In this paper, an in-cylinder waste heat recovery system especially for turbocharged engines is proposed to improve the thermal efficiencies of internal combustion engines. Simplified recovery processes can be described as follows: superheated steam generated by engine waste heat is injected into the pipe before the turbine to increase the boost pressure of the fresh air; intake valve close timing is adjusted to control the amount of fresh air as the original level, and thus the higher pressure charged air expands in the intake stroke and transfers the pressure energy directly to the crankshaft. In this way, the increased turbine output by the pre-turbine steam injection is finally recovered in the cylinder, which is different from the traditional Rankine cycle. The whole energy transfer processes are studied with thermodynamic analyses and numerical simulations. The results show that the mass flow rate of the injected steam has the biggest influence on the energy transfer processes followed by the temperature of the injected steam. With this in-cylinder waste heat recovery system, the fuel economy of a selected turbocharged diesel engine can be improved by 3.2% at the rated operating point when the injected mass flow ratio is set to be 0.1. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.