The Present Status of COMBUSTION RESEARCH

A NUMBER of the more important contributions made recently to our knowledge of the process of combustion in the engine cylinder are reviewed briefly in this paper. Of the possible lines of attack which promise to lead to further improvements in the control of gaseous combustion as a source of power, the following are stressed:

Of the possible lines of attack which promise to lead to further improvements in the control of gaseous combustion as a source of power, the following are stressed:

1. 1.
   Finding new mixtures which are inherently more powerful or more economical;
2. 2.
   Finding new methods of altering the mass rate of burning, the completeness of combustion and, hence also, the rate of increase in pressure;
3. 3.
   Preventing preignition in spark-ignition engines and facilitating ignition in compression-ignition engines;
4. 4.
   Suppressing detonation.

The need for an increasing amount of combustion research and the desirability for careful coordination are demonstrated by an examination of progress to date.