Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 2 (5): 7840-845 (ISSN: 2141-

7016)
840


Optimizing the Performance of a Marine Diesel Engine towards
Proactive Condition Monitoring

1
Anthony A. I shiodu and
2
Ezenwa A. Ogbonnaya

1
Department of Marine Engineering, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Akwa
Ibom State, Nigeria
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture,
Umudike-Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
Corresponding Author: Ezenwa A. Ogbonnaya
___________________________________________________________________________
Abstract
Marine diesel engines are subject to both stresses and vibration due to the environment in which they operate,
thereby impeding their performance. The essence of this project is to enunciate a proactive solution to any
catastrophic breakdown a marine diesel engine may suffer as a result of environmental factors and vibration. In
this paper therefore a method to optimize the performance of the marine diesel engine towards effective
condition monitoring is carried out. A four stroke caterpillar 3516B series marine diesel engine with 16-VTS
marine diesel engine was used to actualize the work. The theoretical evaluation and analysis were used to
calculate the values of pressure, volume and temperature under different speeds and power output at the
beginning of ignition. These evaluation and analyses helped to find the different power outputs of the engine at
different speeds. A computer programcode named MDEPEA written in Visual-Basic programming language
was developed. The results obtained show that the value of 42.952KW to 1647.84KW of power output and
239.01kN/m2 to 1791.13kN/m2 for mean effective pressure should be maintained to avoid a breakdown of the
engine.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Keywords: proactive condition monitoring, diesel engine, optimization, ignition and performance, mean
effective pressure
_________________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
A diesel engine (DE) is an internal combustion
engine (ICE) that stores energy in fossil fuel and
releases same during combustion. The resulting heat
energy of the product of combustion at high
temperature and pressure is converted to mechanical
work through piston, connecting rod and crankshaft
arrangement to produce an output power (MER,
2005; Ren and Ling, 2005 and Isiodu, 2008).

The DE which operates on dual cycles principles for
practical purposes are divided into two-stroke and
four stroke types. This is depends on the number of
revolutions produced by the shaft during each cycle.
It also operates as naturally aspired engine in which
air is drawn fromthe ambient at the same density
(Woodyard, 2004) (Ogbonnaya, 2010). In most ships,
different types of caterpillar engines are suitably used
as a prime movers with model bore sizes ranging
from105mmto 170mm. Figure 1 shows a typical
caterpillar Marine Diesel Engine (MDE).

However, the evaluation of engine performance
requires the following consideration: (i) alculation of
heat losses to jackets during the working cycle, (ii)
knowledge of the heat absorbed by the walls of the
combustion chamber (iii) power train, smoothness,
quietness and (iv) gear rather than noise when
running a reduced engine performance.

Fig. 1: Caterpillar Marine Diesel Engine (MDE)

Torsional vibration is another source of performance
evaluation of a MDE. It occurs at the crank shaft and
is capable of increasing mechanical shear stresses
which also results to higher noise levels radiating
Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 2 (5): 840-845
Scholarlink Research Institute Journals, 2011 (ISSN: 2141-7016)
jeteas.scholarlinkresearch.org

Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 2 (5): 7840-845 (ISSN: 2141-
7016)
841

fromthe engine [Ogbonnaya, (1998), Baumgarter and
Carsten, (2006) and Cengel, (2007)].
OTHER TECHNI QUES
Semin, et al (2008) carried out investigation of DE
performance based on simulation for four stroke
engine. In that work, Gamma Technology (GT)-
SUITE 6.2 software was used to simulate the engine
performance. Zhu, (2009) presented MDE condition
monitoring by the use of back propagation (BP)
Neural Network (NN). Also in that work, the
characteristics parameters of engine vibration signals
obtained fromtime series analysis was used to build a
suitable artificial NN by means of BP Algorithin in
order to detect the engine operating faults. Infact,
Qiang and Shilum(2005) showed how accurate the
method of vibration diagnosis is for DE fractal theory
and NN. This use of NN is also depicted in
Ogbonnaya, (2004). Kemal and Movruz (2007),
drafted a reverse modeling of a DE performance by
Fuzzy clustering method (FCM) and adaptive neural
fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). That was
accomplished by replacing the output and input
parameters of a DE initially as a part of system. Later
these parameters were grouped again into optimal
numbers by independently using FCM and k-means
output of ANFIS to model engine performance and
emission characteristics. Subsequently, also in 2007,
Douglas carried out condition monitoring of the
piston ring-pack and cylinder linear interface in DE
through acoustic emission measurement.

