<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">For the design of a given free-piston engine, each process must be analyzed with respect to the functioning of the engine. This thermodynamic analysis must then be augmented with a dynamic study of piston motion.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The purpose of the research described in this article was to formulate a general analysis of the free-piston engine process which would realistically simulate an operating engine.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The analysis was made in terms of variables which allowed the basic engine size and configuration to be selected and the operating conditions for the hypothesized engine to be arbitrarily fixed. For these conditions, a solution from the analysis gives a numerical description of the performance that may be expected of the engine.</div></div>