Effect of Compression Ratio, Pressure, Temperature, and Humidity on Power

Among other factors which affect the horsepower of an airplane engine are the atmospheric pressure, and consequently the altitude at which the engine is working, and the compression ratio, or cylinder volume divided by clearance volume. The tests upon which this report is based were selected from a large number of runs made during the intercomparison of various gasolines to determine the variation of horsepower with altitude at three different compression ratios. The test results and conclusions are presented in this report.