Approach used in this Present Work
This paper provides a comprehensive study of
performance of MDE for proactive condition
monitoring. This was brought to fruition using a
software named MDEPEA written in visual basic (V-
Basic) programming language. MDEPEA stands for
Marine Diesel Engine Performance Evaluation and
Analysis. This was carried out with a case study of a
caterpillar 16VTS engine series 3516B, with 170mm
bore/190mmstroke of approximately 1492kw power
output. However, all of this approach and analysis
were to investigate the power-to-speed relationship
and thus to ensure that the power speed rating of the
engine is maintained.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A four-stroke caterpillar 3516B series MDE with 16-
VTS was used for this analysis after acquiring the
engine performance data. The engine design
characteristics are depicted in appendix A.
This referenced engine was assumed to undergo
theoretical dual combustion cycle. Having known the
type of the operating cycle, the swept volume of the
engine, the thermodynamic properties such as
pressure, volume were used to calculate the heat
energy at the start of ignition, using the dual cycle
diagram shown in figure 2. Also calculated at all
operating conditions were output power, mean
effective pressure, energy balance and efficiencies of
the engine at various part load operations ranging
from700rpm to 1500rpm. The energy balance was
also calculated using the Sankey diagram as shown in
figure 3.

Full Load Analysis
The P-V diagram of a turbo-charged dual cycle DE is
shown in figure 2. Furthermore, the diagramdepicted
in this figure 2 is used to model the caterpillar DE
3516B series.















Fig 2: Dual Cycle P.V diagram for full load operation
of model engine

The model engine whose P-V diagramis shown in fig
2 has the following processes:
1. Isentropic compression process from1 to 2
2. Constant volume process from2 to 3
3. Isentropic constant pressure process from3 to 4
4. Expansion process from4 to 5
5. Constant volume process from5 to 1











Fig. 3: Sankey diagramrepresenting the distribution
of heat energy balance for the engine operating
1600rpm. Source (Ishiodu, 2008)
For compression ratio
2
v
1
v

v
= 1
Swept volume
2
v
1
v
s
V = 2
Net power output Vs x
m
p W= 3
where
P
m
=mean effective pressure
V
s
=swept volume
Note that the power output can be determine also
using the following expression

Q
e


=

3
2
.
1
9
%

Q
R


=


9
.
6
9
%

W
b

=


4
0
.
0
0
%

Q
a
c

=

7
.
7
6
%

Q
c

=

2
0
.
0
5
%

E
x
h
a
u
s
t

R
e
s
id
u
a
l lo
s
e
s

P
o
w
e
r
o
u
t
p
u
t

A
f
t
e
r
c
o
o
le
r

C
o
o
lin
g

100% power input

1
4
5
Volume
V, (m
3
/s)
C
TD BDC
Pressure
P, (bar)
Swept
Volume
2
3

Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 2 (5): 7840-845 (ISSN: 2141-
7016)
842

KS LAN
m
p W = 4

60
LANKS

s
V =
5
where
L =stroke of the engine (m); A =area of the bore
(m
2
); N = revolution of the engine (rpm); K =
constant, 1 for 2 stroke engine and for 4 stroke
engine; S=Number of cylinders
Then swept volume, V
s
, becomes
60
N
ks A k
60
LANKS

s
V = =
6
Similarly
v
r can be obtained using the following
equation
( )
1
2 1 -

v
T
T
=

r 7
So that
1
1 2
r T T

=

v
8

v
r = =
|
|
.
|

\
|

V
V

P
P
2
1
1
2
9
Fromwhich

v
r P P
1 2
= 10
Also recall that
2
T
3
T

2
P
3
P
=
11
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
2
T
3
T

2
P
3
P
12
Note
4
P
3
P =
Hence cut off ratio becomes

3
T
4
T

c
=
13

Heat Energy Balance for full load of Engine Q
e
The mass flow rate can be evaluated using gas law
relationship

RT
v
P
M =

MRT Pv = 14
So
e
Q = Mgdt 15
.












