EARLY WORK ON FLUID MECHANICS IN THE IC ENGINE

Early work of Ricardo is described, in which squish is used in flat-head engines to generate turbulence levels comparable to those in overhead-valve engines, leading to rapid flame propagation, and suppressing knock. Work by NACA before World War II is described, in which turbulence levels were measured in overhead-valve engines, indicating indirectly that surprisingly high levels were achieved just before ignition, possibly due to a tumble instability. Finally, work of Obukhov of 30 years ago is described, in which instabilities of tumbling flow are investigated in ellipsoids crudely modeling the engine cylinder as the piston rises; this suggests that there is an instability leading to intense small-scale motion just before ignition. Suggestions for further work are given.