Technical Paper
3D CFD Coolant System Simulation for Vehicle Drive-Cycle
2021-09-22
2021-26-0407
The present work deals with the 3-D, transient, system level CFD simulation of an automotive coolant system using a 3D CFD solver Simerics MP+®. The system includes actual CAD of radiator, cooling jacket, coolant pump, bypass valve and thermostat valve. This work is in continuation of the work done by Srinivasan et al. [1] where wax melting, conjugate heat transfer, Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) of the valve had been solved. Thermostat valve was controlled by wax phase change model which also incorporates the hysteresis effect of wax melting and solidification. The previous work dealt with the simulation of complete cycle, opening, and closing of the thermostat valve system. Besides the physics considered in the previous study, the current model also includes the treatment of cavitation to account for the presence of dissolved gases and vaporization of the liquid coolant.
