[m.aaron.michael]

UPDATE: I've made some progress, detailed in the below post. Some of the details in the original post are now obsolete.

Hello, all,

I'm struggling with a graduate project for an IC Engines class for which the professor is currently out of town and isn't able to be on his email all the time (plus he's on a very different time zone, so that doesn't help things).

The biggest issue with this project is that my undergraduate program didn't teach us how to use ANSYS/Fluent; not even a real introduction. So I'm having to learn Fluent as I learn how to do this problem. If anyone is able to offer a few pointers, basics, or just a general overview on how to approach the problem, it would be greatly appreciated.

The problem itself seems simple enough to me: we were given a .x_t file and a .mesh file of a poppet valve setup. The problem states that poppet valves are older technology with many efficiency problems, but that some newer designs like ball/globe valves may be able to solve some of those issues. The problem has two parts:

1) Perform the simulation of the poppet valve (.mesh file was provided) with a control volume with a 1 bar inlet pressure and a 0.7 bar outlet pressure. We were told that the duration from IVO to IVC is 240 crank degree angles, and the engine is operating at 4000 rpm. (I calculated this to mean the time duration from IVO to IVC is 0.01 seconds; hopefully that's correct). Max lift is 0.450". When the simulation is run, I need to record total mass flow, pressure drop across the valve, and any other relevant data.

2) I need to modify the provided file to remove the poppet valve and replace it with a ball valve, similar to the valve type in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFHD57V7bRQ.
I need to set the ball rotation to move from closed to open in the same amount of time as the original model, and then record the same data from part 1 and compare.

I realize it's not practical for anyone to walk me through the entire "How to Fluent" encyclopedia, but if anyone has a few basics, pointers, or approach ideas, you'd be a life (GPA) saver.

Thanks!
--Aaron

[m.aaron.michael]

UPDATE: I've made some progress. I have the first valve modeled and meshed (and it shouldn't take much to do the same for the globe valve version). I've figured out how to set all of my interfaces, parameters, etc. and run a simulation to get a bunch of results.

What I'm less certain about and could still use some help with: the results, as I have the simulation currently set up, simply give me a mass flow rate at each valve lift, e.g. x mass flow rate at valve lift = 2 mm, y mass flow rate at valve lift = 4 mm, etc.

However: I need the simulation to run for a fixed period of time (240 crank angle degrees, converted to time) and have as an output the total mass of air flow during that time. (And I'll need a few other outputs as well, such as pressure drop across the valve, but air flow is the most important right now). Can anyone help me with this?