STRENGTH ANALYSIS OF THERMALLY LOADED ENGINE COMPONENTS BY TWO-DIMENSIONAL AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT MODELS

Design analyses of thermally loaded engine components by simplified two-dimensional models rather than full three-dimensional ones can reduce costs by an order of magnitude or more. However, in some cases the significance of the results is also reduced and even lost.

The effects of such simplifications are discussed, using a diesel engine piston and a radial turbine wheel as examples. Temperature distributions can be computed with good accuracy using simplified models and engineering judgement. The results of stress analyses are much more uncertain and the use of simplified models requires careful considerations, as even widely used and accepted idealizations can produce results which are directly misleading.