Simulation of fluid flow in internal combustion engines using wave action simulation

Engine design is a long and costly process due to the large number of variables that have an effect on the design. Engine Simulation plays a very important role in the development of engines. It helps in analyzing the various engine configurations without actually building the engine. Thus, Engine Simulation helps in reducing the cost and time involved in developing a new engine. Many commercial codes are available in the market to simulate engines. In recent years, Wave Action Models to simulate engines are becoming popular due to their accuracy and robustness and are replacing the old Quasi- Steady and Filling and Emptying Models. There are two parts in engine simulation, fluid flow Simulation and Combustion and Heat Transfer Simulation.

In this thesis an attempt has been made to simulate the fluid flow in Internal Combustion Engines and Engine manifolds using Wave Action Simulation. The Non- Linear, Hyperbolic, Partial Differential Equations are solved using the Method of Characteristics (MOC) which is the oldest and the most powerful method to formulate the boundary conditions. A FORTRAN code is developed for obtaining the pressure and velocity of the gas for various boundary conditions. Using the code the pressure and velocity at any point in the manifolds can be obtained. The compression pressure of the cylinder can also be estimated using the code. Pressure and Velocity distributions are obtained from the results obtained from the code clearly show the Wave Action Phenomenon.

The results obtained using the Code developed are in excellent agreement with results obtained by other researchers.