rod length
A/D analogue-to-digital L liter
ANN Artificial Neural Network LHV lower heating values (MJ/kg)
ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials mbar millibar
ax vertical acceleration mC concentrated mass of the crank
ay lateral acceleration mengine mass of engine
az longitudinal acceleration mm millimeter
aTDC after Top Dead Center MPa s mega Pascal second
bmep brake mean effective pressure (MPa) MJ mega joules
bTDC before Top Dead Centre Mol mole
BTE brake thermal efficiency (%) mP concentrated mass of the piston
C centigrade degree ms millisecond
CI compression ignition n engine rotational speed
cm centimeter N signal length
D100 pure diesel Nm Newton meter
D98E2 98% diesel + 2% ethanol NO nitrogen oxides
D96E4 96% diesel + 4% ethanol P(x) fluctuations of cylinder pressure
D94E6 94% diesel + 6% ethanol r crank radius
D92E8 92% diesel + 8% ethanol RMS root mean square
D90E10 90% diesel + 10% ethanol rpm revolutions per minute
D88E12 88% diesel + 12% ethanol s second
dB decibel SFC specific fuel consumption (g/kW h)
DWT discrete wavelet transform UHC unburned hydrocarbons (ppm)
E ethanol (C2H5OH) SI spark ignition
EVC exhaust valve close STFT Short Time-Frequency Transforms
EVO exhaust valve open TFR Time-Frequency Transforms
FFT Fast Fourier Transform T torque
Fx vertical component of inertial force Vol volume
Fy lateral component of inertial force WT wavelet transform
g gram wt weight
h hour C
X crank vertical acceleration
HHV higher heating values (MJ/kg) XP piston displacement
Hz hertz P
X piston acceleration
IVC intake valve close C crank lateral acceleration
IVO intake valve open x angular velocity
kg kilo grams

