Why compression ratio of petrol engine is kept low compared to diesel engine?

Today every machine is expected to give higher efficiency. When we talk about the petrol engine and diesel engine whose thermal efficiency is directly related to the ‘compression ratio’. That means if we want to achieve higher thermal performance in terms of efficiency, we should provide a high compression ratio for both the engine.

The compression ratio is the ratio of the total volume of an engine cylinder to the clearance volume of the same cylinder.  As the name suggests, it relates to the compression of the air-fuel mixture during the compression stroke. When there is compression, there always be heat associated with it and it increases the overall temperature of the fuel-air mixture.

Why the compression ratio of a petrol engine is kept low compared to a diesel engine?

In a petrol engine, petrol is used as fuel and when it is subjected to a high compression ratio, the heat generated may increase the temperature of the petrol+air mixture above the autoignition temperature of petrol ( 280 °C) and the fuel mixture will automatically ignite without getting sparked.

This auto-ignition produces very high pressure which may burst the piston. This phenomenon is called ‘detonation’. So, to reduce the detonation effect and to allow the combustion exactly after compression stroke, the high compression ratio cannot be used in the petrol engine. In the case of otto engines, the compression ratio is of the order of 4 to 8.