Development of an advanced turbocharger simulation method for cycle simulation of turbocharged internal combustion engines

Abstract

An advanced turbocharger simulation method for engine cycle simulation was developed on the basis of the compressor two-zone flow model and the turbine mean-line flow model. The method can be used for turbocharger and engine integrated design without turbocharger test maps. The sensitivities of the simulation model parameters on turbocharger simulation were analysed to determine the key modelling parameters. The simulation method was validated against turbocharger test data. Results show that the methods can predict the turbocharger performance with a good accuracy, less than 5 per cent error in general for both the compressor and the turbine. In comparison with the map-based extrapolation methods commonly used in engine cycle simulation tools such as GT-POWER®, the turbocharger simulation method showed significant improvement in predictive accuracy to simulate the turbocharger performance, especially in low-flow and low-operating-speed conditions.