signals contain vibration signals providing the combustion charac-
teristics, fault acoustic signal, other normal acoustical signal, and
background noise [22]. The fault feature, which is useful for ensur-
ing safe running of engines, can be extracted from the initial signal
to diagnose the engine condition or detect the source of fault. Sev-
eral methods are employed for capturing information on engine
knocking and evaluation of combustion by developed tools such
as Fourier transform, wavelet analysis [21], empirical mode
decomposition, blind source separation and acoustic emission
[23]. Measuring the combustion pressure inside a cylinder is one
of the most reliable methods, since this method does not get
affected by other sources of mechanical vibrations. Nevertheless,
due to its difficult implementation and high costs, mostly the
accelerometers are used for knocking detection [2426]. To do
so, signals were converted using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT),
Short Time-Frequency transforms (STFT), wavelet transform
(WT), etc. [2729].
Fast Fourier transform (FFT) method widely used for signal con-
versions [23]. Using the FFT and FFT-based methods, such as esti-
mated power spectral density and Welch test, is unsuitable for
identifying non-stationary events, including cross-terms and sys-
tems with rapid changes in time and frequency. Nevertheless,
these methods are fast and capable of filtering noises [30]. In a
research, the FFT method was used to calculate the engine ampli-
tudefrequency values when the signal was subdivided into sev-
eral bands. In this way, the correlation coefficient matrix was
determined for both the faulty and healthy engines and diagnosing
was done by matching them [23].
Time-Frequency transforms (TFR) are among the novel and
practical methods for structural health monitoring in vibrating sys-
tems [31]. TFR approaches have been used for analysis of friction-
induced vibrations in engines. With any variation in a system, a
frequency change occurs in the TFR analysis caused by vibration
[32]. The STFT method has been applied for identifying normal
and abnormal combustion-related knocking in a cylinder block.
The wavelet analysis has employed for multi-scale analysis of a
signal and can effectively extract its frequency features in engines
[23].
Dayong et al. [23] were developed a method for extracting fault
components from abnormal acoustic signals and automatically
diagnosing diesel engine faults which was called dislocation super-
imposed method (DSM). They were employed the improved ran-
dom decrement technique, differential function and correlation
analysis. Results showed that the presented method extracts the
720 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733
fault component and type of it from abnormal acoustic signals [23].
Artificial Neural Networks [33], (ANNs) and time series [3436]
have been used for system diagnosis. Chen and Randall [33] were
applied the ANNs for automatically diagnosis of misfires in a gaso-
line engine. They were used the torsional vibration signals of the
crankshaft, and also the rotational acceleration signals of the
engine block. The ANN systems were trained using the simulated
data and tested using really experimental data. The final results
have shown that the diagnostic system based on simulation can
efficiently diagnose misfire, including location and severity [33].
Ettefagh et al. [37] studied the knocking phenomena in ignition
engines (gasoline) by analysis of vibration in the cylinder block
and provided a parametric model using time series. The vibration
signals were simulated with parametric model of Auto Regressive
Moving Average (ARMA). The results showed that the presented
method can identify the knocking phenomena by a simple soft-
ware with low-frequency sampling [37]. Piston slap [38,39] and
faults in valves of the engines can be identified using Wigner-
Ville Distributions (WVDs) and Neural Network Probabilistic
(NNP) [40].
Ethanol as an attractive alternative fuel is widely used as an
octane enhancer in spark ignition (SI) engines. Ethanol is one of
the most important components of biodiesel fuel in compression
ignition (CI) engines [4144]. Research has shown that adding
ethanol with a certain ratio in diesel fuel improves engine power
and specific fuel consumption (SFC) and reduces emissions
[10,4547]. In some cases, ethanol mixed with biofuels are used
to reduce the viscosity [47]. Several studies have been conducted
in term of performance and emission of alcoholic additives to gaso-
line and diesel fuel. For example, Shi et al. [48] were examined the
emission characteristics of three compounds oxygenated diesel
fuel blend consisted of ethanol, methyl soyate and petroleum die-
sel fuel (BE- diesel) on a diesel engine. The results showed a signif-
icant reduction in PM emissions and 214% increase of NOx
emissions. The change of CO emission was depended on operating
conditions. The UHC of BE-diesel was lower than that of diesel fuel
under most tested conditions [48]. Shadidi et al. [46] were studied
the performance of a tractor engine using diesohol fuel. The results
showed that, when using diesohol fuels, the power and torque of
the engine were increased by 3.178.50% and 1.7510.28% respec-
tively compared to diesel fuel. The specific fuel consumption was
increased by 4.377.44% due to low calorific value of ethanol com-
pared to diesel fuel. The analysis showed that when diesohol is
used, the rate of UHC is decreased but CO2 emission is increased
[46]. Polat [49] was investigated the effects of diethyl ether-
ethanol fuel blends on combustion, performance and exhaust
emissions of a single cylinder, port injection homogeneous charged
compression ignition HCCI engine. In the experiments, ethanol and
diethyl ether mixtures in different ratios by volume such as 30%
ethanol-70% diethyl ether (E30/D70), 40% ethanol-60% diethyl
ether (E40/D60), 50% ethanol-50% diethyl ether (E50/D50) and
100% diethyl ether (DEE) were used as test fuels. It was revealed
that diethyl ether and ethanol fuel blends have a significant effect
on combustion, engine performance and exhaust emissions [49].
Sayin [45] was studied the effects of methanol-diesel and
ethanol-diesel fuel blends on the performance and exhaust emis-
sions of a diesel engine. The results showed that brake specific fuel
consumption and emissions of nitrogen oxides were increased
while brake thermal efficiency, smoke opacity, emissions of carbon
monoxide and total hydrocarbon were decreased with methanol
diesel and ethanoldiesel fuel blends [45]. Jnior and Martins
[50] were measured the emissions of a diesel engine with diesel-
ethanol dual fuel system. The result for diesel-ethanol dual fuel
mode was showed a reduction in NOx emission up to 60% [50].
In term of vibration and knocking in engines many studies were
conducted. Taghizadeh et al. were evaluated the vibration of a die-
sel engine using diesel and biodiesel blends [8]. Uludamar et al.
[20] were examined the effect of various bio-diesel on engine noise
and vibration on an unmodified compression ignition engine. The
results revealed that noise and vibration of the engine decreased
with increasing biodiesel ratio until pure bio-diesel [20]. In another
study, Taghizadeh-alisaraei et al. [21] were studied the combus-
tion, vibration, and knocking in diesel engines produced due to
the fuels, such as D100, B20, B40, B60, B80, and B100 diesel-
biodiesel fuel blends by time-frequency methods. The smoothest
engine performance was obtained for B40 fuel blend [21]. Gravalos
et al. [18] were done an experimental investigation of the vibration
behavior of a spark ignition engine fuelled with gasoline, ethanol
and methanol blends. Three types of fuel were used, namely,
unleaded gasoline as a base fuel for comparison and two alcohols,
namely methanol and ethanol, blended with gasoline at volume
percentages of 10%, 20% and 30%. The results were indicated that
the vibration amplitude generated by the gasoline fuel was higher
at low frequencies around 1500 Hz. While, the vibration amplitude
produced by the gasoline-methanol blend had a high frequency
content around 2400 Hz [18].
Recently, many studies have conducted in term of the effects of
fuels on vibrations and knocking engines. Modern methods have
been developed for engine knock detection and extraction of infor-
mation from vibration signals. In the case of ethanol, many studies
have been done on the engine performance and emissions. How-
ever, there are still many shortcomings about the effects of vibra-
tion, noise, and knocking in the engine. The existing studies only is
based on engine performance and emissions, and simultaneously
do not examine the engine vibration and knocking and their effects
on engine.
The literature reviews, show that the research on performance,
combustion, vibration, and knocking characteristics of diesel engi-
nes using ethanol and its blends with pure diesel has not been
reported so far. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate the
relationship between performance and engine vibration using
ethanol and diesel blends in a six-cylinder CI engine by time-
frequency analysis. The main objective was to identify the knock-
ing phenomena and procedure of the fuel blends combustion.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental set-up and data acquisition
Experimental set up and instruments used in this study are
shown in Table 1. A four-stroke six-cylinder diesel engine was used
Table 1
Specifications of all equipment and devices used in the experiments.
Test engine Tractor engine, Model Perkins 1006-6, Manufactured by
Iran, Number of cylinders 6, Direct injection, Fuel
injection time 22bTDC, Maximum power in 2200 rpm
82 kW, Maximum torque in 1200 rpm 431 N m,
Maximum speed 2300 rpm. Optimum operation
condition at 1900 rpm
Dynamometer Model electromagnet R5 manufactured by NJ-FROMENT,
Revolution range 7702600 rpm, Maximum power
335 kW at 2600 rpm, Maximum torque 1050 N m at
1450 rpm
Accelerometers Multi-Purpose Accelerometers, CTC AC102-1A,
Frequency Response (3 dB) 0.515,000 Hz, Dynamic
Range 50 g peak, Resonant Frequency 23,000 Hz
A/D converter Advantech USB-4711A, 16 Single input channels A/D,
Converting 12 bit A/D, Maximum sampling frequency
1150 kHz
Other devices and -Ultrasonic homogenizer: Hielscher UP400S, Germany
sensors -Fuel flow meter: volumetric type, brand OVAL, made in
Japan
 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733 721

for the experiments (Table 1). In this engine, the rotational speed is Table 2
controlled and stabilized by a governor. The cylinder firing order is The accuracies of the measurements and the uncertainties in the calculated results.

