Multi-branch junction boundary model of an internal combustion engine intake and exhaust manifold system

Abstract

Multi-branch junctions are commonly used in highly integrated supercharged internal combustion engines. Accurate prediction of flow performance is critical to engine cycle simulation. However, the few studies on this type of junction boundary model focus on incompressible fluid, which leads to insufficient accuracy in predicting compressible flow. In this study, based on a constant-pressure model commonly used to calculate multi-branch junctions, by considering fluid compressibility, we developed a momentum conservation model and a pressure loss coefficient model, respectively, that are tailored to multi-branch junctions. The momentum conservation model accounts for structural parameters such as branch angle and the influence of Mach number, and hence it improved the prediction accuracy. For a certain type of high-power-density internal combustion engine, the maximum simulation error is reduced from 7.58% to 2.47% in the engine performance prediction at the rated speed after using the momentum conservation model. The proposed pressure loss coefficient model was mainly used to compensate for the shortcomings of the momentum conservation model in the multi-branch calculation efficiency reduction, which is more dependent on the pressure loss coefficient database provided by the experiment. The influence of fluid compressibility was also considered. This investigation can provide tailored tools for multi-branch junction performance prediction in different functional simulation scenes.