Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences

Vol. 20, October 2013, pp. 350-360

Design and optimization of a throttle body assembly by CFD analysis

J Suresh Kumara, V Ganesana*, J M Mallikarjunaa & S Govindarajanb
a

Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai 600 036, India
b
UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd., Chennai 600 002, India
Received 8 November 2012; accepted 16 August 2013

Throttle body assembly plays a vital role in metering the airflow. It mainly consists of a butterfly valve to vary the flow
area to control air flow rate through it. There is hardy any established procedure to design a throttle body assembly based on
the engine specifications. In order to bridge the gap, this study, design and optimization of a throttle body assembly for a
single-cylinder engine used in two-wheeler application has been analyzed along with the investigation of critical flow
through various sub systems using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To start with, the throttle bore and bypass passage
diameters are calculated from the basic flow equations. Using CFD, best possible throttle shaft profile is arrived at, which
will enhance airflow to the engine. The airflow rate for different throttle openings is predicted taking into account the
distribution of main and bypass flow. It is observed that the airflow through main and the bypass passage are almost same
around 12% throttle opening and the airflow through main passage takes over beyond 25% opening. The novelty of this
study is that airflow through the bypass is also predicted for different screw positions. From the analysis of results, it is
found that with around two turns of bypass screw opening, the required amount of air flow rate could be achieved through
the bypass passage to run the accessories of the engine at idling and also to meet the required performance and emissions
levels as per the design target. In addition, there is a good agreement of CFD predictions with experimental results with an
error of about 6%. Finally, it is concluded that the procedure adopted in this study to design the throttle body as per engine
specifications will be very useful for the engine designers and in this aspect, CFD plays an important role.
Keywords: Throttle body assembly, CFD, Main flow, Bypass flow, Wake, Experimental results

In recent years, the main concern for human

society is hazardous pollutants emitted by various
sources. One such source is the exhaust emissions
from the automobiles. In order to control these
emissions without sacrificing the performance of the
engine, conventional carburetor is found to be
inadequate. It is mainly because, with carburetor, it is
difficult to maintain the required air-fuel ratio
throughout the engine operating range. This led the
automotive industry to change over to electronically
controlled fuel injection systems in modern vehicles,
which uses electronic control unit (ECU) and can
maintain the required air-fuel ratio throughout the
engine operating range. The ECU calculates the
required amount of fuel to be injected based on the
engine operating conditions.
Main function of a throttle body assembly is to
control the air flow into the engine based on vehicle
demand. Throttle body is mounted between the air
cleaner and the intake manifold. It has a venturi to
reduce the pressure of the air flowing through it. The
___________________________
*Corresponding author (E-mail: vijaysri@iitm.ac.in)

intake flow is throttled by reducing the flow area.

This is done by providing a circular shaft known as
throttle shaft and is mounted with butterfly valve at
the downstream of the venture. The main challenge is
the change in throttle position during transient
operation of the engine, which introduces additional
problems as the butterfly position is frequently
changed as per drivers demand. The airflow can be
considered as unaffected by the fuel flow. However,
the reverse is not true and fuel flow strongly depends
upon the airflow. The schematic of a throttle body
assembly describing air flow path is shown in Fig. 1.
Filtered air enters into the throttle body and moves
down stream. Butterfly valve (or throttle valve),
restricts the amount of airflow into the engine based
on accelerator position. There exists a bypass passage
(Fig. 2), which is used for adjusting the airflow at
idling conditions. Flow through the main and bypass
passage is very important from the point of view of

Fig. 1 Schematic of air intake system in SI engine

SURESH KUMAR et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF A THROTTLE BODY ASSEMBLY

the performance of the throttle body is concerned.