4-2-6-3-5-1, and the valves timings are, IVO 25 degrees before Parameters Measurement Accuracy Uncertainties
BDC, EVC 28 degrees after TDC, IVC 55 degrees aBDC, and EVO range (%)
120 degrees aTDC. A dynamometer was employed to apply the Speed 08000 rpm 5 rpm 0.06
load to the engine (Table 1). Torque 0110 N m 0.05 N m 0.05
To acquire the engine vibration signals, three accelerometers Power 092 kW 0.07 kW 0.08
Fuel flow rate 0.16 l/h 0.009 l/h 0.06
were used. The accelerometers mounting directions were in three LHV
45,000 J 0.1% RSD 0.1
axes, namely vertical (x), lateral (y), and longitudinal (z), respec- BTE 0.2
tively. A proximity sensor was used for measuring the angle of Kinematic 0.220,000 mm2/s 0.1
the engine crankshaft. So, the angle of the crankshaft was recorded viscosity
Dynamic viscosity 0.220,000 MPa s 0.1
simultaneously during the vibration measurement. In this process,
Density 0.653.0 g/cm3 0.0001 g/cm3 0.003
the proximity sensor was coupled to the end of the crankshaft. The Humidity 399% 0.5% 0.5
proximity sensors pulses and accelerometers vibration signals Temperatures 01000 C 1 C 0.1
were transferred to a switchboard. The switchboard output signals Ambient pressure 7001100 mbar 1 mbar 0.09
were transferred to an analogue-to-digital (A/D) converter
(Table 1). After that, the output data cable was connected to the
computer USB port to transfer the data (Fig. 1).
Data acquiring time was one minute with the sampling rate of (Table 1). The fuel blends characteristics measured in experiments
50 kHz for each test after stabilizing of the engine. In this interval, based on ASTM standard are listed in Table 3. The experiments
the enough vibration data was saved for several engines working were conducted on full-load engine condition. The engine was
cycles. Start point of data collection was set with the top dead cen- run at rotational speeds of 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, and
ter (TDC) of the piston (No. 1) by the proximity sensor. Experimen- 2000 rpm. Injection pressure was fixed (35 MPa) for all engine
tal schematic of vibration signal extraction and crank angle speeds and fuel blends. This is done by pressure regulation valve
recording are shown in Fig. 1. The accuracies of the measurements in rotary mechanical fuel injection pump. The spraying of the injec-
and the uncertainties in the calculated results are presented in tors was also set for this pressure.
Table 2.
In this study, anhydrous ethanol (C2H5OH) and standard diesel 2.2. Analysis methods
fuel were blended by volume. Seven fuel blends of D100, D98E2
(98% pure diesel and 2% ethanol), D96E4, D94E6, D92E8, D90E10, For vibration analysis, fast Fourier transform (FFT) and short-
and D88E12 were provided and used. To prepare and homogeniza- time Fourier transform (STFT) was used, and then programs were
tion of the fuel blends, an ultrasonic homogenizer device was used provided in MATLAB software. For scrutiny and a decision on

Fig. 1. Measurement set up and devices for experiments.

722 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733

Table 3
The fuels specifications measured in experiments based on ASTM standard (40 C).

Fuel Kinematic viscosity (mm2/s) Dynamic viscosity (MPa s) Density (g/cm3) HHV (MJ/kg) LHV (MJ/kg) Dissolved oxygen (wt%) Cetane number
Ethanol 1.1196 0.8675 0.7748 29.70 28.07 34.78 6.5
D100 2.8305 2.3213 0.8201 43.95 41.60 0.00 49.0
D98E2 2.7590 2.2577 0.8183 43.48 41.27 0.66 47.9
D96E4 2.7194 2.2231 0.8175 43.02 40.93 1.32 46.8
D94E6 2.5563 2.0880 0.8168 42.56 40.60 1.98 45.7
D92E8 2.5148 2.0501 0.8152 42.11 40.28 2.64 44.6
D90E10 2.5002 2.0357 0.8142 41.66 39.96 3.30 43.5
D88E12 2.4360 1.9819 0.8136 41.22 39.64 3.97 42.4

engine performance, the parameters of root mean square (RMS) each section to develop a spectrum. The mathematic form of STFT
and kurtosis of signals were used that define as following calculation is as Eq. (5);
equations. Z 1
1
Fx; s p xtht
se
jxt dt: 5
2p
1
2.2.1. RMS of acceleration signal
Root mean square (RMS) is defined by Eq. (1) with the number where h(t) is a central windowing function at time t, that provides
of points within a time period, N, and acceleration data in time of the conditions of Eq. (6);
tk, x(tk); Z 1
" #1=2 hsds 1: 6
1 X
N
1
xRMS x tk
2
: 1
N k1
Spectrogram or energy density spectrum of the STFT is derived
from Eq. (7);
The quantity used as criteria for comparison of vibrations in  Z 1 2
various conditions is RMS. The RMS is proportional to energy con-  1 
STFTx; s jFx; sj2 p xtht
se
jxt dt  : 7
tent of vibration signals, which is depending on its amplitude. The 2p
1
RMS is calculated according to the square of vibration data; thus,
For the discrete-time analysis, the STFT was defined as Eq. (8);
more weight is automatically given to sudden peaks (shocks).
X
1
STFTm; x xnhn
me
jxn : 8
2.2.2. Kurtosis of acceleration signal n
1
To compare of the results with the other methods, the kurtosis
criteria was applied for evaluation of engines performance using The resolution in time and frequency domains largely depends
the vibration signal (Eq. (2)); on the used windows. Although gained results from the STFT is
h P i useful, it has disadvantages due to a constant specific window size
N
1
N
t k
k1 x
4 selected for all frequencies. However, this method significantly
Kurt h i2 : 2 shows obvious advantages such as no cross-terms interference
PN 2
k1 x t k
1
N and overlaps in the spectral analysis, which are disturbing in other
time-frequency representations [27,32].
Kurtosis is extremely sensitive to noise and, in practice, a pre-
liminary treatment of the signal (band-pass filtering, envelope 2.2.5. Apply the STFT algorithm to vibration signal
detection) is essential in order to benefit fully from this indicators For STFT analysis, the vibration signals from the engine body for
performance [5153]. Kurtosis represents the largeness and sharp- two working cycle of the engine (two crankshaft revolutions) were
ness of signals maximum and minimum. The greater kurtosis employed. Eq. (8) was used for STFT analysis. First, a discrete-time
value indicates that pulses are larger, sharper and have a wider signal, x[n] with the number of N was selected. Then, the signal was
range. Kurtosis detects more clearly the difference between of divided into small sections with length m by window function of h
the two signals. (n). The hamming window with length of 27 was selected for STFT
analysis. After windowing, the Fourier transform was performed
2.2.3. Fast Fourier Transform for each section of x[n]  h[n-m] in the time. At the end, the calcu-
In signal processing, by applying a specific input, the response lated spectrogram values from each equation were drawn in a
of the system is determined and is provided in an appropriate time-frequency diagram. With constantly changing parameters,
form. Often, time function does not represent useful information, the best resolution for time-frequency diagram was obtained.
while the frequency response shows one or more dedicated fre- These parameters were the type and size of the window according
quency which energy is concentrated around of it. For a digital data to the sampling frequency (SF), number of data, time interval
set x(j) with the number of N, the FFT is computed by Eq. (3); (1/SF), and the length of overlap. The number of data depending
on the engine speed was from 6011 (2000 rpm) to 7500
X
N
xjxN
j
1k
1 (1600 rpm) with SF of 50 kHz (time interval of 0.02 ms). For the
Xk ; 3
j1 best resolution and shorten computation time, the number of fre-
quency bins was 256 (the length of overlap were 50% for each two
where adjacent hamming windows).
xN e
2pi=N : 4
2.3. Engine vibration theory

