An Experimental Study of ignition and Flame Development in a Spark Ignited Engine

A high resolution study of the early stages of flame development in a spark ignition engine has been performed. Full flame velocity distributions are presented and are discussed in terms of the nature and causes of fluctuations in the flame propagation.

The simultaneous sampling of a number of engine variables such as gas velocity, flame velocity, pressure etc. is necessary for a more complete description of the controlling variables. Techniques are described and data presented for such a multiple sampling experiment.