However, challenge is to design the air intake system
that will provide minimum restriction to the flow.
Therefore, it is very much essential for the engine
designers to understand the air flow through the
throttle body by experiments or by numerical
investigations.
In the conventional throttle body, if a throttle gets
struck in the open position, the driver could generally
put a toe under the accelerator and lift up.
Occasionally after servicing or repair, the wire or
cable between the accelerator and throttle would not
be correctly reinstalled causing sudden acceleration.
The purpose of the bypass screw is to adjust the
amount of air going pass the throttle plate. This screw
does not control idle speed. It sets the amount of air
going through the bypass port in the throttle body by
changing the relationship of the throttle blade to the
bypass port.
In this study, the proposed bypass system is
discussed in detail; there are other methods to control
the bypass airflow into the engine. In passenger car
application, it is the rotary solenoid or stepper motor
that is in use in large extent, which basically does the
precise control of opening of bypass air. This is done
to consider the additional demands on the engine such
as air-condition, power steering, head lamps, etc.
Electronically controlling the air enables allowing just
the right amount of air needed to maintain the
designated idle speed irrespective of the ambient
and/or engine conditions. This also allows the ECU to
dynamically respond to changes in engine load.
In recent years new and increasing requirements in
terms of emissions control, drivability, and safety
have led the development for drive by wire. In DBW
(drive by wire), throttle actuator is a motorized body
electrically driven and controlled by an electronic
system that mediates between a drivers request and
effective traction possibilities depending upon
drivability, safety, and emission control constraints.
This system does not require any bypass passage.
However, in two-wheeler application, especially for
port injection, owing to layout constraint and cost,
simple bypass screw design is preferred over other
two advanced systems.
Although the IAC (idle air control) is supposed to
last the vehicle's lifetime, various reasons may cause
it to fail/malfunction prematurely. The most common
failure mode is partial/complete jamming of the valve
(due to dirt/dust or even oil) where it cannot be

351

smoothly controlled. The result is an engine that idles

very rough and frequently stalls. Similarly, in case of
electronic throttle control (ETC), most of the drivers
have no idea how much intervention is happening as
the drivers decisions are overruled. The engine state
can be deducted only with failure and fault
management. Most ETC, systems have sensor and
controller redundancy with complex independent
microprocessors.
In the proposed system, which is a combination of
bypass screw with a solenoid has an advantage over
passenger car system. Even though, this system
consists of a solenoid, which is similar to passenger
car system, even with the solenoid stuck, the bypass
screw can be used to adjust and set the engine idling
speed. In addition to this, this solution is cost
effective, user friendly in the market for servicing for
a two wheeler applications.
Alsemgeest et al.1 have carried out simulation of
time-dependent flow through throttle valve to
determine flow mechanisms for various throttle plate
angles and compared the results with hexahedral and
tetrahedral meshes. Chen and Chen2 analyzed small
airflow rate at engine idling by using CFD analysis to
aid throttle body design and to study tolerance effect
on the estimated airflow rate. Diego3 have carried out
CFD analysis across carburetor venturi for small
engines. They have concluded that overall discharge
coefficient can be used to correlate the mass flow rate.
Huang and Kim4 have carried out numerical
simulation of flow around butterfly valve to
investigate the physical phenomena concerned with
the flow field. For their analysis, they assumed
incompressible fluid flow past the butterfly valve at
different valve disk angles with a uniform incoming
velocity. Pursiful et al.5 have carried out timeefficient throttle flow data collection method by using
a sonic nozzle flow bench. They have measured air
flow as a function of throttle angle and pressure in a
manner analogous to on-engine dynamometer throttle
flow characterization. Ross et al.6 analyzed throttle
body flow by using sonic nozzle flow bench to
measure air flow as a function of throttle valve angle
and pressure, in a manner analogous to an engine
dynamometer throttle flow characterization. He also
discussed the throttle body flow modeling
considerations. Song et al.7 have used metamodel to
analyze the butterfly valve to optimize the design to
reduce the weight. They have used orthogonal array
method to perform the design of experiments. Xue

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INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., OCTOBER 2013

et al.8 have carried out fluid and structural analysis of

large diameter butterfly valves. They have measured
the flow performance for different opening angles.
They have concluded that when the valve is closer to
closing position, the flow is very turbulent. Yoshihiro
et al.9 numerically analyzed three-dimensional flow
for different throttle openings, by using k-e turbulence
model and pressure boundary conditions.
Wang et al.10 have carried out here dimensional
simulation of butterfly valve using a moving grid
technique. They have studied the torque, flow and
discharge coefficients. Heywood11 and Shaw12 had
given various design factors to be considered while
designing the intake system components, viz., throttle
body assembly, intake manifold, cylinder head path
and intake valve. The basics of CFD were explained
by Versteeg and Malalasekara13.
The limited studies are reported on numerical
simulation of flow through the throttle body, it is
proposed to analyze the flow through the throttle body
assembly using CFD and use it for the design and
optimization of the same. The study involves the
optimization of throttle shaft configuration, prediction
of airflow at different throttle openings. It is hoped
that such investigation will help to understand the

flow structure in the throttle body assembly.

