Analysis of local convective heat transfer in a spark ignition engine

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is applied to simulate fluid flow, heat transfer and combustion in a four-stroke single cylinder engine with pent roof combustion chamber geometry, having two inlet valves and two exhaust valves. Heat flux and heat transfer coefficient on the cylinder head, cylinder wall, piston, intake and exhaust valves are determined with respect to crank angle position. Results for a certain condition are compared for total heat transfer coefficient of the cylinder engine with available correlation proposed by experimental measurement in the literature and close agreement are observed. It was found that the local value of heat transfer coefficient varies considerably in different parts of the cylinder, but they have equivalent trend with crank angle. Based on the results, new correlations are suggested to predict maximum and minimum convective heat transfer coefficient in the combustion chamber of a SI engine. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.