Open Access

ARTICLE

Gas Dynamics and Heat Transfer of Stationary Gas Flows in the Intake System with Different Designs of the Engine Cylinder Head

Leonid Plotnikov^*

Turbines and Engines Department, Ural Federal University Named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg, 620062, Russia

* Corresponding Author: Leonid Plotnikov. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Issues of Hydro and Gas Dynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer in Mechanical Engineering and Energy)

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2025, 23(5), 1443-1454. https://doi.org/10.32604/fhmt.2025.068060

Received 20 May 2025; Accepted 13 August 2025; Issue published 31 October 2025

Abstract

Industry and energy continue to require piston engines (PICE) at a high level worldwide. Therefore, science and technology must urgently work on improving the PICE working cycle. Improving the quality of the intake process of the working fluid into the cylinder is one of the most effective ways to improve the operational performance of PICE. The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of various cylinder head (CylH) designs on the gas-dynamic and heat-exchange qualities of air flows within an engine model’s intake system. Three different CylH designs were studied: the basic configuration and upgraded cylinder heads with a square valve and a square valve port. These designs are innovative. Laboratory conditions were used to conduct the studies for stationary air flow. The experiments covered the range of Reynolds numbers from 8500 to 96,000. The intake system’s gas dynamics and heat transfer were determined using the thermal anemometry method, which was based on constant-temperature hot-wire anemometers. It has been established that the use of upgraded CylHs causes an increase in the turbulence number of flow by an average of 13.5%. Additionally, it was found that the increase in the turbulence number of flow in the cylinder is about 19% when installing new CylH designs. It was shown that there was an increase in the heat transfer coefficient in the intake pipe by 10%–40% when installing modernized CylH designs in the intake system. The article focused on the problems of increasing the turbulence level and intensifying the heat transfer of stationary air flow in the intake system, specifically in PICEs. The study’s findings are novel in the areas of applied gas dynamics and PICEs.

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