Development and Validation of an Active Grille Shutter Testing Platform
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Development and Validation of an Active Grille Shutter Testing Platform by Shaurya Rana A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Automotive Engineering Department of Automotive, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Ontario Tech University) Oshawa, Ontario, Canada September 2020 © Shaurya Rana, 2020 THESIS EXAMINATION INFORMATION Submitted by: Shaurya Rana Master of Applied Science in Automotive Engineering Thesis title: Development and Validation of an Active Grille Shutter Testing Platform An oral defense of this thesis took place on August 31, 2020, in front of the following examining committee: Examining Committee: Chair of Examining Committee Dr. Sayyed Ali Hosseini Research Supervisor Dr. Martin Agelin-Chaab Examining Committee Member Dr. Dipal Patel Thesis Examiner Dr. Amirkianoosh Kiani The above committee determined that the thesis is acceptable in form and content and that a satisfactory knowledge of the field covered by the thesis was demonstrated by the candidate during an oral examination. A signed copy of the Certificate of Approval is available from the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. i ABSTRACT In this thesis, a testbench is developed for testing the functionality of Active Grille Shutters (AGS) and radiators in wind tunnels. Additionally, a generic pressure plate is designed to mimic commercial radiators, and a testing procedure is developed for AGS testing. Together, they provide a comprehensive and consistent platform for AGS testing with or without the radiator in a wind tunnel. The platform has been validated using an actual test vehicle in a full-scale wind tunnel. The results show that the testbench produces data consistent with those obtained from the actual test vehicle for validation. Furthermore, leakage characteristics of the testbench were quantified and can be used to replicate the engine bay conditions of any production vehicle. Keywords: Aerodynamics, Active Grille Shutter (AGS), radiator, condenser, pressure drop, testbench, test platform, DrivAer model, engine bay flow, ANSYS, Fluent, simulation, pressure plate, wind tunnel. ii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis consists of original work of which I have authored. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Ontario Tech University) to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for scholarly research. I further authorize the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Ontario Tech University) to reproduce this thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for scholarly research. I understand that my thesis will be made electronically available to the public. SHAURYA RANA iii STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I have used standard referencing practices to acknowledge ideas, research techniques, or other materials that belong to others. Furthermore, I hereby certify that I am the sole source of the creative works and inventive knowledge described in this thesis. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank John Komar, the Executive Director at ACE, and the ACE management for funding the research and always inspiring me to do better. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Martin Agelin-Chaab, Associate Professor in the Department of Automotive, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, for his continued guidance, mentoring, and support, without which I could not even have dreamt of embarking on this journey. I would like to thank my parents for their constant moral support and words of motivation which helped me get through tough times. The assistance and guidance of the executives and engineers at ACE, including, Gary Elfstrom, Patrick Smith, Warren Karlson, Andrew Norman, Anthony Van De Wetering, Kevin Carlucci, Randy Burnet, Eric Villeneuve, and Vijyat Bhalla, was detrimental in realizing the outcome of this research endeavor. Furthermore, special thanks are due for Gord Koehne and Victor Mazzuocco, whose advice and in-depth knowledge of machining, fabrication, and experimental testing proved to be pivotal for this thesis. I would also like to thank my friend, Branson Chea, for his help with the numerical simulations. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Thesis Examination Information .................................................................................... i Abstract ............................................................................................................................ ii Authors Declaration ....................................................................................................... iii Statement of Contributions ............................................................................................ iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures.................................................................................................................... x List of Abbreviations and Symbols ............................................................................. xiv Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation ….……................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Objectives ............................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Thesis Structure …………………………………………………………………. 6 Chapter 2 Literature Review ......................................................................................... 7 2.1 Radiator related research ....................................................................................... 7 2.2 Active Grille Shutter related research ................................................................. 10 2.3 Pressure measurement techniques ………………………………………...……. 12 Chapter 3 Design and Fabrication of Testbench ……...…......................................... 14 3.1 Generic Vehicle Model ………………………………………………………… 14 3.2 Testbench Design …....…………………………………………………………. 16 3.3 Testbench Fabrication …….………………………………....…………………. 19 3.4 Pressure Plate Design ……….………………………………………………….. 27 3.4.1 Theoretical formulation ..………………………………………………… 28 3.4.2 Final pressure plate design ……………………………………………….. 34 vi Chapter 4 Wind Tunnel and Numerical Experiments ..……………………………. 36 4.1 Wind Tunnel Experiments ……………….……………….……………………. 36 4.1.1 Test facility ……………………………………………………….……… 36 4.1.2 Experimental setup for testbench …………………..…………………….. 37 4.1.3 Test conditions and measurement procedure …………………………….. 38 4.1.3.1 AGS testing ………………….…………………………………. 38 4.1.3.2 Radiator testing …………….…………………………………... 40 4.1.4 Instrumentation for measurement .…...…………………………………... 42 4.1.4.1 Error estimation ………………………………………………... 45 4.1.5 Test vehicle setup for validation ...……………………………………….. 47 4.1.5.1 Test procedure for vehicle ……………………………………... 50 4.1.5 Test matrix ...……………………………………………………………... 51 4.1.7 AGS testing procedure ….....……………………………………..………. 53 4.1.7.1 Setting up pressure probes .…………………………………….. 53 4.1.7.2 Setting up the AGS ………….…………………………………. 54 4.1.7.3 Wind tunnel testing procedure ……..…………………………... 54 4.2 Numerical Experiments .…...…………………………………………………... 57 4.2.1 Numerical background ..…………….……………………………………. 57 4.2.2 Fluent setup ……...……………………………………………………….. 58 4.2.2.1 Mesh setup ……………………………………………………... 58 4.2.2.2 Mesh independence study ….…………………………………... 62 4.2.2.3 Boundary conditions .…………………………………………... 64 4.2.2.4 Solver setup …….…………………………………….………… 64 4.2.2.5 Area weighted average ….……………………………………… 65 4.2.2.6 Facet average ……….……………………………….…………. 65 4.2.2.7 Vertex average …………………………………………………. 66 Chapter 5 Results and Analysis ……………………………………………………… 67 5.1 Wind Tunnel Results …………………………………………………………… 67 5.1.1 AGS open ...……………………………………………….…………….... 67 5.1.2 AGS partially open .…………………………………….………………... 70 5.1.3 AGS closed ...…………………………………………….………………. 74 vii 5.1.4 Pressure drop across the radiator ..…………………………………......… 77 5.1.5 Effect of sealing on pressure drop across the radiator ………………….…79 5.2 Numerical Results ……………...……………………..………………..………. 81 5.2.1 Preliminary pressure plate results ………………………………………... 81 5.2.2 Final pressure plate design results ……………………………………….. 83 5.2.3 Modification of the correlation …………………………………………... 85 Chapter 6 Conclusion and Recommendations ...……………………………………. 87 6.1 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………….. 87 6.2 Recommendations ……………………………………………………………… 89 References ……………………...……............................................................................ 90 Appendices …………………………………………………………………………….. 96 Appendix