A Numerical Study on the Effects of Apex Seal Leakage on Wankel Engine Flow Fields 910703
A numerical study was conducted to examine how leakages across apex seals affect the flow field in one combustion chamber of a motored, two-dimensional, Wankel rotary engine. Results are presented which show the effects of engine speed, leakage area, and compression ratio on velocity field, distribution of turbulent kinetic energy, and volume-averaged pressure when there are apex seal leakages. These results indicate that apex seal leakages can have a significant effect on the flow field.
This numerical study is based on the density-weighted-ensemble-averaged continuity, “full compressible” Navier-Stokes, and total energy equations, closed by a k-ε model of turbulence with wall functions. The numerical method used to obtain solutions was the approximate factorization algorithm of the ADI type. All convection terms were treated by second-order accurate upwind differencing through flux-vector splitting. All diffusion terms were treated by second-order accurate central differencing.
Citation: Li, Z., Shih, T., Schock, H., and Willis, E., "A Numerical Study on the Effects of Apex Seal Leakage on Wankel Engine Flow Fields," SAE Technical Paper 910703, 1991, https://doi.org/10.4271/910703. Download Citation
Author(s):
Z. Li, T. I-P. Shih, H. J. Schock, E. A. Willis
Affiliated:
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Carnegie Mellon University
Pages: 18
Event:
International Congress & Exposition
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Combustion chambers
Rotary engines
Seals and gaskets
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