Lube Oil Expulsion in a Front Axle Predicted Using Particle-Based Simulations

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Authors Abstract
Content
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation has been widely used in the automobile industry for design verification and validation. The article presents the axle oil vent expulsion results from particle-based CFD simulations, performed with a commercially available particle-based solver. The front axle houses a differential assembly which utilizes a pinion and ring gear. The ring gear is bolted onto the differential case in which the ring gear and differential case are spun as a whole. The turbulent flow field of the lube oil was simulated, and a free surface was detected. Probability density function (PDF) distributions of local lube oil volume fractions (VFs) were used to guide the identification of the stationary state for the simulated flow field. In the study of vent expulsion, the lube oil temperature was varied from −12°C to 149°C and the rotational speed of the pinion changed from 1000 rpm to 5000 rpm. Besides the oil vent expulsion, the flow behavior, VFs, and churning power loss predictions under different operation conditions in the axle were also investigated. The simulation results indicate that, in general, the oil expulsion increases with rotational speed and oil temperature, a trend validated by experimental observations. Also discussed are the effects of the vent tube, surface tension coefficient, and contact angle on the studied vent expulsion. The results of the study show that the particle-based CFD method has been successfully applied, and based on the comparison with available data, it is reliable and computationally efficient.
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/15-16-01-0005
Pages
14
Citation
Xu, J., Liou, W., and Dawson, D., "Lube Oil Expulsion in a Front Axle Predicted Using Particle-Based Simulations," SAE Int. J. Passeng. Veh. Syst. 16(1):73-85, 2023, https://doi.org/10.4271/15-16-01-0005.
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Publisher
Published
Nov 22, 2022
Product Code
15-16-01-0005
Content Type
Journal Article
Language
English