Design of Throttle Body
Figure 2 represents schematic of a throttle body
with important dimensions. Major dimensions of the
throttle body are the throttle bore diameter (D) and
bypass passage diameter (dp), the overall length of the
throttle body (L) is fixed based on the engine layout.
Diameter D1 and diameter D2 are selected based on
the air-cleaner side fitment and the intake manifold
side fitment respectively. Since the overall length L is
known, manifold side length L3 is determined

Fig. 2 Schematic view of assembly of throttle body

considering the horizontal position of throttle valve at

fully open condition. Next, length L1 is chosen based
on the air cleaner side mounting and thereby length L2
gets automatically fixed. Other lengths (L4, L5 and L6)
for bypass passage opening at the upstream and
downstream sides can be arrived such that it does not
exceed the overall length L.
Bore and bypass passage diameters

The throttle body assembly considered in this study

is for a single-cylinder four-stroke engine with port or
direct cylinder fuel injection. The schematic view of
assembly of throttle body with bypass system is
shown in Fig. 3. The main parameters for the throttle
body are throttle bore and bypass passage diameters.
The throttle bore diameter (D) is calculated based on
maximum mass flow rate of air required for the
engine at wide open throttle conditions.
For the engine under consideration (displacement =
0.35 L and power 13 kW), power developed is
37.14 kW/L. At full load condition (bsfc = 330 g/kWh
and air fuel ratio of 12.5), air required at full load is
about 4.075 kg/kWh. Air consumption is about 42 g/s
(151.2 kg/h) for 37.14 kW. The throttle bore diameter
from the above airflow requirement is obtained as
Flow through throttle body = Flow through engine *
volumetric efficiency
Equating the flow through the throttle body to the
engine flow requirement, the throttle bore diameter is
calculated by Eq. (1).
N
vol
2
C d Vt

4 Vdisp
D=

(1)

Fig. 3 Schematic view of assembly of throttle body with the

bypass system

SURESH KUMAR et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF A THROTTLE BODY ASSEMBLY

Where Cd is coefficient of discharge through throttle

body, At is the area of throttle body, Vt is the air
velocity through throttle body, vol is volumetric
efficiency of the engine, Vdisp is the displacement
volume of the engine and N is engine speed.
By knowing pressure at the intake side of the
throttle body which is equal to atmospheric pressure
(po) and engine vacuum at wide open throttle
condition (p), air density at sea level (o), the
adiabatic constant, velocity is calculated as,

2 p0 p0

1
Vt =
0 1
p

... (2)

Then, with Vt known, considering volumetric

efficiency as 100% for an ideal case, Cd as 0.9 and for
a maximum engine speed of 5500 rpm, throttle bore
diameter obtained is about 28 mm. However, the
throttle bore diameter in actual conditions should be
higher than the above value in order to account for
throttle plate and shaft, which will provide additional
restriction in the airflow path. For the engine
considered, inlet port diameter is 29.1 mm. Therefore,
final throttle bore is selected as 30 mm.
Generally, the flow rate of air required at idling is
about 5-10% of the total air flow required at wide
open throttle. In this case, idle air flow rate is
assumed to be about 6.6% of the total air flow rate
which is about 10 kg/h. Assuming flow to be
incompressible, the diameter of bypass passage is
obtained as,
dp =

4m
1
2

p
p

2 p0 0
1 p 0
p0

(3)

Where m is mass flow rate though the bypass passage,

A is bypass passage area, po is atmospheric pressure,
o is density of air, is adiabatic constant, p is engine
vacuum pressure. From Eq.(3), for a mass flow rate of
10 kg/h, the diameter of bypass passage is obtained as
3 mm.
Throttle valve opening for idling conditions

