Approach to calculating engine angular

acceleration from RPM fluctuation

Assumptions
The engine is a 4 cylinder, 4 stroke engine. This means that there is one ignition event per 180 of
rotation.

This leads to the key assumption that the engine speed fluctuation is dominated by the component
at 2x the engine rotational frequency (referred to as 2nd Engine order or 2EO).

Approach
From engine speed, find 2nd engine order frequency

Frequency [Hz] = 2 x Engine speed [RPM] / 60

From RPM peak to peak speed fluctuation, find amplitude (0-peak) of speed fluctuation in rad/s

Speed fluctuation amplitude [Rad/s] = 0.5 x P-P Speed fluctuation [RPM] x /30

In general, for a signal with the form

X(t) = Amplitude x Sin(2Ft), where F is the frequency [Hz], and t is the time [s]

Then:

dX/Dt = Amplitude x 2F x Cos(2Ft)

This means that the peak acceleration is

Speed fluctuation amplitude [Rad/s] x 2 x 2EO Frequency [Hz]

Worked example
1000 RPM engine speed, 173 RPM Peak to Peak speed fluctuation

2EO frequency = 2 x 1000 / 60 = 33.33 Hz

Speed fluctuation amplitude = 0.5 x 173 x /30 = 9.06 Rad/s

Angular acceleration = 9.06 x 2 x 33.33 = 1897 Rad/s2