Valve lift test on flow-bench with the help of solidworks flow simulation

A flow-bench is a device used for testing the internal aerodynamic qualities of a component of an engine, primarily for testing the intake and exhaust ports of cylinder heads of IC engines. Mostly this is used for designing purpose

Geometry Creation –

Dimensions -

Bore dia of the cylinder = 0.1 m, length of the bore = 0.1 m, A port is created using sweep command and then get inside cavity we used the shell command. Finally, a valve is created using the revolve command. Here the valve lift is 1 mm. The lids were created at two ends of the flow-bench.

Flow Simulation -

For grid dependency test we have to select a mesh level.Initially, the mesh level is 3 with valve lift 1 mm.

1] boundary conditions -

at the inlet side of the port (lid 1) - total pressure (401325.00 pa)

at the outlet side of the cylinder (lid 2) - (101325.00 pa)

2] Goals created -

global mass flow rate and surface mass flow rate

3] Meshing -

automatic mesh level -3 with advance refinement.

To get more accurate results we are trying to get refined mesh near the valve geometry.

Results -

Now created pressure and velocity plots and flow trajectory for velocity for our initial case ie. mesh level is 3 with valve lift 1 mm.

Goal (Value)	Design Point 1	Design Point 2	Design Point 3
D4@Sketch4@flowbench test.Part [m]	0.001	0.001	0.001
Level of initial mesh (Automatic Mesh) [ ]	3	4	5
GG Mass Flow Rate 1 [kg/s]	-9.00967E-05	0.000112894	-3.13715E-05
SG Mass Flow Rate 1 [kg/s]	-0.124964677	-0.086306292	-0.075342778

Pressure Plots for design pt. 1,2,3 respectively -

Velocity Plots for design pt. 1,2,3 respectively -

from these 6 plots, we can conclude the design pt 3 ( ie. meshing level 5 ) have low discontinuities and disturbance as compared to the other two design points. The plots look better.

Therefore selecting the mesh level 5 as the best mesh for running the parametric study for comparison of the mass flow rate

now we are taking 5 cases for valve lift test - we have to select the dimension of 1 mm as the input variable for parametric study (the valve will be automatically lifted by 1 mm in successive design points up to 5 mm)

1] valve lift = 1 mm

2] valve lift = 2 mm

3] valve lift = 3 mm

4] valve lift = 4 mm

5] valve lift = 5 mm.

I have carried out 15 design points for better understanding purpose -

Design pt 1] - valve lift = 1mm and mesh level = 3

Design pt 2] - valve lift = 1mm and mesh level = 4

Design pt 3] - valve lift = 1mm and mesh level = 5

Design pt 4] - valve lift = 2mm and mesh level = 3

Design pt 5] - valve lift = 2mm and mesh level = 4

Design pt 6] - valve lift = 2mm and mesh level = 5

Design pt 7] - valve lift = 3mm and mesh level = 3

Design pt 8] - valve lift = 3mm and mesh level = 4

Design pt 9] - valve lift = 3mm and mesh level = 5

Design pt 10] - valve lift = 4mm and mesh level = 3

Design pt 11]- valve lift = 4mm and mesh level = 4

Design pt 12] - valve lift = 4mm and mesh level = 5

Design pt 13] - valve lift = 5mm and mesh level = 3

Design pt 14] - valve lift = 5mm and mesh level = 4

Design pt 15] - valve lift = 5mm and mesh level = 5

Showing results for mesh level 5 only -

Pressure Plots for valve lift 1mm,2mm,3mm,4mm,5mm respectively -

you can see the valve lift very easily.

Velocity Plots for valve lift 1mm,2mm,3mm,4mm,5mm respectively -

conclusion -

as the valve lift increases pressure drop decreases and lower the pressure drop better the design of the port.

Effect of valve lift on mass flow rate-

As the Valve lift increases the mass flow rate increases with it { because mass flow rate = density * area * velocity }. area increases the mass flow rate will also increase.

The graph is going downwards because software took negative values for the mass flow rate.We have to take the magnitude of the values we are getting. The mass flow rate is never negative.