Piston structure design and finite element analysis

Abstract The working characteristics of internal combustion engines rely on the explosive combustion of fuel in the combustion chamber to drive the piston movement. This working characteristic causes the main component of the combustion chamber, the piston, to bear high thermal and mechanical loads. It has very high requirements for design, manufacturing, and material selection. The working condition of the piston will affect its safety and stability. Therefore, the finite element analysis for the piston is particularly important. Thus, this article first establishes the piston model and divides it into grids in ANSYS, adds boundary conditions, and conducts analysis. The piston thermal analysis mainly includes thermal stress and deformation analysis under thermal load. The piston’s maximal thermal stress is 170.23 MPa and the deformation of thermal expansion is 0.61585 mm. The mechanical stress and deformation analysis under mechanical load are carried out. The maximal stress is 164.91 MPa and the maximal deformation caused by the mechanical stress is 0.24916 mm. Finally, the coupling analysis of thermal and mechanical stress is conducted. The maximal stress is 251.74 MPa, which is located at the outskirt margin of the piston pinhole. The maximal deformation is 0.60779 mm. The simulation analysis results indicate that the method proposed in this article provides a way to design the structure of similar automotive components such as pistons.