2.2.4. Short-term Fourier Transform (STFT) Fig. 2 shows a reciprocating engine with the piston (P), connect-
In short-term Fourier transform, first, a signal is divided into ing rod (length l), and crank shaft (radius r). Crank rotates counter-
small-time sections. Then, the Fourier transform is performed for clockwise with angular velocity of x 2pn=60, and point of O is
 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733 723

Acceleration of the engine body is directly proportional to

the square of the rotational speed of the engine. Using Eqs.
(13) and (14) and with consider to the mass of the engine
(mengine), the vertical (ax) and lateral (ay) acceleration of the
engine body can be obtained from Eqs. (15) and (16). These
two equations indicate that the masses of mP and mC have an
important role in engine vibrations. Mass reduction of pistons
(mP), connecting rods and crankshaft (mC) using lightweight
alloys in the engine block decreases the vertical acceleration
(ax). So, the strength of the components not be sacrificed to
reduce masses. Lateral acceleration (ay) affected by mass of
mC. The pressure fluctuations, P(x), inside cylinder is also a very
important factor.

mP mC r x2 cos xt mP r x cos 2xt Px  A

2 2

ax l
15
mengine
mP
mC

mC r x2 sin xt Piston Slap

ay : 16
mengine
mC

3. Result and discussion

3.1. Analysis of engine torque

For each treatment, measured traits are including of engine

vibration, torque and power that relevant analyzes will be per-
formed as following. Fig. 3a shows effect of increasing ethanol con-
centration added to diesel fuel on the engine torque. The maximum
torque is produced at engine speeds of 1600 and 1700 rpm for all
fuels. The minimum torque is also related to the speed of
2000 rpm. Its reason could be the injectors irregular spray and
insufficient air intake to the engine, which is more severe with
Fig. 2. Schematic of rotating crankshaft [54]. increasing the speed. On the other hand, D94E6 fuel blend pro-
duces maximum torque in the engine among all fuel blends. With
increasing the bioethanol concentration of the diesel fuel, the tor-
the highest piston position. Displacement (XP) and acceleration que is gradually increased, and it has its highest value at the con-
P ) of the piston can be expressed as Eqs. (9) and (10), respec-
(X centration of D94E6. Then, the torque is reduced or in other words;
c ) and lateral (c) acceleration of centralized
tively. The vertical (X the torque is not increased by adding bioethanol. Engine output
mass connecting rods presented as Eqs. (11) and (12), respectively torque which is directly proportional to brake mean effective pres-
[54], sure (bmep), rises by increasing the concentration of ethanol (2, 4,
 r  r  6%) in the diesel fuel up to D94E6 fuel blend. This reveal that the
XP  r 1
r cos xt cos2 xt 9 more heat is released inside the cylinder due to oxygenate fuel
2l 2l
and more complete combustion, and shows the quality of combus-
 
