Recent Advances in Knock Analysis, Simulation, and Control 2014-01-1349

This paper collates and summarizes recent advances in knock analysis, simulation and control. The statistical properties of knock intensity and knock events are reviewed showing in particular that knock intensity behaves as an independent random process, and that knock events conform to a binomial distribution. These properties have a significant impact on knock control and simulation. Traditional and recently proposed cumulative-summation-based and Likelihood-based knock control strategies are reviewed and illustrated in this context. Efficient tools for simulating both specific instances of the closed loop time response, and the evolution of the distribution of these responses based on a Markov-like approach, are also briefly reviewed. Finally, it is shown how an optimization of the knock threshold and an associated retuning of the controller parameters can result in significantly improved closed loop performance without any other modification of the control algorithm.