Fig. 4: MDE with different temperature point
(Ishiodu, 2008)
Figure 4 shows a representation of a block diagramof
the different temperature points on MDE

Analysis of Efficiency
a. Break thermal efficiency
E
P
b
P

b
=
14
where
b
P =brake power,
E
P =Effective power
b. Indicated thermal efficiency
supply heat
done work

i
=

1
2 1
Q
Q - Q

i
=

( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
3 2
1
v
3
p
2
T T
T mc - T mc T

i
+
+
=
4 p 3 v
5 4 3
v
T mc T mc
T T T mc

( ) ( )
3 2
1
T T
1
i
T
+
=

4 3
5
T T
T

15



































Fig. 5: Programme flow chart for obtaining
MDEPEA


Maha
h
r r
M
Cooling
Wat
out h
M

Cooling
Q (heat
Exhaust
Power (w)

Stop
Stop
L=170
S=16
K=0.5
INPUT AREA, A
I=1
INPUT SPEED N(I)
INPUT WORK W(I)
PM(I)

Is
I=10
I=I+1
I=0
PRINT PM(I), W(I)
I=I+1
Is
I=10
Yes
Yes
No
No

Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 2 (5): 7840-845 (ISSN: 2141-
7016)
843

Figures 5 is the flowchart drawn for MDEPEA. The
flowchart was used to write a double loop iterative V-
Basic computer program. The program helped to
calculate the thermodynamic parameters of work
output and mean effective pressure at various
operating speed

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results obtained by theoretical calculations and
analysis of the various swept volumes, power output
into the engine and the different thermodynamic
properties are shown in table 1. These result in
tabular forms were used to show the values at
different point of the air standard dual (mixed) cycle
used for the evaluation of the combustion process of
the engine at different operating condition both full
and part load.

Figure 6 shows the graph of power speed relation for
all the operational condition of the engine under
investigation from 700 rpm to 1600 rpm with no
intersection on the power axis. In the graph shown in
figure 6, the original trial values of power with
relation to speed from the calculated values obtained
during the engine evaluation is also shown.


Fig. 6: Power- Speed Relationship

Figure 7 shows the plot of power against speed for
the test engine. The power input the engine increased
froma speed of 700 rpm to the designed speed of
1600 rpmfor a corresponding power of 378.24 to
4119.45KW. These values of power input were
affected by the values of specific fuel consumption at
the different speeds. The power output values
developed were fluctuating which directly affect the
exhaust losses to the atmosphere as shown if figure 7.

Fig. 7: Power-speed for Heat energy balance for the
engine under investigation at all operating
conditions

Fig. 8 showed the relationship between the different
efficiencies at various speed of the engine under
investigation. It shows that the division of brake
power by the indicated power would give the
mechanical efficiency which implies the degree of
performance of the engine. The graph showed that
the best performance occurred at the designed speed
of 1600 rpm.



Fig 8: Efficiency-Speed relationship for the different
operating conditions of the engine under
investigation

CONCLUSION
In this work, the following conclusion is drown:
1. Compression ratio played a major role in the
calculation of pressure, temperature and volume in
conjunction with the initial intake values of
temperature and boost pressure gauge readings.
2. The heat input value at the start of ignition,
pressure ratio and cut-off ratio helped to determine
the value of temperature at point 3 on the dual cycle

Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 2 (5): 7840-845 (ISSN: 2141-
7016)
844

used for this analysis. This value of temperature
helped in determining both the peak pressure and
peak temperature of the engine respectively. These
peak values of pressure and temperature in
conjunction with the compression ratio and the values
of volume at point 4 on the dual cycle were used to
evaluate the values of pressure and temperature at
point 5 which were the exhaust values.
3. The calculated power for the engine at all
conditions of operation were found to depend on the
values of pressure and volume flowrate of the engine.
4. The mean effective pressure of the engine at all
conditions of operation were found to be different
due to compression and expansion processes which
were isentropic as well as the swept volume.
5. It was discovered that the calculated power of the
engine in all conditions of operation were different
from the manufacturer quoted values due to the
different conditions in which the two evaluation and
analysis were conducted.
6. The heat energy balance or conservation of energy
showed that the output power at the brake were
different for the engine and these could be attributed
to the condition of service.
7. The calculated mechanical efficiency at all
conditions of operation showed that the performance
of engine was in good operating conditions and
frictional losses were minimized.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors so gratefully appreciate the contributions
of masers Woji, N. John, and Ejabefio A. kuvie,
towards the actualization of this work. They were
much involved in the production, typesetting and
editing of the work. We also are indebted to masers
fibz, for his expertise and time at the success of the
program, God bless all of you all.

NOMENCLATURE AND ABBREVIATIONS
N - Revolution of the engine, rpm
K - Constant
L - stroke of engine, m
A - area of the cylinder, m2
- compression ratio
- swept volume, m3
- Mean effective pressure, kN/m2
W - power output of the engine, KW
- compression temperature at stage 2, oC
- initial compression temperature at stage 1, oC
- compression pressure at stage 2, kN/m2
- compression pressure at stage 1, kN/m2
- cut off ratio
- Temperature at stage 3, oC
- Temperature at stage 4, oC
- Temperature at stage 5, oC
- constant volume compression
m- mass flow rate, Kg/s
- specific heat capacity, KJ /kg
- indicated thermal efficiency, %
- Effective power, KW
- Brake power, KW
- Brake thermal efficiency, %
- isentropic compression ratio
BDC BottomDead Centre
TDC Top Dead Centre

REFERENCES
Baumgarter, B. and Carsten, T (2006): Mixture
Formation in Internal Combustion Engines, Springer,
Berlin. pp. 202-205.

Douglas, R, M. (2007); Monitoring of the Piston
Ring-pack and Cylinder Linear Interface in Diesel
Engines through acoustic Emission Measurement.
Ph.D Thesis Department of Mechanical Engineering,
School of Engineering and Physical Science, Heriot-
Watt University.

Ishiodu, A.A (2008); Evaluation and Analysis of the
performance of Marine Diesel Engine. A case study
of caterpillar Engine 3516B series. M Tech thesis,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rives State
University of Science and Technology (RSUST),
Nkpolu Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Kemal, T. and Movruz, A. (2007); Reverse Modeling
of a Diesel Engine Performance by FCM and ANFIS,
International Conference on Computer Systems and
Technologies-Comp SystemTech, 07.

Marine Engineering Review (MER) (2005); Moving
Target, Official J ournal of the Institute of Marine
Engineering, Science and Technology (IMAREST)
Coleman Street, London, EC2RSBJ.

Ogbonnaya, E.A. (1998); Condition Monitoring of a
Diesel Engine for Electricity Generation, MTech
Thesis in Department of Marine Engineering ,
RSUST, Port Harcourt-Nigeria

Ogbonnaya, E.A (2004) Modeling Vibration-Based
Faults in Rotor Shaft of Gas Turbine, PhD Thesis,
Department of Marine Engrg, RSUST, Port Harcourt,
Nigeria. pp 2-3; 37-40; 111-117 and 155-163.

Ogbonnaya, E.A (2010); Simulation of Diesel Engine
Speed Related Characteristics. Proceeding of the
Annual General Meeting and International
Conference, Institution of Mechanical Engineering, A
Division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers pp.
160-169.

Qiang, H, and Shilum, G. (2005); The Methods of
Vibration Diagnosis for Engine Based on the Fractal
theory and Neural Network. J ournal of Huazong
University of Science and Technology (Nature
Science) Volume 33, No. 09, September 2005.

Ren, Z. and Ling, L. (2005): Application of High
Speed Data Acquisition in Performance Research of

Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS) 2 (5): 7840-845 (ISSN: 2141-
7016)
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Internal combustion Engine, Diesel engine 27. pp. 6-
8
Semin, R. Baker, A. Ismail, A. R. (2008);
Investigation of Diesel Engine Performance Based on
Simulation, American J ournal of Applied Sciences
5(6): pp. 610-617.

