Modern diesel engines tend to utilize significantly large quantities of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and high intake pressures across the engine load range to meet NOx targets. At such high EGR rates, the combustion process and exhaust emissions tend to exhibit a marked sensitivity to small changes in the EGR quantity, resulting in unintended deviations from the desired engine performance characteristics (energy efficiency, emissions, stability). An accurate estimation of EGR and its effect on the intake dilution are, therefore, necessary to enable its application during transient engine operation or unstable combustion regimes. In this research, a detailed analysis that includes estimation of the transient (cycle-by-cycle) build-up of EGR and the time (engine cycles) required to reach the steady-state EGR operation has been carried out. One-step global equations to calculate the transient and steady-state gas concentrations in the intake and exhaust are proposed. The effects of engine load and intake pressure on EGR have been examined and explained in terms of intake charge dilution and in-cylinder excess-air ratio. The EGR analysis is validated against a wide range of empirical data that include low temperature combustion cycles, intake pressure and load sweeps. This research intends to not only formulate a clear understanding of EGR application for advanced diesel combustion but also to set forth guidelines for transient analysis of EGR. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.