Engine Oil Drawdown

Engine oil drawdown simulation:


Understanding the details of the oil flow in an IC engine is critical to ensure proper lubrication of all the moving components. It is also very important to ensure that there is sufficient amount of oil in the sump over a wide range of operating conditions. A 3D-CFD simulation helps in gaining detailed insights into the flow mechanisms that affect the oil distribution and its ability to travel from multiple bearings to the engine sump.

The fast and robust multiphase solver in Simerics-MP+ can simulate the complete engine oil drawdown and crankcase ventilation processes with all the moving components ensuring good conservation of oil and air mass. It can also quantify the amount of oil carried away along with blow-by gases that is vented through the PCV system.





More details can be found in the following papers.

Technical Paper:


1. Pandey, A., Schlautman, J., and Nichani, V., “Multidimensional CFD Studies of Oil Drawdown in an i-4 Engine,” SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0397, 2022, doi:10.4271/2022-01-0397.


2. Jorda Juanos, A., Schlautman, J., Parsons, N., and Pandey, A., “Numerical Study of an I4 Engine Oil Ejection During an Accidental Cap-off Running Condition for Two Baffle Designs,” SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0398, 2022, doi:10.4271/2022-01-0398.

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Discriminators:

  • Detailed modelling of complete engine with all the oil pathways
  • Modelling the motion of piston, crankshaft and camshaft
  • Detailed modelling of chain along with its motion
  • Dynamics of PCV valve can be modelled
  • Fast and robust explicit VOF multiphase solver
  • Accurate capture of oil-air interface with less diffusion
  • Fast turnaround time
  • Ease of use

Design Issues/Benefits:

  • Predict oil and blow-by gas distribution in the engine
  • Predict the level of oil in the sump and other parts of the engine
  • Predict oil flow rate drawing down from the head
  • Predict the blow-by gas and oil flow rate through the PCV system
  • Predict the oil filtering rate across the oil filter
  • Can simulate any type of engine (I-4, V-8 etc.) with multiple pistons
  • Can simulate over wide range of operating conditions (e.g. speed)