Engine Structural Analysis

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) offers a wide range of engine design and analysis services to engine manufacturers worldwide. Using a complement of proprietary and commercial software, SwRI engineers design, develop, and optimize engine systems, assemblies, and components, improving performance and reducing emissions and costs. Engine structural analysis using the finite element (FE) method is one of these key technologies.

SwRI uses FE analysis to provide on-time, accurate, cost-effective, and informative solutions to customer problems by:

• Applying the talents of highly trained, experienced, and innovative staff
• Applying state-of-the-art proprietary and commercial software
• Applying the latest computer technologies

Emphasis is placed on:

• Determining the root cause of the problem
• Identifying key design variables that affect the response
• Quantifying effects of these design variables
• Optimizing the design, if required
• Maximizing value for the client

SwRI also offers extensive testing and metallurgical analysis facilities to validate designs and perform failure analysis. SwRI can help its customers reduce product development cycle time and cost by performing electronic prototyping in the initial design stage to ensure a reliable and durable product. Analysis experience includes, but is not limited to:

• Static analysis: linear, nonlinear, plasticity, large deflection, and multi-body contact analysis
• Dynamic analysis: linear modal and transient analysis, nonlinear transient analysis with multi-body contact
• Thermal analysis: static and transient
• Coupled field analysis: structural-thermal, fluid-structural, etc.
• Fluid analysis including computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
• Electric and magnetic analysis
• Design optimization
• Fatigue analysis: high-cycle and low-cycle fatigue, stress and strain life approaches, and linear elastic fracture mechanics
• Probabilistic reliability analysis

To ensure the accuracy of the FE solution, minimize the time spent in modeling, and maximize the time spent in analysis, SwRI has developed specialized FE techniques:

• Benchmarking of tetrahedron and brick elements
• Automatic tetrahedron mesh density and sub-modeling guidelines
• Super-element guidelines for static and transient contact analysis
• Solution error analysis and accuracy criteria
• Adaptive meshing and p-elements

Full-Featured Cylinder Head Thermal and Structural Finite Element Analysis

The trend in engine industry today is toward a shorter product development cycle and faster time-to-market, with increased emphasis on up-front analysis to design, develop, and optimize a reliable and durable product. Electronic prototyping, instead of hardware prototyping, in the initial design stage can substantially reduce development costs.

The trend in structural analysis today is to perform system analysis instead of component analysis. The advent of faster computers and robust FEA software allows SwRI engineers to build larger, more refined, and complex models resulting in timely, cost-effective, accurate, and informative solutions to customer problems.

Finite element mesh for the cylinder head and associated components (left). Temperature distribution in the cylinder head and maximum principal stress distribution in the high stress area of the cylinder head (right).

In this example, SwRI performed a combined nonlinear thermal/structural FE analysis of a full-featured cylinder head with accurate representations of the ports, water jacket, and all other important internal features. All major components of the cylinder head subassembly were included. Thermal and structural contact was modeled, allowing accurate heat and force transfer at every component interface. This system-level analysis provided valuable information about the structural integrity of the cylinder head in the initial design stage and resulted in substantial cost savings to the client.

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