IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol.

2, Issue 08, 2014 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613

A Review Paper on Effects of Intake Manifold Design on Diesel Engine

Performance and Emissions
Pravin D. Solanki1 Prof. V. Y Gajjar2
1,2
Department of Mechanical Engineering
1,2
Shree S’ad Vidya Mandal Institute of Technology, Bharuch, Gujarat, India
Abstract— One of the objectives of car manufacturers is to enters the cylinder. In general, the presence of a swirl in the
improve engine performance, reduce consumption and cylinder of an internal combustion engine improves the
reduce emissions. To achieve this objective, it is important homogenization of the air-fuel mixture, and consequently,
to understand the phenomena involved in the combustion enhances fuel combustion. [22],[23].
chambers of engines. There are various factors that
influence the engine performance such as compression ratio, II. LITERATURE SURVEY
atomization of fuel, fuel injection pressure, and quality of Dr. Pankaj N.Shrirao, Dr. Rajeshkumar U. Sambhe [1] ,
fuel, combustion rate, air fuel ratio, intake temperature and have worked on the air swirl created by directing the air
pressure and also based on piston design, inlet manifold, and flow in intake manifold on single cylinder 4-stroke engine
combustion chamber designs etc. Geometrical design of performance as well as its exhaust emissions. Experiments
intake manifold is one such method for the better were done with different types of internal threads, viz.
performance of an I.C. Engine. Air swirl motion in CI acme, buttress and knuckle of constant pitch and also take
engine influences the atomization and distribution of fuel the exhaust emissions of different manifolds. Finally they
injected in the combustion chamber. Intake manifolds have found experimentally that compare to other two
provides Air motion to the chamber. So, to get the configurations, the inlet manifold with buttress thread has
maximum output with the least input on Diesel engine better air-fuel mixing process and hence thermal efficiency
researchers are experimentally and computationally working is increases and BSFC and exhaust emissions are reduced.
on construction of the intake manifold configurations for V.CVS Phaneendra,V.Pandurangadu & M.
increase in engine performance and reduction of Exhaust Chandramouli [2] , have experimentally investigated that
Emissions. In this paper i have studied few papers and also by designing and changing the orientation of the inlet
gone through basics of my topic from various books to manifold of a four stroke air cooled C.I engine at rated
understand the phenomena. speed 1500 rpm the performance characteristics of an
Key words: Combustion, compression Ratio, Inlet Manifold, engine are increased and emissions levels are decreased.
Swirl Experiments were done in various shaped threaded
manifold of pitch 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, and 25mm, and
I. INTRODUCTION they have proved that the performance characteristics with
Internal combustion engines are the engines which burn the 10mm pitch showed better for performance as well as
fuel inside it and produce the energy. Of all the engines the emission levels compared to normal manifold.
direct injection diesel engines have their own importance S. L. V. Prasad, V. Pandurangadu [3],have
because of their higher thermal efficiencies than all the experimentally investigated the effect of air swirl generated
others. They can be used for both light-duty and heavy duty by directing the air flow in intake manifold on engine
vehicles. performance. They have performed experiments on single
In Direct injection diesel engines fuel is injected cylinder 4-stroke water cooled engine at constant speed of
directly onto the compressed air and gets mixed depending 1500rpm. The turbulence is achieved in the inlet manifold
upon the motion of the air in the chamber. Air is directed by grooving the inlet manifold with a helical groove of size
into the cylinder through the inlet manifold and this air flow of 1 mm width and 2 mm depth of different pitches to direct
is one of the important factors controlling the combustion the air flow. The tests are carried with different
process. It governs the fuel-air mixing and burning rates in configurations by varying the pitch of the helical groove
diesel engines. Air enters the combustion chamber of an I.C from 2 mm to 10 mm in steps of 2 mm inside the intake
engine through the intake manifold with high velocity. Then manifold. The results indicate that configuration of 8 mm
the kinetic energy of the fluid results in turbulence and pitch groove has increases the turbulence and hence better
causes rapid mixing of fuel and air, if the fuel is injected mixing of air-fuel process takes place among all
directly into the cylinder. The increased turbulence causes configurations and the soot emissions are reduced. They
better cooling of the cylinder surfaces thereby reducing the have also found that the laser carbon deposits in the
heat loss to the surroundings. The heat from the cylinder combustion chamber, piston crown and exhaust system due
walls get absorbed by the air supplied during suction and to controlled combustion. Also, more power is derived from
used for reducing the delay period thereby increasing the the same charge.
thermal efficiency of the engine. [19],[20]. P. Ramakrishna Reddy ,K. Govinda Rajulu, T.
Two general approaches are used to create swirl Venkata Sheshaiah Naidu [4] , have performed various
during the induction process. In first approach, swirl is experiments to find the effect of swirl on the performance of
created by discharging the flow into the cylinder the engine as well as on its emissions, by inducing swirl
tangentially towards the cylinder wall (helical port) and in with different inlet manifolds having helical, spiral and
the second approach, the swirl is generated in the manifold helical-spiral shapes. The test were done on the 4-
runner so that the flow rotates about the valve axis before it stroke,water cooled C.I engine. First they have made the 3D

