Development of an Experimental/Numerical Validation Methodology for the Design of Exhaust Manifolds of High Performance Internal Combustion Engines

Several typical failure modes in the exhaust manifold of an internal combustion engine are commented on. In particular, thermal loading and the related thermal fatigue damage mechanism are addressed. The component under investigation is a cast exhaust manifold including the turbine involute. Finite Element simulations are performed, and a numerical methodology is presented to interpret and understand the observed failures, with the aim of developing a useful tool to virtually validate the component, before the manufacturing phase. The Finite Element analysis closely mimics the experimental validation procedure that considers several heating and rapid cooling cycles to simulate typical engine operating conditions. A static mechanical characterization at high temperatures of the materials involved is carried out, aimed at identifying a suitable alloy and its mechanical characteristics useful for feeding the numerical models. The developed design methodology proposes a damage criterion for thermal fatigue investigation, considering the elastoplastic behaviour of the material when subjected to high temperature cycles. In particular, the accumulated equivalent plastic strain range for a single thermal cycle (ΔPEEQ) is used, following the Ferrari expertise. The methodology appears to be well correlated with the experimental evidence, thus limiting the number of tests necessary for the approval of the component

Finite Element Analysis of the Influence of the Assembly Parameters on the Fretting Phenomena at the Bearing/Big End Interface in High-Performance Connecting Rods

Fretting fatigue is a well-known and dangerous damage mode that occurs on the mating surfaces of mechanical components, mainly promoted by a combination of stress distribution, contact pressure distribution, and relative sliding (micro)motion between the surfaces. However, predicting this mechanism is challenging, necessitating specific studies for each assembly due to variable influences. This article presents a methodology for evaluating fretting fatigue damage at the contact between a titanium connecting rod big end and the bearing, adopting the Ruiz parameter as a quantifying damage index. For this purpose, a thermal-structural finite element model is prepared. In particular, the machining and assembly of the split conrod big end are simulated, considering thermal effects. A full engine cycle is first simulated, and results are used for identifying critical instants to be considered for accurate yet computationally efficient calculations. The dependence of fretting fatigue on three factors is studied: bearing crush, bolts tightening torque, and friction coefficient between the big end and the bearing. In summary, the damage increases with a higher crush and friction, while tightening torque has marginal effects. Following a 20% increase in crush height, a corresponding 10% rise in the Ruiz parameter is observed. Conversely, reducing the crush height by 20% leads to an approximately 8% decrease in the Ruiz parameter. When the influence of the bolt preload is taken into account, only a marginal 1% increase of the Ruiz parameter is recorded despite a 30% rise in preload. Evaluating the impact of the friction coefficient on the Ruiz parameter reveals an almost linear relationship. These findings suggest that adjusting the screw preload can enhance the hydrodynamic behavior of the bearing without exacerbating fretting. Furthermore, exploiting the linear correlation between Ruiz and the friction coefficient allows for the generalization of results obtained with specific coefficient values. This methodology can, therefore, serve as a valuable reference for adjusting different variables during the initial design phases of a four-stroke internal combustion engine’s dismountable connecting rod

The influence of textured surfaces on the tribological behaviour of hip replacements employing a mass conserving complementarity algorithm

The tribological behaviour of Metal-on-Metal (MoM) hip prostheses is a key factor for their success. In particular, wear is recognized to have a crucial role in the failure of a prosthesis and can have severe consequences on the patient’s health, e.g. pseudo-tumors in MoM implants, [1,2]. The lubrication of the coupling between the prosthetic head and the acetabular cup can affect both the contact behaviour and the wear of the prosthesis [3]. Different contributions exist in the pertinent literature addressing the elastohydrodynamic analysis of the head-acetabulum coupling, but rarely these analysis are performed taking into account the possible fluid cavitation in the contact area between the mating surfaces [4]. In order to improve the tribological performance of hip implants, the use of textured surfaces has been proposed in recent studies [5]. The present contribution focuses on the possible improvement that textured surfaces could give to the hip joint replacement tribological behaviour. Textured surfaces are widely used in mechanics in order to increase the carrying capacity of various kind of joints working in elastohydrodynamic condition [6-8]. Textured surfaces typically show a path of cavitated zones due to the presence of dimples in the contact surfaces. The effect of these cavitated zones can result in a global decreasing of friction and wear [9]. This preliminary contribution aims at studying, by means of preliminary simplified one-dimensional models, the influence of the geometrical parameters of the textures on the tribological behavior of a hip joint coupling. The analysis have been carried out employing a linear complementarity mass-conserving algorithm originally proposed in [10], capable of properly capturing the phenomenon of cavitation

A Design Strategy Based on Topology Optimization Techniques for an Additive Manufactured High Performance Engine Piston

