Radiator is one of critical component used in automobiles which is used to cool engine under operating conditions. To cool down engine, a coolant is passed through engine block, where it absorbs heat from the engine. The hot coolant is then fed into inlet tank of radiator located either on top of radiator, or along one side from which it is distributed across radiator core through tubes to another tank on opposite end of radiator. As coolant passes through radiator tubes on its way to opposite tank, it transfers much of its heat to tubes which, in turn, transfer heat to fins that are lodged between each row of tubes. The fins then release heat to ambient air. Fins are used to greatly increase contact surface of tubes to air, thus increasing exchange efficiency. The cooled liquid is fed back to engine, and the cycle repeats. Due to the temperature gradient across the radiator, there will be thermal stress on the radiator especially on header joints. Another important area is header crimped location where high stress due to pressure load may occur.
The present study involves study of radiator design by using coupled thermal-structural analysis. The analysis is carried out to check the structural integrity of radiator under thermal load as well as structural load conditions. The stress mainly is due to thermal gradient as well as pressure load which is effectively predicted using linear static coupled thermal-structural analysis and design modification based on the analysis reduced the stress on the radiator header part and increases the fatigue life of radiator. Neuber correction method predicted the nonlinear stress from the linear structural analysis result which predicts actual and life prediction also correctly. Dynamic analysis also carried out to check the strength of the assembly under dynamic load conditions which predict the stress on mounting locations. Hyper mesh used for the preprocessing of the analysis and ABAQUS used for the solver run and Hyper view for result visualization. The analysis result were validated with actual test result and found OK.