Duncan, Bailey (2024) Internal combustion engine fuel vibration analysis. [USQ Project]
Abstract
The rise in climate change research has revealed the extent of the damage that is caused by the emissions released from our transportation industry. Research is currently being undertaken into the development of renewable fuels. However, to safely implement these fuels into our daily lives, they must be thoroughly investigated. This project aims to delve into the effects that different fuels have on the vibration of an internal combustion engine. Subsequent to this, the emission data for each fuel will be analyzed along with the vibration data to determine the effects that each fuel has on the combustion of the engine. In this study, four fuels were tested including diesel (100%), biodiesel (20%), ethanol (5%) and pentane (5%). These fuels were run through an internal combustion engine one at a time testing 5 different speeds for each fuel. The results demonstrated that ethanol had the highest effectiveness as an additive, increasing the combustion effects of diesel substantially. However, as a byproduct of these results, the vibration effects that can be found in the engine are larger and thus have a higher chance of causing engine or support damage after substantial use. Following ethanol as providing the largest effect as an additive was pentane, with the lowest combustion effects and consequentially the lowest vibratory effects were biodiesel and diesel which presented very similar results.
The emission data that was also collected yielded a result, however, will require further study and experimental design. The data that was collected was relatively similar across the four fuels with minimal differences between the fuels. This was determined to be caused by the diesel component that was included in each fuel debasing the data. There is more research to be completed in order to satisfy the project scope including testing other fuels, engines and scenarios however, given the available materials, timeframe and the objectives set at the outset of the project, this study can be considered a success.
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| Item Type: | USQ Project |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Engineering (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Saleh, Khalid |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Mar 2026 03:55 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Mar 2026 03:55 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | renewable fuels; vibrations; internal combustion engine; emission data |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53035 |
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