Open Access

ARTICLE

Transient Multiphase CFD Investigation of Piston Cooling Galleries: Effects of Inlet Angle and Guide Vane Geometry

Fei Dong, Weichao Zhang, Jiurui Zhao, Tongwei Zhang^*

School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, China

* Corresponding Author: Tongwei Zhang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Thermal Convection in Multiphase Fluids and Advanced Materials, Integrated Analysis, Material Selection, and Heat Transfer Optimization)

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2026, 22(6), 10 https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2026.083338

Received 02 April 2026; Accepted 05 June 2026; Issue published 30 June 2026

Abstract

Internal cooling galleries are widely employed to mitigate piston thermal loads in gasoline engines, where their configuration plays a critical role in temperature distribution and component durability. In this study, Cradle CFD was coupled with the Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) and Volume of Fluid (VOF) multiphase approaches to investigate the effects of inlet angle and guide vane geometry on piston thermal performance. The SST k-ω turbulence model was adopted to resolve the transient flow behavior associated with reciprocating motion, while the Box-Behnken design methodology was applied to develop empirical correlations for optimization. The results demonstrate that an inlet angle of 10° delivers the most effective thermal performance, reducing the maximum and minimum piston temperatures by 1.69°C and 28.34°C, respectively, while also producing the highest heat transfer coefficient. In contrast, a 15° inlet angle promotes excessive turbulence and flow instability, leading to diminished cooling effectiveness. For the inlet geometry, the configuration defined by L₁ = 1.15 mm and L₂ = 16.3 mm achieves the highest area-averaged heat transfer coefficient of 1755.13 W/(m²·K) at 270°CA. Subsequent response surface optimization identifies L₁ = 2.3 mm and L₂ = 14.0 mm as the optimal design parameters, corresponding to a time-averaged heat transfer coefficient of 1928.513 W/(m²·K).

---

Keywords

---