Air from the air-cleaner enters into the throttle body

and move towards the main passage. At idling, since
the throttle plate is almost in closed condition, all the
air that is entering into the throttle body cannot move

353

through this small passage. Hence, air flows through

the bypass air passage, which is also subjected to
engine suction. The bypass screw, which is first placed
in the bypass circuit, meters the air. By opening or
closing the bypass screw, the amount of airflow can be
varied through the bypass circuit. After this, the
solenoid passage, depending upon the duty ratio as set
by the ECU, once again meters the air. Finally, the
bypass air enters, down stream the throttle after the
throttle plate, and enters into the intake manifold. Once
the throttle plate is opened, the entire suction will be in
the main passage and the amount of airflow through the
main passage increases. Correspondingly the airflow
through bypass passage decreases.
In general, mass flow through the bypass passage is
about 70% of the idling flow required for the engine and
the remaining is through the main passage. Therefore, it
is necessary to calculate the throttle opening required
during idle conditions.The effective area of air flow is
the difference of cross-sectional areas of throttle bore
and the projected area of the throttle valve.
Effective area of air flow = Cross-sectional areas of
throttle bore Projected area of the throttle valve

D2 - * a * b
... (4)

Where D is diameter of throttle bore, a and b are

semi- major and semi-minor diameters of ellipse
formed by throttle valve.
The major diameter 2a is equal to the bore
diameter and the minor diameter depends upon the
angle of inclination the throttle valve with the axis of
the throttle body. However, semi-minor diameter can
be calculated from the geometry of the throttle valve.
In this case, the throttle valve angle is found to be 6
for the air flow rate required for idling at sea level
conditions. However, at higher altitudes, above value
of throttle valve inclination is not sufficient which has
to be enhanced. For example, at 3000 m altitude, the
atmospheric pressure is about 70 kPa and density of
air is about 0.9095 kg/m3. Hence, to compensate the
higher altitude, throttle valve inclination required at
idling needs to be about 10, which will be adjusted
manually or electronically in an actual engine.
CFD Analysis
Governing equations

In CFD analysis, the following governing

equations are solved. Unsteady three-dimensional
continuity equation is given as14:

INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., OCTOBER 2013

354

( u ) ( v ) ( w)
+
+
+
=0
t
x
y
z
where

... (5)

= rate of change of density with time,

t

div(u) = net mass rate out of the element across its

boundaries (convective term). Momentum equations
used are as follows1
X-momentum is,

Du ( p + xx ) yx zx
=
+
+
+ S Mx
x
y
z
Dt

(6)

Y-momentum is

Dv xy ( p + yy ) zy
=
+
+
+ SMy
Dt
x
y
z

(7)

Z-momentum is

Dw xz yz ( p + zz )
=
+
+
+ S Mz
x
y
z
Dt

(8)

where SM(x,y,z) is the source momentum per unit

volume per unit time in x, y, z directions respectively.
In this study, k- turbulence models based on the
generalized Boussineq eddy viscosity concept are
employed as1:

pressure boundary conditions require the specification

of static pressure at the outlet boundary. Since the
outlet for the selected domain is subjected to engine
vacuum, this condition is selected. Reynolds number of
the flow becomes very low and turbulent fluctuations
are damped considerably near the walls where wall
boundary conditions are used. The laminar viscosity
plays a significant role. In the present study, walls are
assumed to be adiabatic with no slip condition.
In the present CFD analysis, the following have
been studied: (i) optimization of throttle valve shaft
configuration in order to maximise the air flow for a
given throttle opening, (ii) effect of throttle opening
on flow field in order to see the wake regions and
velocity vectors, (iii) air flow distribution through
main and bypass passages and (iv) effect of bypass
screw turns on flow field.
Experimental Procedure
In order to compare the results of CFD predictions
with experimental results, experiments have been
conducted on a prototype throttle body, using a steady
flow bench. The photograph of the experimental
set-up is shown in Fig. 4. It consists of an air blower
along with a flow control valve. Provisions are made
to fix cylinder head, cylinder liner and the throttle
body assembly. When the air blower is switched on,

( k )
+ div ( kU ) = div t gradk + 2 t Eij . Eij (9)

t
k

( )

