Impact of Mechanical Deformation due to Pressure, Mass, and Thermal Forces on the In-Cylinder Volume Trace in Optical Engines of Bowditch Design

A detailed investigation is made of the impact of mechanical deformation on the in-cylinder volume as function of crank angle degree in an optical engine of Bowditch design. The squish height is found to change linearly with mass and pressure forces. It increases due to pressure forces and decreases due to mass forces. The thermal forces have an impact on the squish height but it is not clear in what direction. The volume change caused by deformations did not change the calculated load significantly but gave errors during heat release calculations. Two different strategies to reduce these errors are presented.