Typically, modern automotive engine designs include separate cylinder heads and cylinder blocks and utilize a multilayer steel head gasket (MLS) to seal the resulting joint. Cylinder head bolts are used to hold the joint together and the non-linear properties of head gasket provide capability to seal the movement within the joint, which is essential for engine durability and performance.
The current design of cylinder head gasket mainly evaluates the sealing performance in hot and cold state through finite element analysis. The sealing performance of cylinder head gasket is mainly determined by sealing pressure, fatigue and lateral movement in the joint, which have been widely studied [1]. However, no one has been involved in the study of factors affecting sealing pressure and lateral movement in the joint.
This paper focuses on the influence of the temperature distribution and rigidity of cylinder block and cylinder head on the sealing pressure of cylinder head gasket and the lateral movement in the joint. First, the mechanism of a basic temperature field and rigidity of cylinder block and cylinder head on flange surface deformation is studied. Based on this research basis, a new design and development method and the critical design parameters that affect the deformation of cylinder block and cylinder head flange surface are defined. The newly developed method is used to improve the sealing environment of cylinder head gasket, which can greatly improve the sealing reliability of cylinder head gasket, and the setting of critical design parameters is discussed.