Other engine simulators work by approximating the engine.
Ange's engine simulator works by approximating physics of air fluid dynamics through a combustion chamber and exhaust, sound propagation, etc and then putting an engine into that simulation.
If you're looking for a carefully crafted/written work to explain internal combustion engines, look no further than this one https://ciechanow.ski/internal-combustion-engine/ (the Mechanical Watch article from the same author was featured on HN a while ago).
Nice little project, I inputted the dimensions of a engine I've been building (b20-vtec) and it estimated 160whp which sounds low but I also can't set up my cams properly because it looks like this was designed for SOHC engines.
I see no declaration that this is a machine generated site, but the aesthetic is a dead giveaway. The language on the “how it works” page is unmistakably LLM output. As a total novice in engines this site had the potential to educate me, but did the author vet the data at all? If the author doesn’t bother telling me they checked any output on this, what assurance do I have anything is accurate on the site at all? If I knew an actual engineer put their focus on this tool I’d feel much better about trying to learn something from it. Short of that it’s just a pretty (but predictable) interface.
I'm a mechanical engineer who has written similar tools for work and hobbies. Producing pretty pictures does not mean that the model is physically accurate. Unfortunately, such tools seem be evaluated much more on flashiness and not on more reliable and objective criteria like physical accuracy based on verification and validation test suites. I'm seeing that in the comments here. I don't think LLMs make what I do irrelevant, but I have thought that I'm going to have to improve how flashy my simulations look to compete better with non-experts who use LLMs.
So if I set the animation speed to 1:1 and set the RPM to 3000, that's what it would look like inside the engine when I'm ready to shift gears? Seems WAY faster than what I expected in real life
When you press the gas pedal in your car down (which used to just be a cable to the throttle body), does your car instantaneously increase in speed to match the pedal position?
All you're doing is letting more air in - the RPM is a function of the power the engine generates; more fuel and air than is currently needed for the current load at the current speed = increasing RPMs.
If you put the clutch in, a little blip of the gas is all that's needed to get the RPM quite high very quickly. The moment there's load on there, the same blip will not do very much at all.
In principle you can instantaneously set the throttle opening to some position and set the RPM to whatever you want. In time the RPM will rise or fall until the engine is at equilibrium, but throttle position and RPM aren't like mechanically interlocked. Otherwise how could the engine speed up when you go down a hill?
Calling this AI slop would be generous. If we made a list of the things wrong with it we would be here all day. Nothing has an effect on redline RPM, you can create compression and turbo combos that would instantly grenade an engine, the preset “super car” has 200hp?
The only thing it illustrates is the authors lack of understanding.
He has a whole series on building out engine simulators of various types, and even published a Steam game for steam engine simulation.
His work is notable because he leans heavily into generating sound directly from the simulations.
https://www.youtube.com/@AngeTheGreat
Other engine simulators work by approximating the engine.
Ange's engine simulator works by approximating physics of air fluid dynamics through a combustion chamber and exhaust, sound propagation, etc and then putting an engine into that simulation.
It's incredible how productive and precise he is.
Very cool either way.
Makes audio too
All you're doing is letting more air in - the RPM is a function of the power the engine generates; more fuel and air than is currently needed for the current load at the current speed = increasing RPMs.
If you put the clutch in, a little blip of the gas is all that's needed to get the RPM quite high very quickly. The moment there's load on there, the same blip will not do very much at all.
V Twin Bank, Turbocharged with Intercooler. And Fuel is Hydrogen!
This is like a much cooler version of a thing I made a few years ago for simulating model oscillating engines: https://incoherency.co.uk/oscillating-engine/
The only thing it illustrates is the authors lack of understanding.
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