STUDY OF FLOW IN AIR-INTAKE SYSTEM FOR A SINGLE-CYLINDER GO-KART ENGINE

Intake-air manifolds have a major effect on vehicle's engine performance and emission of noise and pollutants. Differences in engine output and applications require different designs of intake-manifolds in order to achieve the best volumetric efficiency and thus the engine's performance. In the present work, the flow characteristics of air flowing in various designs of air-intake manifold of a 200-cc four stroke engine Go-Kart engine are studied. The study is done by three dimensional simulations of the flow of air within six designs of air-intake manifold into the combustion chamber by using commercial CFD software, FLUENT version 6.2. The simulation results are validated by an experimental study performed using a flow bench. The study reveals that the variations in the geometry of the air-intake system can result in a difference of up to 20% in the mass flow rate of air entering the combustion chamber.