CFD Simulation of the Lubricating Oil Flow in Motorcycle Oilpan

This paper describes a simulation of the lubricating oil flow in a motorcycle oilpan using a CFD technique in consideration of oil suction and oil return. In the technique, sink boundary and source boundary were used to simulate oil suction and oil return, and a VOF method was used to simulate the free surface of oil. To validate the simulation, a simulation result was compared with experiment results of a prototype motorcycle. As a result, the time of the simulated oil pressure drop in main gallery when the motorcycle decelerated rapidly in a racing circuit was agreed with the measured one.

In addition, to demonstrate the applicability of the CFD simulation, a case study of the shape optimization on the baffle plate in the oilpan was shown.