Regular Article

Large Eddy Simulations with Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) modeling of Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs)

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 1231 Beal Ave, 2026 Auto Lab, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
² Global Propulsion Systems, GM R&D, 30565 William Durant Blvd, Warren, MI 48092, USA

^* Corresponding author: atswu@umich.edu

Received: 15 January 2019
Accepted: 19 April 2019

Abstract

In this study, the effects of the thermal boundary conditions at the engine walls on the predictions of Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) of a motored Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) were examined. Two thermal boundary condition cases were simulated. One case used a fixed, uniform wall temperature, which is typically used in conventional LES modeling of ICEs. The second case utilized a Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) modeling approach to obtain temporally and spatially varying wall temperature. The CHT approach solves the coupled heat transfer problem between fluid and solid domains. The CHT case included the solid valves, piston, cylinder head, cylinder liner, valve seats, and spark plug geometries. The simulations were validated with measured bulk flow, near-wall flow, surface temperature, and surface heat flux. The LES quality of both simulations was also discussed. The CHT results show substantial spatial, temporal, and cyclic variability of the wall heat transfer. The surface temperature dynamics obtained from the CHT model compared well with measurements during the compression stroke, but the absolute magnitude was 5 K (or 1.4%) off and the prediction of the drop in temperature after top dead center suffered from temporal resolution limitations. Differences in the predicted flow and temperature fields between the uniform surface temperature and CHT simulations show the impact of the surface temperature on bulk behavior.