Non-linear static coupled field analysis of a piston in a four-stroke single cylinder diesel engine using ANSYS

The component piston in an internal combustion engine plays an important role in transforming the thermal energy developed during the combustion in to mechanical energy. During this process, the piston is subject to heat, and pressures developed in the combustion as well as variations in pressures during various strokes of the engine. Hence, there is a need to study the behavior of the piston to the loads acting on it. In this work, the distributions of stress and temperatures in the piston are found using finite element analysis package, ANSYS UNDER two loading conditions i.e. only gas pressure, and combination of thermal load and gas pressure. Design of the piston has been carried out using standard procedures available in the literature. Later, uniaxial tension test has been performed on an Aluminum specimen and the values from the stress-strain diagram are imported to ANSYS to define the non-linear behavior of the material. CAD model is generated in the ANSYS and static couple field analysis (Non-linear structural and thermal) is performed by applying various loads (thermal and combustion pressure) on the piston. The stress and temperature distributions on the piston are studied and the conclusions are drawn.