Abstract
An analytical solution of the energy and entropy balance equations for a combustible gas mixture contained in an open combustion chamber, for example of an internal combustion engine, is presented. The solution is free of major assumptions and is in a form suitable for incorporating any detailed models for the effects of wall heat transfer, wall thermal boundary layer, non-uniform temperature distributions in the burnt mixture, crevice regions, mass exchange through the boundaries of the chosen control volume and other similar effects. Explicit expressions for the instantaneous mass of burnt mixture and for the entropy generated by irreversibility are presented as functions of pressure and volume history of the combustion chamber and properties of the gas mixtures.