Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    Statistical Analysis on The Near-Wake Region of RANS Turbulence Closure Models for Vertical Axis Tidal Turbine
    The flow field in the near wake region (up to six turbine diameters downstream) of a tidal current turbine is strongly driven by the combined wake of the device support structure and the rotor. Accurate characterisation of the near-wake region is important, but it is dominated by highly turbulent, slow-moving fluid. At present, limited number of researches has been undertaken into the characterisation of the near-wake region for a Vertical Axis Tidal Turbine (VATT) device using the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) model in the shallow water environment of Malaysia. This paper presents a comprehensive statistical analysis using the Mean Absolute Error (MEA), Mean Squared Error (MSE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) on the near-wake region for shallow water application by comparing numerical solutions (i.e., different types of RANS turbulence models using Ansys Fluent) with published experimental data. Seven RANS turbulence models with a single VATT, represented by using a cylindrical object, were employed in the preliminary study. The statistical analysis performed in this study is essential in exploring and giving a detailed understanding on the most suitable RANS turbulence model to be improved, specifically on its near-wake region. In this study, the near wake region is defined as D ≤ 6, where D is the device diameter. The analysis shows that the RANS numerical solutions are unable to accurately replicate the near-wake region based on large statistical errors computed. The average RMSE of near-wake region at z/D = [2, 3, 4, 6] are 0.5864, 0.4127, 0.4344 and 0.3577 while the average RMSE at far-wake region z/D = [8, 12] are 0.2269 and 0.1590, where z is the distance from the cylindrical object along the length of domain. The statistical error values are found to decrease with increasing downstream distance from a cylindrical object. Notably, the standard k–ε and realizable k–ε models are the two best turbulent models representing the near-wake region in RANS modelling, yielding the lowest statistical errors (RMSE at z/D = [2, 3, 4, 6] are 0.5666, 0.4020, 0.4113 and 0.3455) among the tested parameters.
  • Publication
    Derivation and validation of heat transfer model for Spark-Ignition engine cylinder head
    The valve train is located in the engine cylinder head, which has various operational heat transfer mechanisms to accommodate the combustion process. Most heat transfer studies in this area have only addressed medium-to high-power vehicles at a single running speed. In this study, a model of an air-cooled underbone motorcycle valve, valve seat, and engine cylinder head was tested to determine the thermal characteristics using actual engine operating conditions at low, medium, and high engine speeds. One-dimensional thermal simulation analyses were conducted to obtain the instantaneous heat-transfer coefficients of an actual engine. The average thermal value was determined as the boundary condition in the three-dimensional thermal analysis. A three-dimensional model was prepared using the ANSYS commercial computational fluid dynamics software package. The results show that as the engine speed increases, so does the thermal load toward the component in the engine cylinder head. The strongest temperature regions were concentrated around the combustion face. The exhaust valve held most of the heat, with the valve neck recording the highest temperature. For the intake valve, the combustion face registered the majority of the heat. The heat flux intensity was gathered in the contact surface area between the valve and its seat, between the valve stem and guide, and between the stem guide and tip section. A thermal survey was used to validate the three modelling results for two separate engine datasets. The cumulative relative errors for intake and exhaust valve seats for low engine speeds were 3.73% and 0.17%, respectively. The intake and exhaust valve seats had cumulative relative errors of 4.12% and 0.70%, respectively, at intermediate speeds. This methodology provides valuable information for analysing the heat characterisation of air-cooled engines. It can also be a useful blueprint for the automotive industry and other researchers involved in thermal measurements.
  • Publication
    Investigating the thermal characteristic of copper alloys valve seat towards engine performance enhancement of MODENAS CT115 through steady-state analysis
    MODENAS CT115 engine is a single overhead camshaft (SOHC) engine, with a rated power of 8.8 horsepower at 9000 rpm. One of the main concerns of engine research is the overheating of engines. Overheating can affects the performance of an engine by leading to a loss of strength and thermal strain. To prevent failure, thermal analysis is used to determine the flow of heat with precision to optimise temperature distribution. The investigation is done using ANSYS Thermal simulation on the CAD model of the engine cylinder head, intake and exhaust valve, and intake and exhaust valve seat insert. The comparison to the existing valve seat insert is made using three different valve seat insert materials: Beryllium-copper C17200, Bronze-copper C61300, and Brass C36000. The research results proved that Brass C36000 provides the best thermal reduction and heat transfer increment compared to the existing valve seat insert material.
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