Technical Paper
Thermo-mechanical analysis of an engine head by means of integrated CFD and FEM
2007-09-16
2007-24-0067
A 2200 cc engine head for marine applications has been analysed and optimized by means of both fluid-dynamic and thermo-structural simulations. First, the fluid distribution within the cooling jacket has been deeply investigated, in order to point out critical aspects of the current jacket layout and propose modified gaskets aiming at modifying the coolant path and increasing the cooling performance. A new generation polyhedral grid has been employed to combine high resolution surface spacing, computational demand, and numerical stability of the CFD simulations. Different turbulence models and near-wall approaches have been tested in order to accurately predict the boundary layer behaviour, which is fundamental for the subsequent thermal analysis. Comparisons have been carried out between the different gasket layouts in terms of both cylinder to cylinder flow balancing and cooling effectiveness in the critical regions of the engine head.