Development of Optimisation Methodologies for the Internal Combustion Engine Airbox

Due to the<br>location of the airbox, its size and shape is usually limited as a result of the<br>proximity to other under-bonnet features. The shape is also limited by<br>manufacturing, assembly and NVH considerations.

The complexity of the<br>unsteady flow through the airbox and the constraints placed upon it by the<br>available volume in the under-bonnet area make this a challenging design<br>task.<br><br>This work attempts to lay the foundations for a robust optimization strategy for<br>the design of an airbox by coupling a 3D-steady flow Computational Fluid<br>Dynamics (CFD) model to an automatic optimization process. The objective is<br>to formulate a strategy that can be built upon in future to encompass unsteady<br>flow and multi-cylinder engines.<br><br>The work reviews the current thinking on methods used to optimize CFD<br>problems and how this would apply to the optimization of an airbox for an<br>internal combustion engine.