Transactions on Innovations in Science and Technology (TRANSIST)

Volume.1, Issue.1, 2016, pp.

www.transistonline.com

Thermo-structural analysis of piston in compression Ignition Engine

Dr Mukul Shrivastava1, L. Lakshmana Rao2, Mohammad. Sameer3, Medavarapu Jeevana4, Venkata Sasi Priya
Reddi5
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vardhaman College of Engineering, Hyderabad-501218, India
2
Department of Automobile Engineering, Vardhaman College of Engineering, Hyderabad-501218, India

*Corresponding author email: mukul@vardhaman.org, lakshman04012000@gmail.com, mohammadsameerhere@gmail.com,

medavarapujeevana7595@gmail.com, sasipriya322000@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The piston is one of the most important elements in the internal combustion engine. The main function of the piston is to
transfer the thermal energy generated by burning of air-fuel mixture to crank shaft. Due to continuous working of piston,
thermal loads and thermal stresses acting on the piston, life of the piston decreases. In order to overcome piston failures,
we modeled 4 types of pistons by using CATIA V5 3d modeling software. The structural and thermal analysis are
performed by using ANYSIS software. After completion of analysis, the values of thermal stresses, heat flux, total
deformation and temperatures of different piston models are compared.

Keywords – ANYSIS, CATIA, Internal Combustion Engine, Thermal stress, Piston Models

1. INTRODUCTION been a major role in inducing thermal stresses and hence

The piston is one of the major parts in internal
combustion engine. The main function of the piston is to
reciprocate up & down in combustion chamber. The
burning air-fuel expands till the top of the piston. The
thermal energy produced in combustion chamber is
converted into mechanical energy by using the
reciprocating motion of piston and then converted into
rotary motion with the help of connecting rod and
crankshaft of engine. The pistons are available in
different geometries. According to application we can
use different piston models and we can apply different
materials for the piston.
plays the major role in detecting the life of an Internal
combustion engine. In this project we focused on the
thermal and structural evaluation of different piston
heads.
The main aim of this paper is modeling 4 types of pistons
by using CATIA. To investigate the maximum Thermal
stress developed due to rise in temperature and pressure
using structural linear analysis in Ansys. On Comparing
all the analysis values we find out which model is
suitable at high speed working conditions.

There are different types of functions performed by the

piston:

1. The piston causes the suction, compression, power

stroke, exhaust strokes in every cycle.

2. The thermal energy generated in combustion

chamber is converted into mechanical energy with the
help of connecting rod and crank shaft.

3. Piston is guided by the connecting rod, the piston pin

used to connect piston and connecting rod to perform all
operations in IC engine.

Most of the papers discussed about piston materials and

their thermal performance only. They didn’t consider the
structural performance. Temperature differences
between the Engine Head and the Piston Cylinder have

1
 applied on the piston. After applying boundary
conditions structural analysis can be performed in Ansys
work bench.

FIG1. TYPES OF PISTON MODELS

Temperature and heat transfer coefficient of

piston

The piston head is the top of the piston, due to the

Expansion of hot gases the thermal load acting on the
top of piston we can apply the thermal load as 859.7oC.
The heat transfer due to convection mode from the side
walls of the piston takes place at atmospheric
temperature 298.15k and the heat transfer coefficient is
taken as 3200 w/mm2k , for steady state thermal analysis.

Fig 2 Boundary Condition for flat piston

The thermal conditions applied to all pistons according

to the above Boundary conditions.

Thermal load applied on the piston

The thermal loads acting on the piston due to the

expansion gases, the pressure load applied on the piston
is taken as 6.5Mpa, we can provide the friction less
support to the side walls of the piston and to maintain Fig 3 Boundary conditions for structural analysis
constant body temperature. Imported body temperature
Finite Element analysis of piston

In finite element method we can perform thermal and

structural analysis of 4 different types of pistons by using
Ansys work bench. In this analysis, we get accurate
results according to our requirements.

Fig 7 Temperature results for cup type piston

Fig 4 Meshed model of flat type piston

Thermal analysis of piston

Fig 8 Heat flux for cup type piston

Fig 5 temperature results for flat type piston

Fig 9 temperature results for dome type piston

Fig 6 Heat flux for flat type piston

Fig
Fig 10 Heat flux for dome type piston
 static Structural analysis of piston

Fig 11 Temperature results for bowl type piston

Fig 13 Stress act on flat type piston

Fig 12 Heat flux for bowl type piston

Maximum and minimum temperature in

thermal conditions
Fig 14 Stress act on cup type piston
Piston Minimum Maximum
type temperature(k) temperature(k)

Flat 172.29 1132.9

cup 173.01 1132.9

Dome 173.1 1132.9

Bowl 172.28 1132.9

Fig 15 Stress act on dome type piston
Maximum and minimum heat flux on pistons
due to thermal conditions

Piston Minimum Maximum heat

type heat flux (w/mm2)
flux(w/mm2)

Flat 7.4125e-6 176.52

cup 0.00010137 161.28

Dome 1.7262e-5 150.64

Bowl 0.0001953 153.43 Fig 16 Stress act on bowl type piston

Maximum and minimum stresses on pistons
due to thermal loads

Type of piston Minimum Maximum

stress (Mpa) stress (Mpa)

Flat 0.2523 80.11

Cup 0.22794 214.25

Dome 0.12404 80.248

Bowl 0.23345 163.1

Fig 20 Total deformation in bowl type piston

Maximum and Minimum deformation on piston due

to thermal load

Type of Minimum Maximum

piston deformation(mm) deformation(mm)

Flat 1.72e-6 0.02

Cup 2.8421e-5 0.20

Dome 4.8352e-5 0.01

Bowl 6.3295e-5 0.09

Fig 17 Total deformation in flat type piston

Conclusion

• After performing thermal and structural

analysis by using Aluminium alloy. Among the
four types of pistons, flat and dome type pistons
give the low stress and deformation values
compared to the remaining pistons which are
noted above.

Fig 18 Total deformation in cup type piston
From all the above tables we can conclude that the flat
and dome type pistons give stresses equal to 80.11and
80.24Mpa respectively, which are efficient than other
two types. Likewise in structural analysis also flat and
dome type pistons give lower deformation values equal to
0.02mm and 0.019 mm respectively. From the above
information, we can conclude that flat and dome type
pistons are efficient compared to other pistons.

References

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