In this paper, a methodology for the design of a motorcycle piston is presented, based on topology optimization techniques. In particular, a design strategy is preliminary investigated aiming at replacing the standard aluminum piston, usually manufactured by forging or casting, with an alternative one made of steel and manufactured via an Additive Manufacturing process. In this methodology, the minimum mass of the component is considered as the objective function and a target stiffness of important parts of the piston is employed as a design constraint. The results demonstrate the general applicability of the methodology presented for obtaining the geometrical layout and thickness distribution of the structure

ANALYSIS OF THE LUBRICATION REGIMES AT THE SMALL END AND BIG END OF A CONNECTING ROD OF A HIGH PERFORMANCE MOTORBIKE ENGINE

ABSTRACT In the present paper, the algorithm proposed by Giacopini et. al. The application of the algorithm proposed to both the small end and the big end of a con-rod is challenging because of the different causes that sustain the hydrodynamic lubrication in the two cases. In the con-rod big end, the fluid film is mainly generated by the relative high speed rotation between the rod and the crankshaft. The relative speed between the two races forms a wedge of fluid that assures appropriate lubrication and avoids undesired direct contacts. On the contrary, at the con-rod small end the relative rotational speed is low and a complete rotation between the mating surfaces does not occurs since the con-rod only oscillates around its vertical axis. Thus, at every revolution of the crankshaft, there are two different moments in which the relative rotational speed between the con-rod and the piston pin is null. Therefore, the dominant effect in the lubrication is the squeeze caused by the high loads transmitted through the piston pin. In particular both combustion forces and inertial forces contribute to the squeeze effect. This work shows how the formulation developed by the authors is capable of predicting the performance of journal bearings in the unsteady regime, where cavitation and reformation occur several times. Moreover, the effects of the pressure and the shear rate on the density and on the viscosity of the lubricant are taken into account

Multiphase CFD\u2013CHT optimization of the cooling jacket and FEM analysis of the engine head of a V6 diesel engine

The present paper proposes a numerical methodology aiming at analyzing and optimizing an internal combustion engine water cooling jacket, with particular emphasis on the assessment of the fatigue strength of the engine head. Full three-dimensional CFD and FEM analyses of the conjugate heat transfer and of the thermo-mechanical loading cycles are presented for a single bank of a currently made V6 turbocharged Diesel engine under actual operating conditions. A detailed model of the engine, consisting of both the coolant galleries and the surrounding metal components is employed in both fluid-dynamic and structural analyses to accurately mimic the influence of the cooling system layout on the thermo-mechanical behavior of the engine. In order to assess a proper CFD setup useful for the optimization of the thermal behavior of the engine, the experimentally measured temperature distribution within the engine head is compared to the CFD forecasts. Particular attention is paid to the modeling of the phase transition and of the vapor nuclei formation within the coolant galleries. Thermo-mechanical analyses are then carried out aiming at addressing the design optimization of the engine in terms of fatigue strength. Because of the wide range of thermal and mechanical loadings acting on the engine head, both high-cycle and low-cycle fatigue are considered. An energy-based multi-axial criterion specifically suited for thermal fatigue is employed in the low-cycle fatigue region (i.e. the combustion dome) while well-established multi-axial stress/strain-based criteria are adopted to investigate the high-cycle fatigue regions of the engine head (i.e. the coolant galleries). The proposed methodology shows very promising results in terms of point-wise detection of possible engine failures and proves to be an effective tool for the accurate thermo-mechanical characterization of internal combustion engines under actual life-cycle operating conditions

Low-cycle Thermal Fatigue and High-cycle Vibration Fatigue Life Estimation of a Diesel Engine Exhaust Manifold

This paper aims at estimating the low-cycle and high-cycle fatigue life of a turbocharged Diesel engine exhaust manifold. First, a decoupled thermo-structural Finite Element analysis has been performed to investigate low-cycle fatigue phenomena due to the thermal loadings applied to the exhaust manifold. High/low temperature cycles causes stress-strain hysteresis loops in the manifold material whose related dissipated energy can be directly correlated to low-cycle thermal fatigue. Afterwards, a dynamic harmonic analysis has been performed aiming at investigating the existence of high-cycle fatigue phenomena due to vibrational loading applied to the exhaust manifold during the duty cycle. Three direction acceleration experimental loadings have been applied to the model. An ad-hoc methodology has been developed to superimpose thermo-structural results to dynamic harmonic analysis results. In particular, quasi-static thermo-structural results have been employed to identify the mean stress values of vibration fatigue cycles, while alternate stress values have been derived from harmonic analysis. Different combinations of frequencies and phases of the acceleration input signals have been considered to create different high-cycle fatigue loadings. Each cyclic load case has been processed employing the multiaxial Dang Van fatigue criterion