CFD Simulations of Intake Port Flow Using Automatic Mesh Generation: Comparison With Laser Sheet, Swirl and LDA Measurements for Steady Flow Conditions

An automatic hexahedral meshing technique has been combined with CFD to predict the steady flow through practical intake port/valve geometries. Two intake configurations were investigated. An asymmetric design consisting of one helical and one directed port and a symmetric design consisting of two directed ports. The automatic meshing technique dramatically reduces the mesh construction time to less than 15% of that achievable by the conventional route.

Detailed LDA, laser sheet, and swirl measurements reveal that for certain flow conditions and port arrangements it is possible to obtain a good match between the measured and predicted in-cylinder flow structure. The best predictions of in-cylinder swirl were within 5% of the measured values. It is also shown that this approach to mesh generation is both economic and robust for practical engine designs, transforming CFD into a practical tool for the design of intake ports.