Book excerpt: The diesel engine is one of the most efficient types of heat engines and is widely used as a prime mover for many applications. In recent years, with the aid of modern computers, engine combustion modeling has made great progress. However, due to the complexities of the processes involved in the practical diesel engine, there are still too many unknowns preventing computational prediction to have the accuracy level required by industry. This book examines some basic characteristics of diesel engine combustion process, and describes the commonly used tool to analyze combustion - heat release analysis. It addition, Practical Diesel-Engine Combustion Analysis describes the performance changes that might be encountered in the engine user environment, with a goal of helping the reader analyze his own practical combustion problems. Chapters include: Combustion and Fuel-Injection Processes in the Diesel Engine Heat Release and its Effect on Engine Performance Alternate Fuels Combustion Analysis and more