Mechanical Analysis of Downsized Automobile Piston through Simulation

Abstract

Engine downsizing technology benefits the environment in terms of emission gases and also reduces the usage of fuel in automobiles. Reducing the number of pistons and or their dimensions is among the most suitable techniques for engine downsizing. However, reducing the size of the pistons will cause another issue to with withstanding the applied forces generated due to combustion gases during combustion. Therefore, in this research work, the automobile piston was analyzed through simulation using ANSYSv17.2 after a 10% stroke reduction in its dimension. Further, to advance the novelty of this research work; 02-different automobile piston shapes: and hollow and toroidal combustion chambers (HCC & TCC) were reduced for investigating mechanical analysis. For mechanical analysis: maximum principal stresses, Von-Misses stresses, and total deformation before and after downsizing were analyzed. The results revealed that the maximum principal stresses, Von-Misses stresses, and total deformation were increased by 42%, 33.5%, 41.4%, 26.7%, 14.1%, and 8.2% after downsizing the HCC and TCC pistons respectively. Additionally, TCC offered better resistance to applied forces as compared to HCC. However, the increased values were within the maximum ultimate stress of the material, and it can be concluded that the 10% by stroke downsizing is under safe mode.