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The use of numerical techniques is widely accepted by manufactures in order to increase engine durability and performances and reduce emissions. The effective thermal load prediction is always considered a nodal point to correctly assess the coolant mass flow rate and jackets arrangement. In literature many approaches used to analyzed the in-cylinder heat transfer can be found and they can be classified as follows: methods based on the steady convective heat transfer, approaches based on the solution of the unsteady heat conduction equation by means of the knowledge of the temperature profile, approaches based on the energy conservation for the whole mass contained inside the cylinder. The purpose of this paper is to define a proper methodology to evaluate the thermal flow distribution and intensity inside the engine liner, head and coolant channel.

In this paper various methods of studying in-cylinder heat transfer in small displacement two-stroke engines are presented and compared. First of all, the mistakes that can be caused by the application of steady heat transfer models to the study of such a complex phenomenon are considered. After the demonstration that an ordinary convective heat transfer model determines mistakes in the evaluation of the thermal load, three-dimensional analysis and improved heat transfer models are considered. The multidimensional code Fluent is used for the 3-D fluid mechanics simulation. Numerical analysis evidences the importance of the non-uniformity of the gas temperature inside the cylinder. The improved models considers the fact that heat transfer during compression and expansion is out of phase with bulk gas-wall temperature difference and that the great part of the heat transfer is linked to the combustion.

The heat transfer process has always played an important role in internal combustion engine design. An area of importance is the thermal loading of engine structural components, and the optimisation of engine cooling system. The engine cooling system of a vehicle makes up a significant portion of the total component cost. It also places demands on other vehicle systems, and the quality of its design is evident to the customer in terms of the power that it consumes that for a two-stroke engine with forced convection air cooling can be also the 10% of the total brake power. An area of importance is the calculation of the thermal load of engine structural components, and the optimisation of engine cooling system. Optimisation of engine cooling requires the solution of the coupled problem of heat transfer from gases to walls and of heat convection from the structure (generally a finned surface) to the external environment.