Computer-Aided Design and Load Analysis of a Cylinder Head Gasket

This paper describes the complexity of the cylinder head sealing system of an internal combustion engine. The approach taken to the analysis of the sealing system is to look at the cylinder head gasket as an integral part of a larger system, which is the engine and its environment. Each section of the paper describes different conditions to which the gasket is subjected, and presents an analysis of the effects of these conditions on the gasket. The paper shows ways to obtain solutions for an optimum design of the gasket and the overall system.

The final results are in the form of a computer printout representing three stages of gasket load distribution: installation, after relaxation, and power cycle.