Woodyard, D. (2004): Pounders Marine Diesel
Engines and Gas Turbines. 8
th
edition, Published by
Elsevier Paper Bulterworth, Heinemann Linacre
House, John Hill, Oxford, p. 280.

Zhu, J. (2009); Marine Diesel Engine Condition
Monitoring by Use of Bp Neural Network,
Proceedings of the International Multi Conference of
Engineers and Computer Scientist, Vol. II IMECS
2009, March 18-20, 2009, Hong Kong.


Table 1: Different values obtained for the air standard dual (mixed) cycle for the engine at all operating
conditions.

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
b
a
r
)

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
1.01
960
459.1
459.1
0.616
1.04
988.5
663.629
663.629
0.916
1.086
1032.23
909.111
909.111
1.246
1.155
1097.814
1215.812
1215.812
1.652
1.274
1210.92
2151.003
2151.003
2.915
1.452
1380.109
2042.03
2042.03
2.756
1.685
1601.57
2478.237
2478.237
3.333
2.142
2035
3113.78
3113.78
4.26
2.558
2431.35
3792.73
3792.73
5.26
2.921
2776.376
4437.4
4437.4
6.01
V
o
l
u
m
e

(
m
3
/
s
)

V1
V2
V3
V4
V5
0.4056
0.003
0.003
0.0036
0.4056
0.4636
0.0035
0.0035
0.0042
0.4636
0.5215
0.0039
0.0039
0.0047
0.5215
0.5795
0.0043
0.0043
0.0052
0.5795
0.6374
0.0048
0.0048
0.0048
0.6374
0.6954
0.0052
0.0052
0.0062
0.6954
0.7533
0.0056
0.0056
0.0067
0.7533
0.8113
0.0061
0.0061
0.0073
0.8113
0.8692
0.0065
0.0065
0.0079
0.8692
0.9269
0.0069
0.0069
0.00828
0.9269
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(
K
)

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
303
2149.24
1027.83
1233.4
186.374
303
2149.24
1442.88
1731.456
263.787
303
2149.24
1892.89
2271.468
345.338
303
2149.24
2338.25
2856.3
433.49
303
2149.24
2817.77
3381.324
512.474
303
2149.24
3180.05
3816.06
577.67
303
2149.24
3325.69
3990.828
603.54
303
2149.24
3287.05
3944.46
599.3
303
2149.24
3352.66
4023.192
613.72
303
2149.24
3435.07
4122.084
624.476
Compression
Ratio (rv)
134:1
Same for all speed
Swept Volume
(m
3
/s)
0.4026 0.4601 0.5177 0.5752 0.6327 0.6902 0.7477 0.8052 0.8627 0.92
Power Input
KW
378.24 535.31 734.44 984.47 1296.18 1665.71 2078.55 2563.89 3106.17 3720.184
Speed (rpm) 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600

APPENDIX A
Caterpillar Engine 3516B series marine diesel engine particulars.
Number of cylinders and arrangement 16 - Vee
Bore - 170mm(0.17m)
Stroke - 190mm
Displacement - 69L
Compression ratio - 134 to 1
Cycle - 4 stroke
Rotation facing - C C W
Firing order (A-Bank) -1-6-5-4-3-10-9-16
Firing order (B-Bank) -15-12-11-14-13-8-7-2
Power -1492KW (2000HP)
Speed - 1600rpm
Rating -B. rating (mediumduty)
Inlet temperature, T1 = 30OC = 303K
Ambient pressure = 104Kpa =104kw/m2 -1.04bar
Inlet pressure P1 ambient pressure +gauge reading
Specific heat low pressure and 25OC for air
At constant pressure, Cp 1.0047k;1kgk.
Exhaust gasses.
At constant volume cr 0.7176kg1kgk.
Ce 1.147kj1kgk
Pressure ratio, rp 1.31
Cut off ratio rc 1.2