Design of Piston Head

Piston is one of the key components in an Internal Combustion Engine and it closely
relates to the machine performance, carbon emissions and the economy. With the
higher speed of engines and strength development, higher pressure ratio and higher
power improvements work conditions of pistons have become more and more bad, so
its reliability now relies on the key factors. Structure and working environments of
pistons are very complex. In the working environment, the pistons will produce stress
and deformation because of the periodic load effect, which are from high gas pressure,
high speed reciprocating motion from the inertia force, lateral pressure, friction and so
on. Burning of the high pressure gas produces high temperature, which makes piston
move out due to expansion thus its interior produces thermal stress and thermal
deformation. The thermal deformation and mechanical deformation will cause piston
cracks, tortuosity, etc. Therefore, it is essential to analyse the stress field, temperature
field, heat transfer, thermal load and mechanical load coupling of piston, etc. in order
to lower the heat load and improve the thermal stress distribution and improve its
working reliability during operation. Analysis method of the finite element provides a
powerful calculation tool, which is better than test and theory analysis method and has
become an important means for internal combustion engine performance study.

By analysis of the piston working process, we find that stress and deformation of the
piston is most serious under the steady speed conditions when the gas-fired pressure
is the maximum. At the same time, the strength of piston has a limit. Therefore, it is
essential to choose the piston under the rated power and we only analyse distribution
force in the axis of the force, including the maximum explosion pressure and
reciprocating inertia force. Pressure load of piston is that gas pressure affects piston
top surface due to high pressure in the cylinder. For simplified analysis, we can use
the steady state process, but cannot ignore the effect that combustion power stroke
produces, i.e. impact load for piston.

Piston is affected by gas explosion pressure and the reciprocating inertia force and
their common feature is that they have line of effect along the axis direction of the

piston, so the axis direction of piston bears the bigger load. The maximum stress
appears the centre of piston pin top, which is accordance to engine design manual.
Piston pin top is the part most susceptible to fracture.

When Pistons are operating, they directly touch the high temperature gas and their
transient temperature can reach more than 2500K and generates the 18KW power.
Piston is heated seriously and its heat transfer coefficient is 167 W/(mC) and its heat
dissipation coefficient is poor, so the piston temperature can reach 600 ~ 700 K
approximately and the temperature distributes unevenly. On the basis of these
conditions, we will make thermal analysis for the piston.

Main factors under consideration:

1. Thermodynamic Aspects:

a. Basic state equation - Pressure, Temperature, and the Volume to be swept

inside an engine cylinder.
b. Heat addition or rejection in a cycle.
c. Number of fins required.
d. Speed of the engine.
e. Thermal properties (like heat expansion and contraction of metals).
f. Compression ratio and Adiabatic index.

2. Mechanical Aspects:
a. Radial type.
b. Bore diameter (d).
c. Speed of the engine (N).
d. Fuel volume/displacement (V).

e. Pistons should get enough lubrication - so proper cooling should be

there.
f. The geometry of combustion chamber.
g. Shape of the piston - sometimes an elliptical shaped piston is used.

h. Mechanical properties like materials, strength/hardness coefficients,

and factor of safety.
i.

Type of engine:
I.

V type.

II.

W type.

A tentatively correct method of designing a piston would be to consider the thermal

stresses and normal stresses acting on the face of the piston. The method is
rudimentary but would provide us a fair approximation as to the nature of durability we
need to provide in the material property of the piston.
We need to find the force being exerted on the cross sectional area of the piston by
the hot gases. For that we can multiply the maximum pressure existing in the
chamber (pressure at the end of compression stroke and before the power stroke)
with the cross sectional area of the piston head. That would give us the maximum
force being exerted on the surface of the piston head. We can then determine the
maximum normal stress being developed. There should not be any shear stress
under normal circumstances. For calculating the effects of the thermal stress more
research is required which Im currently trying to find out and probably include in the
next report.

Design of Cylinder:
1. Thickness of wall:

Longitudinal Stress:

Radial Stress:
Net longitudinal stress:

Net Circumferential stress:

The thickness of the cylinder:

Thickness varies from 4.5mm to 25mm depending on size.
The thickness can also be found by using t = 0.0450+ 1.6mm
Thickness of the dry liner = 0.030 to 0.0350.
Water Jacket wall thickness = 0.0320 + 1.6mm
Water space between outer cylinder wall and inner jacket wall is 0.080
+ 6.5mm or 10 mm for 75 mm cylinder and 75mm for 750 mm cylinder.

2. Bore and Length of Cylinder:

Indicated Power (I.P.) =

Pm = Indicated Mean Effective Pressure

n = Number of working strokes per minute (N 2, N/2 4)

Length of the stroke (l) = 1.25 D to 2D

Length of Cylinder = 15% of length of stroke = 1.15l

Indicated Power = Brake Power / Mechanical Efficiency

Maximum Gas Pressure = 9 to 10 times of Pm

3. Cylinder Flange and Studs:

The thickness of the flange should be 1.2t - 1.4t. The diameter of the studs
can be found by equation:

ns is the number of studs = 0.01D+4 to 0.02D+4. Tensile stresses are in

between 35MPa - 70MPa. The nominal diameter of studs lies 0.75tf to tf.
d16. The distance of the flange from centre of hole for Stud should not
be less than d+6mm and not be more than 1.5d

4. Cylinder Head Design:

is the radial stress: 30 MPa to 50 MPa.

C is a constant and its value is 0.1
The pitch circle diameter Dp = D+3d.

Piston
Element that moves inside the cylinder by receiving the impulse from the
expanding gas and transmits energy to crankshaft through connecting
rod.
Design Considerations:
It should have enormous strength. (Pressures & Forces)
Minimum mass. (inertia forces)
Form effective gas and oil sealing.
Provide bearing area. (prevent wear)
Disperse the heat quickly.
High speed reciprocation. (without noise)

PISTON MATERIALS
Cast Iron
Cast Aluminium
Forged Aluminium
Cast Steel
Forged Steel

Design of Piston Head I Crown

The thickness of the piston is

P.T.O.

(in mm)

H = Heat flowing through the piston head

k = Heat conductivity factor in W/m/C
= 46.6 W/m/C for Grey Cast Iron
= 51.25 W/m/C for Steel
= 174.75 W/m/C for Aluminium alloys

Tc = Temperature at Centre, Te = Temperature at edge

Tc Te = 220 C for Cast Iron & 75 C for Aluminium
Heat flowing through the head H = CHCVmB.P.(kW)
C = Constant = 0.05
HCV = Higher Calorific Value of the Fuel in kJ/kg = 45x103 kJ/kg for Diesel
& 47x103 kJ/kg for Petrol
m = Mass of the fuel used (kg/B.P./sec)
B.P = Brake Power of the engine per Cylinder