Michael Donnelly
This research investigates the air flow characteristics of an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) intake port used for performance application via numerical simulation. The modeling and numerical simulation is based on commonly available commercial codes. The existing induction system is digitally modeled, analyzed, improved, remanufactured and re-measured for performance. The numerical simulation is validated with physical measurements of both the existing design, as well as the final solution. Since the example system being analyzed in this paper has had extensive work up to this point a true optimization using tradition tools would not be completed since improvements will be subtle. However, improvements can still be realized by using a more interactive approach. The contributions of this work is applying an optimization method to a very mature design. As a conclusion it is found that the intake port optimization can be completed more thoroughly and scientifically using computer aided engineering tools and current-day engineering optimization practices than a more traditional trail-and-error methodology.