Abstract:

    A new calculation method was suggested based on the numerical solutions of the 3dimensional flow field to calculate accurately the axial force in the hydrodynamic torque converter(HTC). The 3dimensional flow control equations were solved numerically by means of a computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software, and on the basis of the obtained numerical solutions of the flow velocity field and the flow pressure field in the HTC, the axial force can be derived. An application case of the new method was demonstrated, and the obtained axial force was compared with that from the traditional method based on the 1dimensional flow theory and the experimental result. The error of the result from the new method against the experimental result is less than the traditional one.

Key words: fluid transmission and control, hydrodynamic torque converter, axial force, numerical simulation, computational fluid dynamics(CFD)