Design And CFD Analysis Of The Intake Manifold For The Honda CBR250RR Engine

Abstract

The scope of this project is to improve reliability issues on a turbocharged Honda CBR250RR engine and boost the performance by redesigning the intake manifold - one of the key components of this engine package. The engine has been used in the past by the UTA Formula SAE team in several open-wheeled race cars providing a light weight platform with a high power to weight ratio. Previous intake manifolds did not provide balanced distribution of air flow among all cylinders. This lead to incorrect air/fuel ratios were some cylinders ran too lean at times, while others were running too rich. Incorrect air fuel ratios can lead to excessive exhaust gas temperatures, pre-ignition detonation, causing components such as head gaskets and pistons to fail. The new manifold is aimed at tackling these issues by supplying uniform amount of air to all four cylinders. 3D modeling is done using Solidworks and the internal flow distribution will be calculated and tuned using CFD analysis on Star CCM+. A 1D simulation of the complete engine was set up using Ricardo Wave to optimize the runner lengths and to predict the performance of the engine. The intake will be manufactured out of thermoplastic using rapid prototype printing or what is also called as 3D printing.