P  r x2 cos xt r cos 2xt
X 10
tion has been improved which leads to the lowest knocking. As a
l result, the average pressure of the fuel combustion is more, and
it will cause to increase the force on the surface of piston and sub-
C r x2 cos xt
X 11 sequently torque. Addition of bioethanol to the diesel fuel in D94E6
fuel blend has increased torque of this fuel compared with that of
Y C
r x2 sin xt: 12 pure diesel fuel on average 8.3% (in the calculation of average, the
speed of 2000 rpm has not been considered). In economic terms, it
With assuming the mP and mC as mass of the piston and crank
seems that D94E6 has the better output of torque than other fuel
pin (including centralized mass connecting rods), the vertical com-
blends.
ponent of inertial force (Fx) for a cylinder is given by the Eq. (13).
The first term of the crankshaft rotational frequency is equal to
3.2. Analyzing of engine power
x, and the second term has the frequency of 2x. The horizontal
component of the inertia force (Fy) for a cylinder can be obtained
The amount of power in the engine flywheel, which is called
as Eq. (14);
brake power, is calculated from Eq. (17). In this equation, P is the
r 2 x2 engine power at the flywheel in kW, T is torque available at the fly-
F x mP mC r x2 cos xt mP cos 2xt 13 wheel in N m and n is the engine speed in rpm.
l
2pTn Tn
F y
mC rx2 sin xt: 14 P : 17
60; 000 9554
724 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733
Fig. 3. Diagram of engine (a) torque, (b) net power for different fuel blends in the speeds of 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2000 rpm.
Dynamometer measures the engine speed and torque and
records the engine power using Eq. (17). Changes in the torque ver-
sus engine speed are very low before the rated speed of the engine.
If the torque is assumed constant, the equation of engine power is
P = dn, where d = T/9554, which is a constant number.
Fig. 3b shows that for all fuel blends, the power is maximum
in the speed of 1900 rpm and by increasing the engine speed, tor-
que is reduced. This is due to decline of volumetric efficiency in
higher engine speed. Although the intake valves are fully open
at higher speeds, the cylinder chamber are not filled well because
less time is available for this and thus compression pressure is
reduced. Subsequently, the combustion pressure is decreased
and inertial forces of moving parts of the engine is enhanced,
which is led to the reduction of the engine real torque. In the tor-
que diagram of Fig. 3a, there is no significantly difference in the
torque for all fuel blends at speeds of 1600, 1700, 1800 and
1900 rpm. However, in the power diagram of Fig. 3b, this differ-
ence is clearly significant. This shows that the power depends
extensively on engine speed that this could be concluded from
Eq. (17). At high speeds, fuel combustion in almost abnormal
(the nominal speed of the engine is 2200 rpm) and cannot com-
ment on the fuel quality. The best speeds for fuel evaluation are
speeds in the range of 16001900 rpm. Fig. 3c shows a zoomed
picture of Fig. 3a for these four speeds.
Fig. 3b shows the effect of increasing concentration of bioetha-
nol added to pure diesel fuel on the engine power. As expected, the
maximum amount of power is generated in the D94E6 fuel,
because the amount of torque in this fuel blend is maximum that
represents the improvement of combustion and effective conver-
sion of fuel heat energy into useful work. In addition, brake power
is enhanced by increasing the concentration of bioethanol from
D100 to D94E6 and it is then decreased from D94E6 to D88E12.
The reason for this could be because the inefficient mixing of
ethanol-diesel fuel at high concentrations of ethanol, which is led
to be more non-heterogeneous blend. Available ethanol in D94E6
fuel blend increases the average of produced power by 8.3% com-
pared with the pure diesel fuel (in the calculation of average, the
speed of 2000 rpm has not been considered). In economic terms,
it seems that D94E6 fuel blend has the better power performance
than other fuel blends. To comment on any of the fuel blend com-
bustion, the analysis of engines body vibration will be carried out
subsequently.
 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733
3.2.1. Oxygen fraction and BTE
An effective factor in the increase of engine power can be attrib-
uted to the more produced energy inside the cylinder by raising
the oxygen content of ethanol. Using oxygenate fuels increases
the air-fuel ratio and more ideal stoichiometric ratio achieved,
which this will influence engine combustion and emissions. One
of the main reasons for the increase in power is the presence of
ethanol in fuel blends in comparison with pure diesel. Neat ethanol
(C2H5OH with molar mass of 46 g/mol) has one mole oxygen in its
molecular structure, which has formed the 34.78% of total weight.
The oxygen content in different fuel blends are listed in the penul-
timate column of Table 3. The percentage of dissolved oxygen in
the fuel blends varies from 0% for D100 to 3.97% for D88E12 fuel.
With increasing the concentrations of ethanol from 0 to 12% in fuel
blends, the power highly increased. The reason for this is because
of more complete combustion and more available oxygen rather
than pure diesel fuel.
At concentration of 12% ethanol (D88E12), the combustion
quality does not improve due to tend of mixture to being two-
phase and more heterogeneous mixture compared with 6% etha-
nol. Ethanol and diesel fuel are not accurately described as either
miscible or as immiscible. But in higher concentrations of ethanol,
ethanol and diesel are immiscible which depends on the tempera-
ture of the mixture. Some ethanol can be dissolved in diesel fuel at
room temperature, but as the temperature is lowered the solution
will separate into two phases [55]. For more detailed analysis and
confirmation of this statement, it can be referred to vibration signal
that shows the fluctuations of cylinder pressure (Sections 3.3.1 and
3.3.2). For more clarification, the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) for
each engine speed and fuel blend is discussed. Fig. 4 shows the BTE
according to fuel blend and engine speed. It is observed that with
the rising of speed form 16001800 rpm, the BTE increases and
then decreases from 1800 to 2000 rpm (Fig. 4a). It is known that
the BTE decreases at high speeds because of a drop in the engine
volumetric efficiency. In Fig. 4b, the higher values of BTE is related
to D100 and D94E6 fuels considering to fuel consumption. The
minimum value of BTE is obtained for D98E2 and D90E10 fuels.
In three fuel blends of D92E8, D90E10, and D88E12 the BTE is
greatly reduced due to the lower quality of fuel blends.
3.3. Analyzing the combustion and vibration of engine
An example of time domain signals in the engine speed of
1800 rpm for fuel blends of D100, D98E2, D96E4, D94E6, D92E8,
D90E10 and D88E12 and also for ideal combustion condition in
the vertical (x) axis has been shown in Fig. 5. Combustion pulses
in each cylinder of the engine can be detected clearly in all cases.
In fuel blend of D88E12, the combustion pulses in each cylinder
have more irregularities compared with the ideal combustion
Fig. 4. The mean BTE diagram; (a) mean BTE versus engine speeds, (b) mean BTE versus fuel blends.
725
mode (Fig. 5a). In general, in order to identify the engine status,
applying lower speeds is more useful. Frequency domain and
time-frequency domain approaches will be used for more detailed
analysis and to make better judgment on engine status that is
impossible in the time-domain signal.
3.3.1. RMS of engine body vibration (acceleration)
Before the detailed signal analysis, the RMS and kurtosis of
vibration (acceleration) signal for all fuel blends were firstly calcu-
lated at the speeds of 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, and 2000 rpm. At
first, the resultant of acceleration (RMSTotal) for three directions of
vertical (x), lateral (y), and longitudinal (z) was calculated using
Eq. (18). Fig. 6 indicates the diagram of average of the RMS accel-
eration resultant for all fuel blends in the mentioned speeds. As
it can be seen, the RMS has a rising trend with increasing the con-
centrations of bioethanol in pure diesel fuel and engine body vibra-
tion is enhanced. A sudden increase in the average of the engine
acceleration is observed in fuel blend of D94E6. In the case of
power, a similar trend is also observed for mentioned fuel blend.
This indicates that the combustion pressure, and its fluctuations
have been increased in this fuel. The RMS of acceleration for
D94E6 fuel has increased by 4.79% as compared with that of pure
diesel. After the D94E6 fuel, the RMS shows a sudden drop for
D92E8 fuel and then, the RMS increases and reaches to maximum
value in D88E12 fuel, while the engine power has been not
increased. This is due to the excessive fluctuation of the pressure
inside the cylinder and occurring the knocking. In other words, part
of the energy is lost through knocking and is not used for produc-
ing heat and increasing the power [21]. For concentrations above
8% of ethanol, the increment of power is not as well as low concen-
trations of 2, 4, and 6% ethanol. It can be concluded that the adding
more than 6% of bioethanol to diesel fuel has the little effect on the
increase of power.
q
RMSTotal RMS2x RMS2y RMS2z 18
3.3.2. Kurtosis of engine body vibration
Kurtosis criterion was also used to evaluate the performance of
the engine, the inside pressure of the cylinder and the sharp fluc-
tuations of the vibrations of the engine body. Kurtosis value shows
the irregular or smoothness operation of the engine. Kurtosis is cal-
culated from Eq. (2) for each axis separately. For comparison of
treatments, the total kurtosis (KurtTotal) is obtained using vertical
(x), lateral (y), and longitudinal (z) vibration by Eq. (19). It should
be considered that with increasing the engine speed, the total kur-
tosis is decreased, and engine works smoother. The lowest kurtosis
is related to the speed of 2000 rpm, and the highest value is for
1700 rpm (Fig. 7).
726 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733

Fig. 5. Time domain diagram of engine block acceleration, (a) ideal combustion, (b) D100, (c) D98E2, (d) D96E4, (e) D94E6, (f) D92E8, (g) D90E10, and (h) D88E12 in speed of
1800 rpm.

