Influences of intake ports and pent-roof structures on the flow characteristics of a poppet-valved two-stroke gasoline engine

Abstract

In order to minimize the short-circuiting of the intake charge in a poppet-valved two-stroke engine, a “step structure” on the intake side of the pent-roof was employed to shroud the bulk flow at the upper periphery of the intake valves at low valve lifts. Several intake-port geometries and pent-roof angles were evaluated on their charging and reversed tumble generating abilities using a steady flow test rig built in computational fluid dynamics, among which top-entry ports and relatively small pent-roof angle were selected. The scavenging processes of the two-stroke engine at high load and 3000 r/min condition with different intake valve seat heights were simulated and evaluated. The local flow patterns and composition distribution were also studied. The results show that lowering the intake valve seat height achieves higher delivery ratio and charging efficiency, but marginally better scavenging efficiency and slightly lower trapping efficiency. The scavenging process experiences a slow displacement period due to low flow momentum for the high valve seat cases and flow interaction at the exhaust exits for the low valve seat cases. Reversed tumble is the dominant flow pattern during the scavenging process. The lower the valve seat, the higher the tumble ratio in the early stage and at the end of the scavenging period. For all valve seat configurations, the least scavenged regions are located near the engine head wall and between the intake and the exhaust valves, while the regions rich in fresh charge are located along the major path of the reversed tumble. Low intake valve seat height is effective in increasing the overall in-cylinder air proportion. Further reducing it can result in higher fresh charge proportion below the exhaust valves and near the head wall.