Keeping in view the increasing importance of IC engines, various Universities are introducing courses on the subject as an intrinsic part of the thermal engineering curriculum. However, the lack of a suitable textbook has created difficulties in fully appreciating the basic principles and applications of IC engines. This book has been written to fulfill this need.

I have endeavoured to explain the various topics right from the fundamentals so that even a beginner can understand the exposition. Keeping this in view, chapters 1 to 15 are framed so that the book will be useful to both undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as to practising engineers.

In writing this book, I have kept in mind the tremendous amount of ground, which the student and the practising engineer of today is expected to cover. On this account, the work has been organized to form, it is hoped, a continuous logical narrative.

SI units have been consistently used throughout the book. The book includes a large number of typical worked out examples and several illustrative figures for an easier understanding of the subject. Exercises have also been provided in various chapters so that the inquisitive student may solve these problems and compare with the answers given.

Care has been taken to minimize the errors and typing mistakes. I would be obliged to the readers for finding out any such error and mistake, and would be grateful for any constructive criticism for the improvement of various topics in the book.

It would be impossible to refer in detail to the many persons who have been consulted in the compilation of this work. I am thankful to all my Punctilious and highly Devoted scholars, past and present, who have helped me in various ways in bringing out this book. I may be excused for not naming them individually.

I am particularly grateful for the help I have received from my colleagues at I.C. Engines Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and especially to Prof. P. Srinivasa Rao, who spared a great amount of his valuable time in going through the manuscript and discussing various points in each chapter. I wish to thank the Centre for Continuing Education of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras for their help in the preparation of this book.

I would like to express my gratitude and offer my sincere thanks to Vijayashree, G. Venkatasubramanian and V. Satish Kumar, who were instrumental in composing and formatting the entire book. I will be failing in my duty if I do not acknowledge P. Chandrasekaran who has done all the drawings excellently.

Last but not the least my sincere thanks are due to my dear wife P. Rajalakshmi, my son G. Venkatasubramanian, and daughter G. Aparna who have borne with me for the last three and a half years and provided me with a quiet home where so much of this work was written.

V GANESAN