2
+ div ( U ) = div t grad + C1 2 t Eij . Eij C2
t
k
k

(10)

The standard k- model employs values for the

constants that are arrived at by comprehensive data
fitting for a wide range of turbulent flows and they are
as1:

C = 0.09; k = 1.00; = 1.30; C1 = 1.44; C2 = 1.92

Where, eddy viscosity ( t ) = C

k2

Boundary conditions

In this study, three types of boundaries are

involved, viz., inlet, outlet and wall. Inlet pressure
boundary conditions are used to define the fluid
pressure at the flow inlet. Pressure inlet boundary
conditions are used when the inlet pressure is known,
but the flow rate or velocity is not known. Outlet

Fig. 4 Photograph of experimental set-up (1- Orifice plates,

2- Test Pressure meter, 3- Cylinder head fitted with throttle body,
4- Flow meter, 5- Manometer, 6- Flow control valve)

SURESH KUMAR et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF A THROTTLE BODY ASSEMBLY

355

Fig. 5 Rectangular and circular type throttle valve shaft configurations

Fig. 6 Velocity plots for circular and rectangular throttle shaft

configurations

air is sucked through the throttle body into the cylinder

and flows out through the open end of the cylinder.
The flow rate of the air is adjusted by flow control
valve and measured with the help of a flow meter
mounted in air flow path. The air pressure is
measured using an inclined manometer across the
throttle valve. The required test pressure during
testing is maintained by adjusting the air flow control
valve with the help of inclined manometer. With this
steady state experimental set-up, prototype of throttle
body assembly developed in this study is tested.
Initially, the throttle opening is kept corresponding to
engine idling conditions. The test pressure is set and
flow through the throttle body is measured.
Subsequently, for 25, 50, 75 and 100% throttle
opening positions flow rates have been measured.
In this study, the following experiments have been
carried out: (i) measurement of air flow rate at
different throttle openings, (ii) measurement of air
flow rate at different bypass screw turns, and
(iii) confirmation of engine performance and
emissions for different bypass screw turns.
In this study, experiments have also been
conducted with prototype throttle body of 30 mm bore
and 3 mm bypass passage diameters in an actual
engine at idling conditions, which is fitted with a port
injection system. During the above experiments, at

Fig. 7 Pressure contours for circular and rectangular shaft

configurations

different bypass screw openings, air-fuel ratio, engine

speed, and hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide
(CO) emissions have been measured. CO in
percentage (%) and HC emissions in parts per million
(ppm) are measured using a Horiba Portable analyzer.
Results and Discussion
Optimization of throttle valve shaft configuration

After designing the throttle body, optimization of

valve shaft diameter is done in order to achieve
maximum possible air flow rate through the given
throttle bore. In this study, two types of throttle valve
shaft configurations have been tried, viz., circular and
rectangular shafts as shown in Fig. 5.
Figures 6 and 7 show velocity vectors and pressure
contours respectively for circular and rectangular type
throttle valve shaft configurations for 30 mm bore
diameter. With the circular shaft, velocity at the outlet
is less compared to that of rectangular shaft. This
shows that loss of energy is more in case of circular
shaft due to higher restriction across the flow,
whereas with rectangular shaft, the flow is accelerated
at the throat leading to less loss of energy. In addition,

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INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., OCTOBER 2013

the wake region behind the shaft is more in case of

circular shaft, which causes higher recirculation as
compared to that of rectangular shaft. This causes
additional flow restriction to the air flow downstream.
The point of separation is at the vertical diametrical
plane for circular shaft, where as for rectangular shaft
it occurs at the later stage down of the flow regime.
From Fig. 7, stagnation points are observed in both
the cases of the shafts where the pressure is higher due
to conversion of kinetic energy at the leading edge of
the throttle valve. Low pressure region is observed at
the point of separation in circular shaft configuration.
Minimum pressure drop is observed with the
rectangular shaft configuration than that of the circular
shaft configuration. Change of pressure around the
throat in the rectangular shaft configuration is gradual
as compared to that of the circular shaft configuration.
As expected, lower pressure is observed in the wake
region in both the cases.
From the above results, it is observed that the
rectangular shaft configuration streamlines the flow with
lesser loss of energy as compared to that of circular shaft
configuration. In CFD analysis, an additional air flow rate
of 3 g/s is predicted with the rectangular shaft
configuration at 100% throttle opening condition.
Therefore, rectangular configuration of valve shaft is
considered as more advantageous and therefore further
CFD analysis have been carried out for this configuration.
However, at idling, the effect of shaft configuration could
not be evidenced. This is mainly due to the position of
throttle plate at idling condition, which is almost in
closed. This restricts the path of air flow into the engine,
rather than the throttle shaft diameter or profile.
Effect of throttle opening on flow field

