An introductory model of a one-piston engine

Reciprocating internal combustion engine models have the antithetical goals of accurately describing complex nonlinear behaviour and being simple enough for such purposes as automatic control and online diagnosis. A one-piston four-stroke engine is modelled here by recursively stating simple physical equations. To do that, the domestic ideas of domination and dependence are called as methodological tools for modelling, since they hand out necessary and sufficient equations with few manoeuvres, allocate simulations with the same characteristic and, hopefully, provide a fine way to understanding. The resulting model reveals both steady cycles and transient behaviour.