The wet flow testing is done in very low light conditions. Essentially this involves a marker dye in the test fluid. This, when irradiated by an ultra violet light, causes the dye to become luminescent. This makes it easy to see what's going on with the naked eye and be captured on video. http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/116_0612_cylinder_head_flow_bench/index.html Where the wet flow is going is shown to great effect when the dyed fluid is irradiated with ultra violet light. The brighter the blue, the more fuel the air locally contains. The trick is to even out the coloration as much as possible. The idea behind wet-flow development is to make it as easy as possible for the fuel to remain in suspension with the air. In a poorly designed head, the fuel will tend to collect as a series of small rivers of liquid that stream into the cylinder. Large droplets of fuel take longer to burn and burn incompletely as compared with very tiny spheres of fuel that burn very quickly and more completely. This means the smaller the droplets within the air stream, the less fuel is required to make the same power. It also means a leaner air/fuel ratio for the same (or more) power. This is why the Pro Stockers can make best power with an air/fuel ratio of roughly 13.5:1 instead of 12.5:1. Since these smaller fuel particles will burn more quickly, a well-designed intake port and chamber will result in an engine that requires less timing to make the same power. 1. STOCK Here is the video of a stock 6.1 head being wet flowed. Notice the turbulence and fuel puddling around the intake valve. Notice the intake charge disruption caused by the spark plug pads and the heavy fuel droplets on and around the intake valve and droplets at the perimeter of the combustion chamber. It becomes obvious that substantial power was left on the table with the stock 6.1 head. 2.SPP PORTED This video depicts the current Stanko/Mondello port configuration and how the fuel now moves around the combustion chamber. Notice there is still some fuel puddling on the face of intake valve and minor intake charge disruption but not to the extent of a nonported head. 3.WET FLOWED This last video depicts the final result of hours of wet flow work and research on the 6.1 Hemi head! The results show that the refinements to the combustion chamber along with changes to the ports and valve seat produce more evenly distributed air/fuel stream into the cylinder. The goal is to create an air inlet stream where the fuel is completely vaporized and integrated into the inlet air stream. When that happens you can expect power to take a significant leap forward.
Thanks Jim Alot of work went into bring the Hemi head to this point. It really is the final frontier on this thing! .
Not all heads are wetflowed for design. For those that may not know: The infamous DART heads (found in the majority of the fatsest racing engines) built for Ford and Chevy are also wetflowed and this is a proven feature as to why they perform so well. http://www.dartheads.com/ftp/Wet%20Flow%20Technology.htm http://www.dartheads.com/ftp/Platinum%20Series%20Cylinder%20Heads.htm
Nathan that is correct and Mondello was involved in that. Only so many race teams have wet flow capability. .
My company makes industrial furnaces used for the heat treatment and/or high temperature brazing of metals used in aircraft engines and medical implants (as you know...rermemeber Northrop and GM Gnterprises). We actually used wet flow technology to develop the construction of our cooling nozzles. We built a small model and put it in a water tank and ran water from the fan chamber through the nozzles to mimic air flow performance. We were able to improve flow... hence cooling performance.. by 30% over the original design. Rememebring this development helps me understand flow through our air intake...you know the ongoing debate over CAI units. Of course gthis also applies to wet flows ability to perfect flow through any chamber. Turbulance and vortex flow is far easier to see with water than trying to see with air.
Nathan I see someone does understand. Most novices have no idea what this is and what we have just resolved as far as head design...lol! .
to breakit down to the one that dont understand this it is not just how much material you take out or how smooth it is it is more important on where and what you take out that make the flow happen
Bingo You can actually take out too much in one area, or not smooth it out in the correct shape, and make a turbulant (not smooth) flow. Especially around the valve stems.
