Development of Water Level Predicting Method around the Air Intake Duct by using Multivariate Analysis

This paper describes a water-level prediction method for the air intake duct using multivariate analysis. When a vehicle runs on a submerged proving ground, in some cases the water level around the air intake duct rises. Although the rise in water level can be measured experimentally in actual vehicles, the design factors that determine the water level are not yet fully understood.

The first step in understanding the factors for determining the water level on front-engine and front-drive (FF) -type vehicles is to establish a water level prediction technique. This is accomplished by the development of an original Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis method capable of accurately simulating a free surface. The next step is to conduct multivariate analysis based on the results of parametric studies using this CFD analysis method that leads to the factors determining the water level at the air intake duct.

It is found for the first time that the flow that passes through the gap around the radiator has a greater contribution to the rise in water level, rather than the flow that passes through the radiator, which has previously been assumed to be the dominant type of flow.

This technique is also applicable to front-engine and rear-drive (FR) vehicles and SUVs as well as FF-type vehicles.