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 A Review Paper on Effects of Intake Manifold Design on Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions
(IJSRD/Vol. 2/Issue 08/2014/064)

model of three manifolds and then take the observations. flow in the intake manifold can never become fully
The analysis shows that all the three types of inlet manifolds developed due to the short pipe length, and this may
yields much better performance and less amount of probably affect the flow coefficient. In the simulation using
emissions in comparison with normal manifold. a new design of intake manifold, which had a surge tank
Jorge Martins, Senhorinha Teixeira & Stijn with tapered edges and bell mouth inlet, the flow coefficient
Coene [5] , have re-design the inlet port of a small I.C is shown to be improved by up to 6% and is found to be
engine in order to have better turbulence by swirl. For this better than the existing carbureted system.
work they have used three software programs viz. Solid B. Murali Krishna and J.M. Mallikarjuna [9] ,
Works, Gambit and Fluent. With optimal Geometry design worked with the experimental investigations of the in-
of the inlet manifold assembly , which was consist of cylinder fluid tumble flows in a motored internal
cylinder, valve seat ,valve and valve guide. They have done combustion engine with a flat piston at different engine
the meshing of the assembly with the three different valve speeds during intake and compression strokes using particle
lifts: 1.5mm, 2.0mm and 2.5mm.Finally they have used this image velocimetry (PIV). The two-dimensional in-cylinder
model in FLUENT for simulations. The simulations were flow measurements and analysis of tumble flows have been
made to measure the swirl on a spark ignition combustion carried out in the combustion space on a vertical plane at
engine. For different valve lift they have analyzed that the the cylinder axis. To analyze the fluid flows, ensemble
required amount of swirl is created between 1.5 to 2.0 mm average velocity vectors have been used. To characterize
valve lift. the tumble flow, tumble ratio has been estimated. From the
Benny Paul, V. Ganesan [6], worked on the results, it is found that the tumble ratio mainly varies with
comparisons of volumetric efficiency with three different crank angle positions At the end of compression stroke,
configurations viz. helical, spiral a helical-spiral maximum turbulent kinetic energy is more at higher engine
combination at 3000rpm speed on single cylinder 4-stroke speeds. Present study will be very useful in understanding
engine. Three-dimensional model of the manifolds and the the effect of engine speeds on the in-cylinder fluid tumble
cylinder is created and meshed using the pre-processor flows under real engine conditions. On the whole, it is
GAMBIT. The flow characteristics of these engine found that for an engine equipped with flat piston, TKEs are
manifolds are examined under transient conditions using higher at higher engine speeds among the low speed.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code STAR-CD. The D.Ramasamy, Zamri.M, S. Mahendran,
turbulence is modeled using k-ε model. The solid model S.Vijayan [10] , have worked on the optimizing the
was consisting of intake manifold and cylinder geometry geometry of an intake system in automobile industry to
with valves. At the end of analysis they found that the swirl reduce the pressure drop and enhance the filter utilization
inside the cylinder is more in case of Helical- Spiral area by adding guide vane. 3D viscous Computational Fluid
combined manifold then spiral manifold, which is Dynamics (CFD) analysis was carried out for an existing
recommended for better engine performance and less model to understand the flow behavior through the intake
emission. system, air filter geometry and ducting. Results obtained
Suresh. Aadepu, I. S. N. V. R. Prasanth, from CFD analysis of the existing model showed good
Jarapala. Murali Naik, [7] , have design the intake improvement. They have also performed another work on
manifold of an 870cc naturally aspirated ,twin cylinder existing model CFD results, geometrical changes like guide
diesel engine to achieve the higher volumetric efficiency vane placement in inlet plenum of the filter, optimization of
with taking care of space considerations in to account. For mesh size, removal of contraction in clean pipe of intake
the above purpose they have made two models in Pro-e and system etc are carried out, to improve the flow
then did the CFD analysis. They have also used the characteristics. The CFD analysis of the optimized model
Boundary conditions and K-ε, turbulence model for the was again carried out and the results showed good
steady state conditions. Using this method , a better design improvement in flow behavior. By using 3D CFD analysis,
of manifold giving 7% increase in volumetric efficiency optimal design of the intake system for an automobile
could be achieved. engine is achieved with considerable reduction in
S. A. Sulaiman, S. H. M. Murad, I. Ibrahim and development time and cost. As the result of the above CFD
Z. A. Abdul Karim [8] studied the flow characteristics of they found that All the above changes incorporated in the
air flowing in various designs of air-intake manifold of a design of the guide vane improved overall pressure drop by
200-cc four stroke Go-Kart engine. The study is done by 12.01% for the rpm speed of 1000 to 7000.
three dimensional simulations of the flow of air within six Idris Saad and S. Bari [11] ,have investigates the
designs of air-intake manifold into the combustion chamber in-cylinder air flow of a compression ignition (CI) engine
by using commercial CFD software, Fluent version 6.2. The modified by a guide vane swirl and tumble device
simulation results are validated by an experimental study (GVSTD) where the number of GVSTD vanes was varied
performed using a flow bench. The study reveals that the to optimize its dimension to improve the CI engine
variations in the geometry of the air-intake system can performance using higher viscous fuel (HVF). Hence,
result in a difference of up to 20% in the mass flow rate of eleven 3D CI engine models were developed; a base model
air entering the combustion chamber. Comparisons between and 10 GVSTD models, via Solid Works. Computational
the experimental and simulation results with two intake fluid dynamics (CFD) were performed by utilizing ANSYS-
manifold configurations show reasonably good agreement, CFX and simulated under motored conditions for two
thus suggesting the reliability of the simulation in continuous complete cycles. The results are presented of the
demonstrating the effects of valve lifts and intake manifold simulation of in-cylinder pressure, turbulence kinetic energy
configurations. From the simulation work it is seen that the (TKE) and velocity during the fuel injection period until

