The Influence of the Intake Geometry on the Performance of a Four-Stroke SI Engine for Aeronautical Applications

Fabio Anaclerio (), Annarita Viggiano (), Francesco Fornarelli, Paolo Caso, Domenico Sparaco and Vinicio Magi
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Fabio Anaclerio: Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimenti, Risorse Naturali e Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy
Annarita Viggiano: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Francesco Fornarelli: Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimenti, Risorse Naturali e Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy
Paolo Caso: Costruzioni Motori Diesel CMD S.p.A., 81020 San Nicola La Strada, Italy
Domenico Sparaco: Costruzioni Motori Diesel CMD S.p.A., 81020 San Nicola La Strada, Italy
Vinicio Magi: Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-27

Abstract: In this work, the influence of plenum and port geometry on the performance of the intake process in a four-stroke spark ignition engine for ultralight aircraft applications is analyzed. Three intake systems are considered: the so-called “standard plenum”, with a relatively small plenum volume, the “V1 plenum”, with a larger plenum volume, and the “standard plenum” equipped with a large curvature manifold called the “G2 port”. Both measurements and 3D CFD simulations, by using Ansys ® Academic Fluent, Release 20.2, are performed to characterize and analyze the steady-flow field in the intake system for selected valve lifts. The experimental data and the numerical results are in excellent agreement with each other. The results show that at the maximum valve lift, i.e., 12 mm, the V1 plenum allows an increase in the air mass flow rate of 9.1% and 9.4% compared to the standard plenum and the standard plenum with the “G2 port”, respectively. In addition, the volumetric efficiency has been estimated under unsteady-flow conditions for all geometries at relatively high engine rpms. The difference between numerical results and measurements is less than 1% for the standard plenum, thus proving the accuracy of the model, which is then used to study the other configurations. The V1 plenum shows a fairly constant volumetric efficiency as the engine speed increases, although such an efficiency is lower than that of the other two geometries considered in this work. Specifically, the use of the “G2 port” leads to an increase of 1.5% in terms of volumetric efficiency with respect to the configuration with the original manifold. Furthermore, for the “G2 port” configuration, higher turbulent kinetic energy and higher swirl and tumble ratios are observed. This is expected to result in an improvement of air–fuel mixing and flame propagation.

Keywords: spark ignition engines; aeronautical propulsion; intake system; plenum geometry; port geometry; volumetric efficiency; turbulence; CFD (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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