Figure 8 shows the vector plots of the air flow

regime inside the throttle body under idling, 25, 50,

Fig. 8 Velocity vector plots for different throttle opening

positions

75 and 100% throttle opening conditions. From Fig.7,

it is observed that the wake regions are created at the
downstream of the throttle valve. It is also observed
that, the wake decays with increase in throttle opening
position. Stagnation region is observed at the
upstream face of the throttle valve. As flow travels
past the throttle valve edges, the velocity increases,
the airflow rushes through the clearance between
throttle body and throttle valve. It is observed that the
velocity of air increases with increase in throttle
opening. At different throttle opening positions, the
air flow pattern is almost similar, i.e., the air flow
passing over the leading edge of the valve accelerates
downstream over the tip before heading along the
wall and curving downward. The air flow past the
trailing edge follows a similar pattern and the
high-speed air flow remains attached to the throttle
body and progressively spreading into the centre of
the domain as the throttle opening increases.
Effect of throttle opening on airflow rate

Figure 9 shows variation of total air flow rate for

different throttle opening positions as predicted by
CFD and measured by steady state flow bench
experiments. The air flow rate values shown in
Fig. 8 are in normalized percentage with respect to
maximum air flow rate. The trend indicates that the
total air flow rate through the throttle body
increases with increase in throttle opening. This is
mainly due to the reduced restriction by the throttle
valve when it opens more and due to increased
engine suction which draws additional air. The
CFD predicted values are in reasonably good
agreement with those of experimental results within
an error of about 5%.

Fig. 9 Comparison of total air flow rate from CFD predictions

and steady state experiments

SURESH KUMAR et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF A THROTTLE BODY ASSEMBLY

Figure 10 shows the CFD predictions of the variation

of air flow distribution through the main and bypass
passages with the throttle opening positions. The air
flow rate through the bypass passage is calculated by the
difference in air flow rates through the main passage
when bypass passage is on and off respectively. From
Fig.10, it is observed that, as throttle valve opens, the air
flow rate through the main passage increases and that
through the bypass passage decreases and finally reaches
the steady state in both the passages.
From Fig.10, it is also observed that, at about 12%
throttle valve opening (point a), the air flow rates through
the main and bypass passages are equal. Further increase
of the throttle opening up to 25%, increases the air flow
rate through the main passage (point b), but it decreases in
the bypass passage (point c). Afterwards, up to full
throttle opening, the air flow rate through the main
passage takes over from that of bypass passage. This is
attributed to higher suction at the throat region in the main
passage as it is subjected to engine vacuum directly due to

357

higher throttle opening. The air flow rate distributions in

the throttle body in different passages can be varied as per
the requirement by adjusting the bypass passage diameter
and throttle valve opening at idling conditions.
Effect of bypass screw opening positions on air flow field

Figure 11 shows the enlarged view of the bypass

screw in the bypass passage of the throttle body. A
bypass screw and a spring control the amount of air
flowing through the bypass passage. At low throttle
opening conditions, viz., idling and part loads,
additional amount of air flow rate required for running
the accessories is provided by the bypass passage by
adjusting the position (opening or closing) of bypass
screw. There exists a certain clearance between the
bypass passage and the tip of screw even when the
screw is completely closed (no opening). The bypass
screw opening is required to be adjusted may be during
servicing after certain period of usage of throttle body
or during engine tuning. In this study, effect of bypass
screw opening on flow field is studied.
Six bypass screw openings (fully closed, 0.5, 1, and
1.5, 2 and 2.5 turns) are considered for the analysis.
The pitch of the screw is 0.75 mm. Figures 12 and 13
show the velocity and pressure plots for 0.5 and 2 turns
of bypass screw opening. From Fig.12, it is observed
that, at 0.5 turn of bypass screw opening, there is no air
flow to the main passage from the bypass passage.
Similarly observation of the flow fields of the cases of
1, 1.5 turns of bypass screw openings revealed that, the
air flow from the bypass passage gradually increases

