A Numerical Analysis Method for Optimizing Intercooler Design in the Vehicle Development Process

The acceleration performance of a car equipped with a turbocharged, intercooled engine is affected by the volume of cooling air that flows through the core of the intercooler. Additionally, the volume of cooling air entering the intercooler is influenced by the configuration of the air intake provided in the exterior design. Therefore, in planning a new model it is very important to be able to predict acceleration performance, at an early stage of the vehicle development process, in relation to vehicle styling and engine specifications.

The procedures employed so far to predict the volume of air flowing through the intercooler have included two-dimensional finite-difference methods and a panel method. However, because of their simple nature, none of these approaches has provided sufficiently accurate results.

This paper presents a new numerical analysis method that has been developed to overcome this problem.