EURECA 2013 – Experimentation and Simulation on the Design of Intake Manifold Port on Engine Performance

Experimentation and Simulation on the Design of Intake

Manifold Port on Engine Performance
Y.K. Loong1, Salim M. Salim2
1
School of Engineering, Taylor’s University, Malaysia,
*loongyunkit@gmail.com

Abstract— The aim of this project is to increase the performance

of the engine by improving the design of the intake manifold
port. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using k-epsilon
model with standard wall function was applied to simulate and
quantify the improvements of the new design by benchmarking
against the original intake. It was found that the original intake
manifold from the manufacturer could be improved by more
than 79% by changing the geometry, shape and surface finish.
Keywords— Intake Manifold, Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD), Volumetric Efficiency, Pollution, Performance

1. Introduction Figure 1: Campro S4PH Engine

In today’s world, there is a massive increase in the number of
vehicle on the road in term increases the pollution level. Ironically, Intake Air Pressure and Temperature is measured at the base
the internal combustion engine is highly inefficient. The internal of the intake manifold as near as possible to the outlet as shown
combustion engine power output and volumetric efficiency is highly in Fig 2. Table 1 shows the data collected from the running
dependent on the amount of air being ingested into the combustion engine. The frequency of the sensor coupled with the engine
chamber which is then discharged by the exhaust system [1]. control unit is 20Hz. Therefore, an average gauge pressure of
With more air in the cylinder, more fuel can be added into the -6300Pa is obtained.
combustion chamber hence increasing the peak pressure which will
increase the performance of the engine. There are many parameters
of the intake system that can massively influence this. All mass
produced engine can be improved further as manufacturer have many I
constraints when designing an engine’s intake system [2]. The n
manufacturer’s constraints are usually cost, manufacturing difficulty, l
time and many others. Therefore, by using FLUENT commercial e
software, the design of the intake port can be investigated, evaluated t
and improved upon.
The objectives of the research project are as follow:

• To simulate different design parameters to obtain an

improved intake system of an internal combustion engine for
better performance and efficiency.
• To obtain valid intake gas condition such as gas temperature
and pressure from a running internal combustion engine.
Outlet to Engine
• To validate CFD simulation against experimental setup on
engine.

2. Research Methodology Figure 2: Computational Domain of Intake Manifold

An investigation using CFD simulation is only valid if it is

validated against experimental data. For this project, a S4PH Table 1: Data from Experimental Setup
Campro, 4 stroke, 1.6L, 4 cylinder engine from a Proton Satria
Neo is the engine used as shown in Fig 1. A Haltech Platinium Throttle Position 100% Open
Sport 1000 engine control unit was used to measure the data Engine Speed 6000 rpm
from the running engine. Two sensors were connected to the
Vacuum Level -6300Pa
engine control unit using a wiring harness. The two sensors are
Air Temp Sensor and Manifold Air Pressure Sensor from Temperature 313K
Haltech. Pressure at Inlet 101300 Pa
Pressure at Outlet 95000 Pa

A Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) of the original intake was

first drawn. After that, a mesh is created using Ansys Mesher as

51
 EURECA 2013 – Experimentation and Simulation on the Design of Intake Manifold Port on Engine Performance
shown in Figure 3. Once done, a CFD simulation is done on it. The
boundary conditions inputted based on the recorded data from the
running engine. Table 2 shows the specifics of the CFD simulation
based on Jiyuan Tu et al [4].

Figure 4: Velocity Contours of Final Iteration

Figure 3: Meshing of Intake Manifold
Table 4: Summary of Results

Intake Volume 9.418 liters

Table 2: Specifics of CFD Simulation
Inlet to Plenum Angle 5 degrees upwards
Number of Cells 650,000 to 680,000 Runner Opening Shape Bellmouth [2]
Type of Mesh Pure tetrahedral with near wall mesh Runner Length 200mm [3]
Orthogonal Ratio 0.4 or higher
Surface Finish Mirror Finish
Maximum Aspect Ratio 2.9 and below
Mass Flow Rate 0.3557 kg/s
CFD Model Standard k-epsilon -6
Variance Difference Between Cylinders 3.27 X 10
Near Wall Treatment Standard wall treatment
Wall Roughness Constant 0.5= cast finishing, 0.1= mirror finish Percentage Improvement Over Original 79%

A steady flow study is done and the results were recorded and
compared against theoretical calculation. The summary of the CFD
4. Conclusion
simulation is shown in Table 3. Based on the results, it can be seen that the new and improved
intake manifold port has a much higher mass flow rate capacity
Table 3: Results Comparison based on CFD simulations. The main reasons for the improvement
Mass Flow Rate (CFD) 0.1899 kg/s are due to the surface finish and geometry of the intake manifold.
The distribution balances between all 4 cylinders are also is almost
Mass Flow Rate (Theoratical) 0.07928 kg/s equal which helps in providing a proper air fuel mixture which in
Percentage Error 134% turn will increase the performance and efficiency of the engine. Even
though the improvement over original is high, it does not signify a 79%
improve in performance as other components of the engine will be
Once the CFD simulation is validated against the Experimental the limiting factor.
Setup, many design parameters were tested using CFD as shown The accuracy of the experimental setup can be improved further
below. by using a data acquisition system along with sensors that has
• Intake Runner Length and Dimension logging frequency of 200 Hz or higher in order to measure the proper
• Intake Runner Opening Shape trace of the pressure and temperature variation with respect to piston
position. In the future, different CFD models can be used to simulate
• Inlet to Plenum Angle
the accuracy of the k-epsilon model used in this investigation.
• Surface Finish
Reference
3. Results
[1] John B. Heywood, “Exhaust Gas” in Internal Combustion Engine
By simulating all the various design parameters, a significantly
improved design was obtained as shown in Table 4. The improved Fundamentals, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987
design has a much higher mass flow rate which in turn helps increase [2] Alexander Graham Bell, “The Cylinder Head”, in Four Stroke
the performance of the engine. Furthermore, the flow distribution Performance Tuning, 2nd Edition, Somerset, United Kingdom, Haynes,
between all four cylinders is near equal which will also help improve
the volumetric efficiency of each cylinder as shown in Fig 4. 1998, pp7-13.
[3] Gordon Blair, W. Melvin Cahoon, Special Investigation: Design of Intake
Bellmouth
[4] Jiyuan Tu, Guan Heng Yeoh and Chaoqun Liu. Computational Fluid
Dynamics A practical Approach, Elsevier, First Edition, 2008, pg53-398

52