Abstract
Thermal management is of vital importance in the development of a high-performance motorcycle. It directly links with the product’s performance and durability, also affects customer satisfaction. Traditionally, the thermal management of a motorcycle is assessed through testing with prototype parts. In the current work, a comprehensive 3 dimensional, validated, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) model is developed to identify, assess and solve the problems, much early in the product development cycle, which are finally verified through testing using prototype parts. A typical thermal interaction in engine happens through metal contact conduction, air cooling and oil flow in the engine. All these sub-systems are modeled separately and interacted as required. A good correlation for this new sub-system model has been achieved between CFD and on-road experimental values. The air and solid temperatures at different locations of engine and vehicle from CFD model has been validated with the on-road measurement. Finally, a case-study has been presented to demonstrate how the model has been used in product development process by capturing various failure modes early in the product development process and resolution of these failure modes using the model and testing.