Fluid motion within the internal combustion engine cylinder plays a major role in controlling the fuel/air mixing and combustion processes in spark-ignition engines, and the combustion processes in compressionignition engines. In-cylinder flow is quite unstable and varies from one cycle to another. Various methods of in-cylinder flow measurement and fuel/air mixing characterization have been developed during the past few decades. In particular, laser based flow diagnostic techniques have been utilized for this purpose. This study will focus on the quantification of spark-ignition engine in-cylinder flow using the laser based flow diagnostic techniques. The measurement methods, including high speed flow visualization and laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV), will be discussed.

An AVL research engine, type 520, is modified to adapt to the 3.5L four-valve SI engine. With these given engine configurations, a test rig is constructed which allows easy changing of the different pistons and engine heads with a motoring capacity up to 3500 rpm. Nearly complete optical access to the inside of the cylinder is obtained by installing a transparent quartz cylinder on an AVL single cylinder engine. To avoid lubrication and to minimize scratches in the quartz cylinder the piston rings are made of Rulon-LD. With this experimental engine, researches for the in-cylinder flow characteristics by changing the induction system have been carried out using the laser based flow diagnostic techniques. In accordance with the previous result, it is evident that larger sized particles would be required in order to observe the flow characteristics of interest. The flow visualization taken with microballoon particles shows significant improvement. This provide detailed information.