Modeling Vehicle Cooling Systems

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This three-day class will introduce the use of GT-SUITE software for modeling of vehicle cooling systems, including the external coolant circuit (outside of engine block/head) and underhood cooling air flow. The course is targeted towards engineers with responsibility for vehicle thermal management, or for those who are responsible for specifying cooling system components (heat exchangers, fans, etc.).

The course will include instruction on the use of the COOL3D pre-processing tool, primarily on day 3. COOL3D is a 3D CAD-based tool that automatically discretizes the air space and thermal management components within the underhood compartment of a vehicle to create a fast running model of the system within GT-SUITE. This quasi-3D model allows for a fast and accurate solution of steady state operating points, but also allows for transient predictions of the air flow through and around grilles, blockages, stacked heat exchangers, fans, and the engine block (i.e. within integrated engine/vehicle simulations of fuel economy drive cycles).

The class will consist primarily of interactive model building exercises. The following are the primary topics to be covered:

Days 1-2
Modeling the coolant flow network: The participant will learn how to build a model of the coolant flow network by two methods. First, the participant will learn how to build flow components manually to understand basic modeling and discretization concepts. Second, the participant will learn how to quickly and easily transform a 3D CAD geometry file into a 1D flow network in GT-SUITE using the pre-processing tool GEM3D.

Modeling cooling system components: The participant will learn how to model the basic components of cooling systems, such as pumps, fans, heat exchangers, thermostat valves, etc.

Assembling the complete cooling system model: The participant will learn how to assemble the coolant flow network and basic components into a complete model of the cooling system while using a simple 1D representation of the underhood cooling air flow. Steady state and transient analysis of this system will be discussed, along with calibration to measured data.

Integration with engine/vehicle system models: The participant will learn how cooling system models may be integrated with simple engine and/or vehicle system models to accomplish a transient vehicle drive cycle analysis.

Day 3
Building the underhood model in COOL3D: The participant will learn how to build and export a predictive quasi-3D model of the underhood compartment within the COOL3D tool, including grilles, bumpers, radiator, charge cooler, A/C condenser, fan, fan shroud, and engine block.

Running the GT-SUITE underhood model: The participant will learn how to define boundary conditions to run a steady state underhood analysis within GT-SUITE. The use of COOL3D to evaluate different design alternatives will be discussed.

Integration with Cooling/Engine/Vehicle models: The participant will understand the capabilities of GT-SUITE to integrate underhood models created within COOL3D into larger system level simulations that may include cooling, engine, and vehicle systems.