Numerical Multi-scale Analysis of Motorbike Heat Exchangers 2005-01-1923

A numerical multi-scale method for the analysis of heat exchangers is presented. In the present work this methodology has been used to analyze the heat exchangers of the Ducati 999 motorbike cooling system. In order to compute the flowfield around the vehicle and to obtain the velocity distribution inside heat exchangers volume, a finite volume model has been adopted. A distributed model is then used to analyze the heat exchange process that takes place into the heat exchanger for different velocity distributions and for a constant liquid inlet temperature. The results of the finite volume analysis are described with particular emphasis on the airflow distribution across the thermal devices. Finally, a comparison of the results obtained by means of the distributed-parameters model for the uniform airflow case and those obtained with the computed airflow distributions is presented.