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 A Review Paper on Effects of Intake Manifold Design on Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions
(IJSRD/Vol. 2/Issue 08/2014/064)

expansion. It was found that six vanes improved about 1.3% Y.K. Loong and Salim M. Salim [16], have studied
of in-cylinder air pressure, 2% to 8.3% of TKE and a the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using k-epsilon
maximum of about 22% of velocity. Six vanes were chosen model with standard wall function was applied to simulate
as the best number of vanes to be coupled with 0.2 times and quantify the improvements of the new design by
radius of the vane height, 35° twist angle of the vane and an benchmarking against the original intake. It was found that
intake runner three times the radius of the vane length. the original intake manifold from the manufacturer could be
A. Martínez-Sanz, S. Sánchez-Caballero, A. Viu, improved by more than 79% by changing the geometry,
R. Pla-Ferrando [12], have designed a high performance shape and surface finish. Based on the results, they found
intake manifold through a combination of CAD and FEM. that the new and improved intake manifold port has a much
First a FEA model was done, which included a complete higher mass flow rate capacity based on CFD simulations.
thermal and structural analysis of the new intake manifold The main reasons for the improvement are due to the
and the contact area between the aluminum coupling, using surface finish and geometry of the intake manifold. The
the combined tools of CATIA, ANSYS WORKBENCH, distribution balances between all 4 cylinders are also is
MATHCAD. Then several composite prototypes were made almost equal which helps in providing a proper air fuel
where analyzed. As a result they found that the compact mixture which in turn will increase the performance and
design of the manifold increases the performance of the efficiency of the engine.
engine and the space requirements are also reduced. Laxmikant P. Narkhede & Atul Patil [17] , have
F. Payri , J. Benajes, X. Margot and A. Gil [13] , studied work the flow within the intake port in both steady
have studied the flow characteristics inside the engine and unsteady states and analyze the results to evaluate and
cylinder equipped with different piston configurations were improve the ability of the intake port to convey air
compared. For this, complete calculations of the intake and identically to all cylinders with the least possible pressure
compression strokes were performed under realistic losses. Also the effect of engine speed on the volumetric
operating conditions and the ensemble-averaged velocity efficiency has been analyzed by 2D CFD model at different
and turbulence flow fields obtained in each combustion engine speeds. Steady state air flow calculations are
chamber analyzed in detail. The results confirmed that the performed for three different intake valve lifts viz. low lift,
piston geometry had little influence on the in-cylinder flow medium lift and high lift to investigate the flow features.
during the intake stroke and the first part of the compression Sufficient mesh refinement has been provided near the
stroke. However, the bowl shape plays a significant role throat area because the flow velocity changes rapidly in this
near TDC and in the early stage of the expansion stroke by region and capturing the gradients is key for an accurate
controlling both the ensemble-averaged mean and the simulation. The calculations are performed by solving
turbulence velocity fields. compressible Navier-Stokes equation for mass, momentum
S. Siva, Dr. M. Subramanian And K. Sivanesan and energy. Also two equation turbulence model, Realizable
[14], have studied on validating the fundamental numerical κ −ε is used to capture the flows involving rotation,
and computational fluid dynamic aspects which can lead to boundary layer under strong adverse pressure gradients,
the definition of following models. The models used for separation and recirculation. The CFD code of STAR-CD
analysis of Standard k-ε model, Realizable k-ε model, V2F for finite volume method has been utilized to solve the
k-ε model, AKN k-ε model, and Standard k-ω (Wilcox) discredited continuity and Navier- Stokes equations. then
