Blue Ridge Academic Program Leader, Maureen Kennedy, presented the award to Georgia Tech Sophomore aerospace engineering student, Tom Kwasniak, for his excellent use of CFD to effectively re-design an intake manifold.

Many performance goals were defined during the team’s design process. The final manifold design met and in many cases surpassed all the goals originally set:

• Correctly fit and adequately supply air by naturally-aspirated means to the V-Twin Engine
• Restrictor must be no larger than 20mm in diameter
• Predictable engine performance (i.e., reduction in throttle lag, bogging, etc.)
• Mass flow rate difference between cylinders for air and fuel supply should be within 5%
• Runners should facilitate optimal fuel mixing for the upper injectors
• Plenum to runner transition should be facilitated through a smooth interface to reduce turbulence and stagnation
• Optimization should be dialed in for an RPM which correlates to maximum torque

Organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the Formula SAE competition gives students a unique opportunity to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete in formula-style racing cars. Teams build cars over a period of about one year and take them to annual competition for judging and comparison against approximately 120 other vehicles from colleges and universities throughout the world.