Fig. 10 Distribution of main and bypass passage airflow rates

with throttle opening position

Fig. 12 Velocity and pressure plots at 0.5 turn of bypass screw

opening

Fig. 11 Schematic of enlarged view of the bypass passage screw

Fig. 13 Velocity and pressure plots at bypass screw with two turns

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INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., OCTOBER 2013

with the opening of bypass screw (not shown here).

From Fig.13, it is observed that, at 2 turns of bypass
screw opening, there exists considerable amount of the
air flow entering from bypass passage into the main
passage at downstream of the main flow.
Figure 14 shows the comparison of variation of air
flow rate through the bypass passage with number of
turns of bypass screw opening. In Fig.13, the values of
air flow rate are in normalized percentage with respect to
the idling air flow rate (0.7 g/s) through the bypass
passage. From Fig.14, it is observed that, the trend of
bypass passage air flow rate by CFD predictions and
steady state flow bench experiments are quite similar.
From Fig.14, it is observed that, at fully closed position
of the bypass screw, there exists an air flow rate of about
8%, which is not sufficient to run the engine and
accessories at idling conditions. This air flow rate is due
to the small clearance existing between housing and
bypass screw which is required to avoid metal-to-metal
to contact. Therefore, here it is required to study at what
opening of the bypass screw, the required amount of air

Fig. 14 Comparison of variation of air flow with bypass screw

position

Fig. 15 Variation of engine speed with bypass screw opening

position

flow rate can be obtained. From Fig.13, it is found that,

the required amount of air flow rate of 10 kg/h for idling
is obtained at 1.5 turns. To be on safer side, it is decided
to keep the number of turns of screw opening at 2 turns.
It is also observed that, the CFD predictions are in
reasonably good agreement with those of experimental
results with a maximum error of about 4%. After deciding
about the bypass screw turns required for idling air flow
rate, it is also required to check whether the bypass screw
opening during idling satisfies the performance (air-fuel
ratio, idling engine speed) and emissions (HC and CO)
requirements. Therefore, performance and emission
characteristics of the engine were tested at idling
conditions which are explained in the following sections.
Effect of bypass screw opening on engine performance and
emissions

So far, with the help of CFD analysis, the basic

design of throttle body has been arrived. However, for
fine tuning the design, experiments on an actual engine
were conducted to verify the performance and emissions
characteristics of the engine at idling conditions.
Figure 15 depict the variation of engine speed for
different bypass screw opening. From Fig.15, it is
observed that, the required engine speed of 1500 rpm
during idling is achieved by one turn of the bypass screw
opening itself. This design target is set based on engine
idle stability test conducted, which also includes the
criterion such as cold startability and recovery, hot idle
restart, etc. The co-efficient of variation at the design
target point was checked and was found within 0.5%.
However, it is stabilized at the bypass screw opening of
two turns within a limit of about 100 rpm.
Figure 16 shows the variation of air fuel ratio
(AFR) for different bypass screw openings. From
Fig.16, it is seen that, with one turn bypass screw
opening, the required air-fuel ratio (13.6:1) as per the
design target has been achieved. However, at the set 2

Fig. 16 Variation of air-fuel ratio with bypass screw opening position

SURESH KUMAR et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF A THROTTLE BODY ASSEMBLY

turns of bypass screw opening, the air-fuel ratio

satisfies the design target values.
Figure 17 depict the variation of carbon monoxide
(CO) emission for different bypass screw openings.
From Fig.17, it is observed that, the CO emission as
per design target at idling is achieved with one turn of
bypass screw opening itself. However, at two turn of
bypass screw opening which is required as discussed
earlier gives about 14% lower CO emission as
compared to design target value which is quite good.
Figure 18 shows the variation of hydrocarbon (HC)
emissions for different bypass screw openings. From
this figures, it is found that with 0.7 turn of bypass
screw opening itself, the required HC emissions levels
as per deign target has been achieved. However, at
two turns of bypass screw opening, the HC emissions
are lower by about 24% than the design target level.
Effect of throttle bore diameter on airflow and
engine power developed
In order to understand the effect of throttle bore
diameter on airflow to the engine, steady state airflow
was measured. In addition to 30 mm diameter

