The Design and Validation of Engine Intake Manifold using Physical Experiment and CFD

Race-car engineers aim to design an intake manifold which can maintain both low-end and top-end power without compromising the responsiveness of the engine throughout the power band. A major obstacle in achieving this goal is the rule requirement by FSAE for the mandatory presence of air intake restrictor which limits top-end power. In this paper, the selection criteria for design parameters such as runner length, plenum volume and intake geometry have been discussed. The effect of runner length and plenum volume on throttle response and manifold pressure has been studied through a physical exp. on a prototype variable geometry intake manifold. CFD simulations have been performed on ANSYS CFX to optimize the geometry for venturi and plenum. The geometry for which there was minimum pressure loss and maximum mass flow rate was chosen in the final design. The adopted approach was validated by conducting the same exp. on the designed intake manifold