Home▸Engineering & Materials▸Wankel Rotary Engine Cycle (2D): Epitrochoid Cross-Section

Wankel Rotary Engine Cycle (2D): Epitrochoid Cross-Section

A top-down 2D cross-section of the same real epitrochoid geometry as the 3D lab: a Reuleaux-triangle rotor spinning at a fixed 3:1 gear ratio inside its housing, sweeping three chambers through intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust.

Engineering & Materials2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This 2D companion drives the exact same epitrochoid-housing and Reuleaux-rotor math as the 3D lab — the apex trace, chamber-area shoelace integration, and phase classification are computed identically — but renders it as a flat top-down cross-section, which is the clearest way to actually read the geometry that makes a Wankel engine work.

⚙ Under the hood

Real epitrochoid housing and Reuleaux-triangle rotor geometry at a fixed 3:1 shaft-to-rotor gear ratio; chamber volume is integrated per frame via the shoelace formula and torque is derived from the resulting intake/compression/combustion/exhaust phase mix.

wankel enginerotary engineepitrochoidcombustion cycleapex sealsmechanical engineering

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install