Project / Thermal management

Geometry comparison for an oil cooler and shroud

Two design variants were compared in terms of airflow, pressure loss and transferable cooling duty.

CFD airflow through an air-to-liquid heat exchanger — Off-highway · CFD simulation · Thermal analysis

Industry: Off-highway
Services: CFD simulation · Thermal analysis

Engineering question

The cooler geometry had to provide the required heat rejection within the available package space without unnecessarily restricting the air side.

Model & approach

Compare two oil-cooler and shroud geometries
Assess inlet flow, pressure loss and heat transfer together
Review the effects of inlet, fin and tube geometry on the design

Boundary conditions

Project-specific heat-rejection target
Restricted installation space and prescribed connections
Airflow and liquid-side heat rejection treated as coupled design quantities

Results of the assessment

The variants produced different inlet-flow patterns and thermal performance.
The modified geometry showed improved thermal performance in the simulation.
The comparison exposed the trade-off between heat transfer, pressure loss and packaging.

Engineering consequence

The revised cooler and shroud geometry was selected as the basis for detailed development.

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