CORRELATION STUDY OF THE MEASURED TUMBLE RATIOS USING THREE DIFFERENT METHODS: STEADY FLOW RIG; 2-DIMENSIONAL PIV; AND 3-DIMENSIONAL PTV WATER FLOW RIG

In-cylinder flows such as tumble and swirl play an important role on the engine combustion efficiencies and emission formations. The tumble flow, which is dominant in current high performance gasoline engines, is able to effect fuel consumptions and emissions under a partial load condition in addition to the volumetric efficiency under a wide open throttle condition. Therefore, it is important to optimize the tumble ratio of a gasoline engine for better fuel economy, lower emissions, and maximum volumetric efficiency. First step for optimizing a tumble ratio is to measure a tumble ratio accurately. For a tumble ratio measurement, many different methods have been developed and used such as steady flow rig, PIV, PTV, and LDV. However, it is not well known about the relations among the measured tumble ratios using different methods. The purpose of this research is to correlate the tumble ratios measured using three different methods and find out merits and demerits of each measurement method. In this research the tumble flow was measured, compared, and correlated using three different measurement methods at the same engine: steady flow rig; 2-dimensional PIV; and 3-dimensional PTV water flow rig.