Fig. 7. Resultant kurtosis chart for different fuel blends in the speeds of 1600
2000 rpm.
Fig. 6. Resultant acceleration diagram for different fuel blends in the speeds of
16002000 rpm.
 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733 727

q
KurtTotal Kurt2x Kurt2y Kurt2z : 19

For all fuel blends, by enhancing the concentration of ethanol in

the pure diesel fuel, the kurtosis is also increased. There is a sudden
leap in the kurtosis graph for D94E6 fuel in all speeds. This shows
that despite the increase in the power of this fuel blend, some
irregularities appear in the engine performance, and it works more
non-uniformly. After the D94E6 fuel, kurtosis value is increased
with a steep slope for D92E8 fuel through the D88E12 fuel with
the maximum value of kurtosis. For fuel blends of D92E8,
D90E10 and D88E12 are likely occurred knocking in the engine
cylinders. For reveal it, the more accurate methods such as time-
frequency analysis should be employed that will be performed
subsequently.
Table 4 presents multivariate regression for relationship
between the power, fuel blend, engine speed, RMS and kurtosis
with the correlation coefficient. The highest and lowest values of
R2 are for Eqs. (22) and (23), respectively. Eq. (22) shows that the
fuel and the engine speed significantly effects on power change.
Eqs. (21) and (24) indicate that in addition to fuel and engine
speed, the power effects on RMS and kurtosis values if that com-
pare with Eqs. (20) and (23). The RMS of vibration can state both
changes due to variations in cylinders pressure and inertia of com-
ponents, while kurtosis shows only vibration due to variations in
pressure inside the cylinders. To verify this, it can be considered
to diagrams of Figs. 6 and 7. The RMS graphs have a lower slope
by changing the fuel blend (slow changes), while kurtosis graphs
have steeper slope (rapid changes). Results of regression analysis
showed that the kurtosis is more correlated with fuel blend
(R2 = 0.95) relative to engine speed (R2 = 0.83). While, RMS depen-
dence on fuel blend is lower (R2 = 0.76), and its dependence on
engine speed is higher (R2 = 0.93).
3.3.3. Frequency domain analysis
Before studying the fuel blends vibration, the vibration of indi-
vidual cylinders should be first investigated. For this purpose,
vibration signal in the speed of 1800 rpm for diesel fuel was used.
Fig. 8 shows time domain of vibration signal gained from one oper-
ation cycle of the engine at the speed of 1800 rpm. In this figure,
the vibration of each cylinder has been shown with the related
number. In this engine, combustion order is 4-2-6-3-5-1 (from left
to right in Fig. 8). As seen in Fig. 8, combustion fluctuations are
more intensive in the cylinders 3, 4 and 6, and it may be along with
the knocking but about the behavior of each cylinder individually
cannot be commented accurately. Engine vibration directly associ-
ated with inertia of components and pressure changes. According
to Eq. (15), the pressure change plays an important role in the
vibrations of the engine block which is displayed by ax. The rest
of the parameters of the equation is fixed at a certain speed. To
investigate further, the frequency-domain signal has been sepa-
rately obtained for each cylinder that has been shown in Fig. 9.
In Fig. 9, the most severe vibration is related to the cylinder 4
(Fig. 9a) that is along with the knocking. Vibration intensity in
the cylinders 3 and 6 is also high, but its intensity is lower than
cylinders 4. The combustion power of the fuel-air mixture is low
inside the cylinders 1, and it seems that occurs an abnormal com-
Fig. 8. Vibration time domain signal for one working cycle of engine at 1800 rpm
(pure diesel).
bustion. There is normal combustion in the cylinders 2 and 5.
Because the vibration intensity inside the mentioned two cylinders
engine is lower, and most of the fuel energy has been consumed for
the engine power. For a normal combustion, a dominant frequency
with higher amplitude of acceleration is produced in the cylinders
within a specified band. This trend is observed in cylinders 2 and 5
and partially in the cylinder 3. The combustion power is insuffi-
cient in the cylinder 1. In the cylinder 4, the engine body accelera-
tion is in a wider range of frequencies and causes noise and
vibration in the engine. This is probably related to inappropriate
spray of fuel through the injector of cylinder 4. In cylinders 3 and
6, the fault can be seen in the work of injectors. In cylinder 1, the
amount of fuel sprayed is the insufficient and fuel-air mixture is
poor. On the other hand, the amount of engine intake air to the
cylinder may be low [21]. As the condition of engine and cylinders
is same for all fuel blends, a detailed examination of all fuels is
discussed.
Fig. 10 shows the frequency-domain diagram for signals pre-
sented in Fig. 5. By comparing the vibration of pure diesel fuel
(b) with ideal mode (a), it is observed that the acceleration of the
engine body is in the higher-frequency domain with greater inten-
sity. With the addition of 2% bioethanol, despite the increase in
power, vibration has not changed much and combustion inside
the cylinders and pressure fluctuations is nearly similar to pure
diesel; although the peak of acceleration and shocks acted on the
engine body have been dropped slightly. By increasing the concen-
tration of bioethanol for D96E4 fuel, the engine vibration is
reduced despite increasing the engine power. This reduced vibra-
tion is also seen in graphs of Fig. 6. In this fuel, engine works partly
smoother and more uniform (see kurtosis graphs of Fig. 7). In fuel
blend of D94E6, vibrations are increased significantly. However,
this fuel blend has the highest power produced. Therefore, it can
be concluded that the cause of excessive vibration in this case
can be powerful fuel combustion. Here, the irregularity of the
engine working has been also increased along with (refer to kurto-
sis value). In D92E8 fuel, the vibration intensity has been dropped
compared with D94E6 fuel, and vibrations are again increased in
D90E10 and D88E12 fuels. Meanwhile, the increase in the power
is not observed for these fuels (Fig. 4b). This shows that the addi-
tion of bioethanol with concentrations of 8, 10, and 12% not only
does not increase the power, but also it causes worse performance,
and occurs knocking in the engine. In this case, most of the poten-

Table 4
Multivariate regression for relationship between the power, fuel blend, engine speed, RMS and kurtosis with the correlation coefficient.

