CAE Simulations for Engine Block Bore Distortion

Due to the current federal requirements for increasing vehicle fuel economy, more engineering resources are allocated to the up-front analysis with the purpose of increasing vehicle fuel economy. Engine friction is one of the biggest factors influencing the fuel economy. The cylinder bore distortion plays an important role for the friction between the sliding pistons and the cylinder bore. The quality of the cylinder bore distortion has significant impact on the overall engine efficiency and performance. The cylinder bore distortion will result into consequences such as power loss, blow-by, oil consumption, and NVH issues. To meet the cylinder bore distortion requirements, the engineering community turns efforts to the early design stage during product development. The CAE applications in the design of automotive engine have become an essential tool. Both the cost and cycle of the product development benefit from its usages. This paper discusses FEA analysis procedure that could be used to evaluate the cylinder bore distortion due to clamp of head bolt, engine thermal load, and engine firing condition. In this study a methodology to estimate bore distortions is introduced.