Leakage effects in car underhood aerothermal management: temperature and heat flux analysis

Air leakage from the engine compartment of a vehicle comes mainly from the junctions of the vehicle hood and the front end grill, the vehicle wings, the optical and the windshield. The present paper studies the thermal impact of these air leakage zones on the components of the vehicle engine compartment through temperature and heat-flux measurements. The front wheels of the test vehicle are positioned on a dynamometer and driven by the vehicle engine. The engine compartment is instrumented with almost 100 surface and air thermocouples and 20 fluxmeters of normal gradients. Measurements were made for three different thermal operating points. Five leak-sealing configurations are studied.