model. Modeling of the KIRLOSKER OIL ENGINE TV1 they have did the meshing of in the CFD and at the end as a
was done using GAMBIT. Flow inside the engine is result they found that the better performance and
analyzed and validated by various turbulence models using improvement in the exhaust emissions.
STARCD. The cold flow simulation is carried out with Amit Kumar Gupta and Abhishek Mishra [18]
various turbulence models under adiabatic wall boundary have studied the current design of the intake manifold of
condition. The pressure distribution and temperature truck engine and found that truck engine is having less
distribution and contours of the cold flow simulations for plenum volume which is not suitable for air requirement of
Standard k-ω (Wilcox) model were nicely match with the engine and hence result in reduced volumetric efficiency.
experimental results. To simplify the design & make the component in pressure
Jay V. Shah and Prof. P. D. Patel [15] , have die casting & to increase the yield also to qualify the engine
worked on the orientation of the Intake Manifold was noise, performance and durability requirement and to reduce
changed by inclining it at several different angles viz. the part cost new inlet manifold is designed and developed.
Normal Intake Manifold, Intake Manifold at 25° inclination, for this they have carried out various design concepts will
50° inclination and 75° inclination w.r.t. Normal Intake be evaluated like equal runner length Design, Centre Feed
Manifold Position and then the effects of these different Design, Dual Plenum design will be evaluated and also
orientations of the Intake Manifold on the Performance and design requirement at air intake system level. Initially they
Emission parameters of the Single Cylinder 4-Stroke concept is made and then with the help of CFD they have
naturally aspirated Diesel Engine were analyzed and then try to optimize the shape and size and then through
comparisons of the computed results were made with those prototyping and bench test confirmation of performance
of the Normal Intake Manifold. From the experimental they performed test.
research work, they found that the BSFC reduces, brake
thermal efficiency increases and there is an improvement in III. CONCLUSION
the exhaust gas emissions as orientation of the Intake From the review of literature, it can be analyzed the design
Manifold is changed from Normal Manifold Position to 50° of inlet manifold configuration is very important in an CI
inclination w.r.t. Normal Manifold Position. engine. In general, the presence of a swirl in the cylinder of

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 A Review Paper on Effects of Intake Manifold Design on Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions
(IJSRD/Vol. 2/Issue 08/2014/064)

an internal combustion engine improves the homogenization Science and Technology, July 2010, pp. 81 - 90.
of the air - fuel mixture, and consequently, enhances fuel [7] Suresh .Aadepu, I.S.N.V.R. Prasanth,
combustion. From literature survey, different findings are Jarapala.Murali Naik, "Design of intake manifold of
concluded. IC engines with improved volumetric efficiency",
 Combustion efficiency of Diesel Engine can be International Journal & Magazine Of Engineering,
increased, by creating swirl of air by proper Technology, Management And Research, June 2014
designing of intake system. ,pp. 26 - 33.
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increases and this increases the rate of evaporation, System For A Single-Cylinder Go-Kart Engine‖
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT of International MultiConference of Engineers and
Computer Scientists, 2010 Vol. II, Hong Kong.
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teaching staff of mechanical engineering department for Cylinder Air Flow To Optimize Number Of Guide
providing their valuable guidance and overwhelming Vanes To Improve CI Engine Performance Using
support to carrying out this work. Higher Viscous Fuel", International Journal of
Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, Volume
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 A Review Paper on Effects of Intake Manifold Design on Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions
(IJSRD/Vol. 2/Issue 08/2014/064)

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