No. Equation Correlation coefficient

20 RMS = 0.9651  Fuel + 0.1090  Speed
72.238 R2 = 0.90
21 RMS = Fuel + 0.1054  Speed
0.5148  Power
39.577 R2 = 0.93
22 Power = 0.0415  Fuel + 0.0261  Speed + 6.672 R2 = 0.96
23 Kurt = 0.2256  Fuel
0.0087  Speed + 29.146 R2 = 0.83
24 Kurt = Fuel + 0.1054  Speed
0.5148  Power
39.577 R2 = 0.88
728 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733

Fig. 9. Vibration frequency domain signal for one working cycle of engine at 1800 rpm (pure diesel) for each cylinder separately.

Fig. 10. Frequency domain diagram of engine block acceleration, (a) ideal combustion, (b) D100, (c) D98E2, (d) D96E4, (e) D94E6, (f) D92E8, (g) D90E10, and (h) D88E12 in
speed of 1800 rpm.

tial energy fuel is wasted through this knocking. To investigate fur-
ther, the time-frequency method will be used and the function of
each cylinder will be examined in terms of fuel combustion and
occurrence of knocking. It can be concluded that only in D96E4
fuel, there is an increase in power without high-intensity vibration
and knocking. The power increment is more for D94E6 fuel blend,
but the engines body vibration rises and probably engine knocking
occurs inside the cylinders.
3.3.4. Time-frequency analysis
One important aim of this research is time-frequency analysis
of the vibration signals. Time-frequency approaches can be used
to analyze the behavior of many systems. This method has been
used in analysis of induced vibration caused by friction. By chang-
ing the system, the frequency of the time-frequency analysis is var-
ied by vibration [23]. Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) is used
to identify the various sources of vibration in the engines. This
 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733 729

method has been also used to identify normal and abnormal com- (a) E4
bustion along with knocking in the cylinder block. Techniques like
FFT and FFT-based methods, including estimating the power spec-
tral density, despite, they are being quick and their ability in noise
filtering, are not appropriate to identify non-viable and overlap- S1
S5
ping events, as well as systems with rapid changes in the time S3
S6
and frequency. Constantly knocking of the engine can be detected S2 X: 16.1 X: 59.88
S4
using FFT. However, the sudden knocking needs to use time- X: 4.38 Y: 3.467 Y: 4.297
frequency analysis [21]. An example of STFT time-frequency anal- Y: 2.344 Z: 2.155e+5 Z: 4.238e+5
ysis for all fuel blends at the engine speed of 1800 rpm is seen in Z: 3.034e+5
Figs. 1114.
This engine combustion order from left to right is 4-2-6-3-5-1.
Induction strokes of combustion occur in associated times of 5, 16,
27, 38, 49 and 60 ms for each cylinder. In an ideal mode, strokes
resulted by combustion and fluctuations of the pressure inside
the cylinder has a vibration frequency of lower than 10 kHz. In
an ideal combustion, pressure pulses create high-amplitude vibra-
tion in the frequency range of 010 kHz. Figs. 1114 show diagram
of STFT analysis of the engines body vibration signals for fuel
blends of D100, D98E2, D96E4, D94E6, D92E8, D90E10 and
D88E12 in the speed of 1800 rpm. According to abovementioned, (b) E6
cylinders 4 and 6 have undesired and rough performance for the
pure diesel fuel (D100). High-frequency vibration is observed in

S1
S5
S3
S6 X: 25.72
S2
(a) E0 S4 X: 3.64 X: 15.08 Y: 2.686
Y: 3.76 Y: 4.346 Z: 4.336e+5
Z: 3.934e+5 Z: 3.109e+5
S1
S5
S3
S6
S2
S4 X: 26.02
X: 4.3
Y: 3.076
Y: 4.32
Z: 2.392e+5
Z: 2.592e+5

Fig. 12. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuels of (a)
D96E4 and (b) D94E6 at 1800 rpm.

these two cylinders. There is an also similar trend for other fuels
in same cylinders.
In the present study, more emphasis is on the frequency range
(b) E2 of 010 kHz, and all fuels are discussed in this frequency range. In
this range, the vibration with amplitude of more than 4 m/s2 were
considered as an indicator of knocking for each treatment. In fact,
the vibrations by more than this value represents a shock to the
S1
S5 engine block that is created due to knocking. With the increasing
S3
S6 amount of shock, kurtosis value also grows. In general, there are
S2 small shocks in the engine especially at lower speeds.
S4 X: 3.36 X: 14.16 X: 25.44
Y: 3.906 Y: 3.955 Y: 3.125 For the study of combustion, the fuel of D100 was considered as
Z: 2.911e+5 Z: 3.135e+5 Z: 3.506e+5 a control which engine works without knocking. As seen in
Figs. 1114, the intensity of vibration for all fuels is varied in the
range of 010 kHz. The D98E2 fuel has smoother performance in
terms of the combustion and the fluctuations of pressure inside
the cylinder compared with the fuel of D100. It is clearly under-
stood from dark areas of Fig. 11b. The intensity of vibration in
the cylinders 1, 2 and 6 is high for D96E4 fuel. The engine operation
in terms of smoothness is similar to fuels of D100 and D98E2 at
this speed. In D94E6 fuel blend, the power of combustion and
related pressure changes in the cylinders 2, 3, 4, and 6 are
increased compared with those of other fuels which is simultane-
Fig. 11. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuels of (a) ous with the rising in brake power. There is an almost similar trend
D100 and (b) D98E2 at 1800 rpm.
730 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733

