In-cylinder tumble flows and performance of a motorcycle engine with circular and elliptic intake ports

Abstract

The temporal and spatial evolution processes of the flows in the cylinder of a four-valve, four-stroke, single cylinder, reciprocating motorcycle engine installed with the elliptic and circular intake ports were experimentally studied by using the particle image velocimetry (PIV). The engine was modified to fit the requirements of PIV measurement. The velocity fields measured by the PIV were analyzed and quantitatively presented as the tumble ratio and turbulence intensity. In the symmetry plane, both the circular and elliptic intake ports could initiate a vortex around the central region during the intake stroke. During the compression stroke, the central vortex created in the cylinder of the engine with the circular intake port disappeared, while that in the engine cylinder with the elliptic intake port further developed into the tumble motion. In the offset plane, weak vortical structures were initiated by the bluff-body effect of the intake valves during the intake stroke. The vortical structures induced by the elliptic intake port were more coherent than those generated by the circular intake port; besides, this feature extends to the compression stroke. The cycle-averaged tumble ratio and the turbulence intensity of the engine with the elliptic intake port were dramatically larger than those of the engine with the circular intake port. The measured engine performance was improved a lot by installing the elliptic intake port. The correlation between the flow features and the enhancement of the engine performance were argued and discussed.