Rankine Cycle Waste Heat Recovery Systems

Contact name Dan Marsh
Typical duration 2 days
Email for more information [email protected]

This two-day class will introduce the use of GT-SUITE software for modeling of Rankine cycle based waste heat recovery systems.  The course is targeted towards engineers with responsibility for design and analysis of WHR systems, or for those who are responsible for overall vehicle energy management including a WHR system.

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

Modeling a “theoretical” system: The participant will learn how to build a reasonable WHR system in early stages when no component data is yet available, for purposes of studying the potential fuel economy benefits of a WHR system (“what if” studies).

Modeling the refrigerant flow network: The participant will learn how to build a model of the refrigerant 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 WHR system components: The participant will learn how to build and calibrate the basic components of WHR systems, such as pump, boiler, expander, condenser, recuperator, etc.

Assembling the complete WHR system model for steady state calculation: The participant will learn how to assemble the refrigerant flow network and WHR components into a complete model of the WHR system.  Steady state analysis of this system will be discussed, along with calibration to measured data.  The participant will learn the basics of the GT-POST post-processing tool for all analysis of results.

Integration with Cooling/Engine/Vehicle models: The participant will understand the capabilities of GT-SUITE to integrate WHR system models into larger vehicle system level simulations that may include cooling, engine, and driveline systems.  Transient drive cycle analysis for fuel economy/energy management will be discussed.

Note: This course may be offered as a future open registration event OR requested as a custom training at a GTI office location or your location.