Development of Optimisation Methodologies for the Internal Combustion Engine Airbox

The geometrical design of the airbox for an internal combustion engine has a<br/>significant effect on the pressure loss in the entire inlet tract. Due to the<br/>location of the airbox, its size and shape is usually limited as a result of the<br/>proximity to other under-bonnet features. The shape is also limited by<br/>manufacturing, assembly and NVH considerations. The complexity of the<br/>unsteady flow through the airbox and the constraints placed upon it by the<br/>available volume in the under-bonnet area make this a challenging design<br/>task.<br/><br/>This work attempts to lay the foundations for a robust optimization strategy for<br/>the design of an airbox by coupling a 3D-steady flow Computational Fluid<br/>Dynamics (CFD) model to an automatic optimization process. The objective is<br/>to formulate a strategy that can be built upon in future to encompass unsteady<br/>flow and multi-cylinder engines.<br/><br/>The work reviews the current thinking on methods used to optimize CFD<br/>problems and how this would apply to the optimization of an airbox for an<br/>internal combustion engine. The investigation then continues to detail the<br/>findings of the initial validation work on the CFD method for predicting the<br/>pressure loss through an airbox. Two simple airboxes are tested on a steady<br/>flow rig and the results compared to the CFD predictions.<br/><br/>An optimization case study is then presented based on one of the models<br/>used for the initial validation. The study compares three different optimization<br/>techniques and then validates the results by testing the optimum design found<br/>by each method. A second case study is then undertaken to further validate<br/>the results using more flexible optimization software.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Queen's University Belfast

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Branney, Ciaran

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Cunningham, Geoffrey

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/07c039b2-3a0f-4df8-a4ab-7ea8e498ecc1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pure.qub.ac.uk/portal:studenttheses/07c039b2-3a0f-4df8-a4ab-7ea8e498ecc1