Fig. 17 Variation of CO emissions with bypass screw opening

positions

Fig. 18 Variation of HC emissions with bypass screw positions

359

throttle body, two different size of throttle body, viz.,

28 mm and 32 mm, which is the standard practise
in the industry were fabricated and measured for
airflow. For the same engine, the effect of increasing
the throttle bore diameter is discussed.
Figure 19 shows the comparison of airflow of
different throttle bore diameters conducted on the
steady state test set up. The trend of airflow is similar
for all the throttle bore diameters. From Fig. 19, it can
be seen that at part throttle openings, there is no
additional benefit as the throttle plate restricts the
airflow. The effect of increase in throttle bore diameter
could be seen only after 60% throttle opening. For a 2
mm increase in throttle bore diameter, the additional air
flow is about 7% at wide open throttle conditions. This
gives an indication of effect of throttle bore diameters
on amount of airflow into the engine.
Figure 20 shows the comparison of engine power of
different throttle bore diameters conducted in actual
engine. The trend of power is similar to that of airflow
for all the throttle bore diameters. For a 2 mm increase

Fig. 19 Comparison of airflow of throttle bodies with different

throttle bore diameters

Fig. 20 Comparison of engine power of throttle bodies with

different throttle bore diameters

INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., OCTOBER 2013

360

Table 1 Uncertainty in measurements

Parameter
Engine speed
Airflow rate
Engine power
Engine torque
Intake temperature
CO emissions
HC emissions

and for arriving required opening of the bypass screw

for driving accessories at idling conditions. Also,
CFD analysis has been performed at different throttle
opening positions to study the flow fields. In the
above cases, the CFD predictions match reasonably
well with those of experimental values with a
maximum error of about 6%. From the analysis of
results, the following conclusions have been drawn:

% Error
0.5
0.02
0.75
0.5
2.0
0.5
0.5

in throttle bore diameter, there is an increase in power

of about 6% at wide open throttle conditions. However,
further increase in throttle bore diameter will not yield
additional benefit, in terms of performance due to
restriction created by cylinder head port diameter.

(i)

(ii)

Uncertainty analysis

A certain level of uncertainty in the results is always

associated with experimental work. The experimental
error can be classified as fixed and random error. The
fixed errors are repeatable in nature and can be taken
into account by calibrating the instruments, thereby
minimizing the errors. For random errors, a statistical
estimate is required to account of uncertainty. To
quantify the magnitude of uncertainties, error estimation
is done based on Gaussian method with a confidence
limit of 2 (95.5% of measured value).
The uncertainty is calculated based on following
equation:
Uncertainty of the measured parameter =
X=

2 *
100
X

(11)

Where, X = mean value and standard deviation =

( X X )2
N

Table 1 provides the list of uncertainties in

measurement results.
Finally, the analysis and experimental procedure
used in this study to design the throttle body for a fuel
injected SI engine will be very much useful to the
designer to fix the bypass screw opening in actual
engine conditions considering all auxiliary loads.
Conclusions
In this study, a procedure for designing a throttle
body required for fuel injection in spark ignition
engine has been successfully arrived. In addition,
design verification has been done with CFD analysis
for maximizing flow rate through the throttle body

(iii)
(iv)

The air flow rates through bypass and a main

passage are equal at about 12% throttle
opening position and air flow rate at main
passage overtakes than that of bypass passage
at about 25% throttle opening position.
It is found that 1.5 turns of bypass screw
opening will meet the required air flow rate
during idling of the engine alone along with
the accessories during idling conditions.
In order to meet the HC and CO emissions
levels comfortably, two turn of bypass screw
opening position has been used.
For every 2 mm increase in throttle bore
diameter, the increase in airflow is about 7% at
wide open throttle conditions and at part throttle
openings, the increase in airflow is by about 6%.

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