A computational approach to Fretting Wear prediction of Steel Gaskets under Thermo-Mechanical load using Archard's wear model

Internal Combustion (IC) Engine is the heart of an Automobile. The failure in any critical component of the engine will affect the vehicle performance. The gaskets are vital parts of an engine that are essential in ensuring appropriate sealing to maintain optimal engine efficiency. The exhaust manifold gaskets are one of the most critical components which prevents the leakage of hot exhaust gases. The gaskets endure very high mechanical loads such as bolt loads, exhaust manifold sliding and banana-shaped bending brought on by thermal expansion, as well as extremely high thermal loads. As the gaskets are made of steel materials, due to the above Thermo-Mechanical loads, there are very high chances for wear out of the gaskets, which affects the performance characteristics & thus efficiency of the engine. Studying wear in gaskets is challenging due to nonlinear material behavior, complex geometries, and multi-layer designs. The wear in gaskets is an area which has not been studied extensively. This paper objective majorly focuses on a computational approach to capture the wear phenomenon on the gaskets. One of the most critical hot end durability tests of the engine was replicated in a simulation environment by considering all the relevant physics from the physical test. To simulate wear phenomenon, the classical Archards wear model was implemented in a UMESHMMOTION Fortran subroutine code and solved in the FEA Software ABAQUS. To consider the removal of material and geometry change due to wear, the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian meshing technique was used. Conclusion: • A methodology developed to simulate fretting wear between exhaust manifold and gasket. • Gasket damage due to wear was studied for 1000 hrs of heating & cooling of the engine. • This methodology predicts the gas leakage locations on gaskets accurately. • Simulation results are very useful to take correction & preventive action during design and simulation phase of the Program.