(a) E8 for D92E8 fuel blend but it is along with reducing the power. Most
vibrations in the cylinders are related to D90E10 and D88E12 fuel
blends. In the cylinders 2 and 6 for D90E10 fuel blend, the vibration
peak is greatly increased due to the fluctuations of pressure inside
S1
S5 the cylinder (4.382 and 6.233 m/s2). This sudden increase in accel-
S3 eration causes more severe vibration and shock on the engine
S6
S2 X: 26.08 X: 38.08 body. The same results obtain for D88E12 fuel blend.
S4 Y: 3.174
X: 4.66 Y: 3.125 In the cylinder 6, vibrations with high peak value (7.152 m/s2)
Y: 5.225 Z: 4.307e+5 Z: 3.273e+5 are observed (Fig. 14). This increment of vibration and sudden
Z: 2.374e+5 shock raises the RMS and kurtosis values presented in Figs. 6 and
7. It is because of the lower-heterogeneous blend of bioethanol
and diesel fuel that is spraying in cylinders by injectors. These
results show that there is knocking in the cylinder 6 for both
D90E10 and D88E12 fuel. Another important factor like unadjusted
injectors can worsen this knocking that it seems this problem
exists in the cylinder 6. Similar trends are exactly observed for
all fuel blends at engine speed of 1900 rpm which are illustrated
in Figs. 1518. These results represents an identical and similar
behavior of fuel blends in all engine speeds.
Other factors are also involved in the irregular working of the
(b) E10
engine. If the vibration signal associated with the pulses of the
top dead center (TDC) is analyzed, a lot of information and details
about different mechanical condition of the engine cycle related to
S1 gas leaks, and mechanical shocks can be obtained. Mechanical
S5
S3 shocks such as closure of the valves produce sharp and strong
S6
S2 X: 25.56 X: 37.56
S4
X: 15.52 Y: 3.076 Y: 4.248
Y: 4.102 Z: 3.553e+5 (a) E0
Z: 6.233e+5
Z: 4.382e+5

S1
S5
S3
S6
S2
S4

Fig. 13. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuels of (a)
D92E8 and (b) D90E10 at 1800 rpm.

E12 (b) E2

S1
S5 S1
S3 S5
S6 S3
S2 X: 15.54 X: 25.66 S6
S4 S2
X: 4.06 Y: 4.053 Y: 3.125 S4
Y: 6.055 Z: 3.239e+5 Z: 7.152e+5
Z: 3.076e+5

Fig. 14. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuel of D88E12 Fig. 15. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuels of (a)
at 1800 rpm. D100 and (b) D98E2 at 1900 rpm.
 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733 731

(a) E4 (a) E8

S1
S5
S1 S3
S5 S6
S3 S2
S6 S4
S2
S4

(b) E6 (b) E10

S1
S1 S5
S5 S3
S3 S6
S6 S2
S2 S4
S4

Fig. 16. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuels of (a)
D96E4 and (b) D94E6 at 1900 rpm.
Fig. 17. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuels of (a)
D92E8 and (b) D90E10 at 1900 rpm.

vibration in a short time. Gas leakages produce low-amplitude

vibrations in longer time. Gas leakage is affected by the gas pres-
sure change in the cylinder. Another source of the vibration is fric-
tion and produces high noise and low amplitude vibration. If the E12
following conditions occur, knocking is created in a CI engine.

 It is existed an excessive ignition delay; in the other word, the

interval between spray of fuel and combustion is high. In this S1
S5
case, the energy is released untimely and knocking is occurred. S3
S6
It seems that for this study, with increasing of concentrations of S2
S4
ethanol more than 8% (D92E8) raise the ignition delay. Because
ethanol has a high-octane number and so reduces the fuel blend
cetane number, and increase irregularity of the engine working.
On the other hand, it raises the changes in the pressure inside
the cylinder.
 Due to excessive valve clearance, sudden shocks are entered to
the cylinder head when they are closed. This is especially occurs
in the case of idle engine mode that revealed by other
researches [21].

Among all mentioned procedures, it was observed that time-

frequency method (STFT) showed more clearly the events inside
the cylinder using the engines body vibration signal, and about Fig. 18. STFT analysis diagrams of engine block vibration signals for fuel of D88E12
the performance and combustion of each fuel separately can be at 1900 rpm.
732 A. Taghizadeh-Alisaraei, A. Rezaei-Asl / Fuel 185 (2016) 718733
commented accurately. The occurrence of knocking into each
cylinder can be easily observed in this approach.
In present paper, the more emphasis was on engine vibration
and knocking. Also the relationship between the produced power
and engine vibration was discussed. It is true that LHV of fuel will
be reduced with the addition of ethanol (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12%) to
diesel, but in practice, the seven important factors including homo-
geneity of the fuel, dissolved oxygen, fuel injection, fuel powdering,
vaporization of fuel, ignition delay, and combustion process effect
on the produced power and engine knocking. Most likely, the addi-
tion of ethanol to diesel fuel significantly influence on injectors
spraying, powdering, vaporization of fuel mixture, and ignition
delay which will cause engine knocking at high concentrations of
ethanol. A non-uniform mixture of fuel in combustion chamber
lower the quality of combustion due to multi-point ignition espe-
cially in high concentrations of ethanol.
4. Conclusion
In this study, the generated torque and power, combustion and
vibration resulting from the addition of ethanol to diesel fuel with
concentrations of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12% were investigated. For this
purpose, a six-cylinder engine under full load was used in the
speeds of 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2000 rpm. Results showed
that the addition of bioethanol to diesel fuel at a concentration of
6% increases the torque and power of this fuel as compared with
pure diesel fuel by an average of 8.3%. In this fuel, the acceleration
of the engine body has been also increased by 4.79% compared
with the pure diesel. Despite the increase in power at D94E6 fuel,
some irregularities appear in the engine function, and it works
non-uniformly. The RMS of vibration can indicate both changes
due to variations in cylinders pressure and inertia of components,
while kurtosis shows only vibration due to variations in pressure
inside the cylinders. The RMS is responsive to engine speed and
in contrast, the kurtosis is more sensitive to the change of fuel
blend. It can be concluded that increasing the ethanol content
more than 8% (D92E8) in diesel fuel raises the ignition delay and
increases the irregularity of the engine performance. On the other
hand, it enhances the changes of pressure inside the cylinder and
causes knocking. The reason of this knocking is shocks generated
in some of the cylinders of the engine. This is due to the non-
heterogeneous blend of bioethanol and diesel fuel at D90E10 and
D88E12 that is sprayed in different cylinders.
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