V.

Barragan - Virtual Powertrain Conferences

STRUCTURAL BURST EVALUATION OF ENGINE FLYWHEELS

Valter Barragan Neto, M.Sc.
General Motors Company

ABSTRACT
This paper shows how to evaluate an engine flywheel burst using the finite element method (FEM) in order to build a first
capable design using numerical calculation based on benchmark targets previously done on successful company
flywheels. The analysis consists in generating a 3D tetrahedral mesh for the whole assembly considering contact
mechanisms to describe the interference fit of the ring gear as well as the interaction of the two gear faces (radial and
axial) that meet the flywheel and apply the centrifugal load generated by engine speed times a safe coefficient. The
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stresses results in the sub-model are recovered at the surface with a membrane element set (thickness: 10 mm) and
then compared with the respective material database looking at the maximum principal stresses. Dassault-ABAQUS was
used to perform this technique but any other software can be used, since the user follows each one specific singularity,
once this analysis deals with contact between components. This approach also brings a proposal to save time and
computational resources with a model simplification discussion. The methodology discussed arises/shows up as a new
proposal for a model simplification, decreasing the computational time and resources usually required for this kind of
simulation, no jeopardizing the accuracy of results obtained.

INTRODUCTION
The start point of this approach is to get a good math data for all parts involved on the analysis, in this case will be only
used the flywheel and the ring gear, no bolts or crankshaft are necessary to evaluate the flywheel.

Figure 1 Engine with Flywheel

Above on Figure 1 is detached by the red circle the engine flywheel assembly with the pressure plate. The pressure plate
should have the same guidelines presented in this paper but it will not be covered at this time.

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Figure 2 Analysis Flowchart

Figure 2 shows the flow chart of a macro overview of the analysis procedure. If the results do not achieve the targets, it is
not necessary to get back to CAD to develop a new 3D design, once the flywheel is a relatively simple geometry; it is also
possible to change the design directly on the FEM pre-processor software.

Figure 3 Flywheel 3D model

An example of a flywheel back side can be seen on Figure 3. This reference is adopted when the flywheel is attached on
the engine, in other words, the face shown is the joint face between the flywheel and the crankshaft. In blue is the ring
gear and in red if the flywheel.

ANALYSIS
Once the 3D model is available, the next step is to create the FEM, taking into account the target criteria for element
edges sizing.

Figure 4 Flywheel centrifugal force impact representation

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With the component rotation along the centerline axis the centrifugal force will act on the flywheel as shown on Figure 4
and will bend the flywheel in order to move temporary its center of gravity (CG) to the contact plane between the
crankshaft and the flywheel.

Figure 5 Flywheel refinement areas

Based on the statement showed on Figure 4, the flywheel half section represented in Figure 5 shows that the CG is
translated to the right of the joint face. Due to engine spinning, flywheel ends will bend towards in left direction translating
the CG to the planar face of the joint, bringing about the need of refining the mesh in certain regions, indicated in Figure 5
with red circles.
The overall mesh size adopted was 3.5 mm on the surface, and 1.0 mm edge, or less, on the refined areas. For the
volume mesh was used the Hyperworks-SimLab 11.0 that based on the surface mesh performed a growth scaling
average of 1.5, in other words, as the mesh was growing from the outer surface to its core, the elements size were
growing 50%. This helps to reduce the number of generated nodes and reduce the analysis running time. The mesh
considered on this analysis is a second order tetrahedral C3D10M for ABAQUS nonlinear.

Figure 6 Flywheel 3D solid mesh

Figure 6, left side, represents the flywheel mesh density and the refined areas that have high stresses because of the
centrifugal load. On the right side is represented the contact surfaces between the flywheel and the gear. It was
considered the shrink fit contact between both components based on their specifications. This adjust was made
considering the contact interference option in the radial direction.
This paper shows an approach to evaluate only the flywheel burst once that the joint is already determined (number of
bolts, size, and tightening torque), based on this, the bolts are not modeled and its respective holes do not need to be
refined; this is an improvement on analysis processing time.
To recover the stresses a shell mesh, or membrane elements (M3D6), should follow the external geometry of the 3D
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model and these elements should have 10 mm thickness and follow each component material. This concept usually
represents better the surface stresses.

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In order to prevent rigid body motion, soft spring elements, with very low stiffness, should be used in the stress analysis in
order to hold the flywheel and ring gear until contact is initiated. This step is really necessary since it stabilizes the
contact between parts.

With the model already built, the next step is to calculate the engine load to be applied and then, the dynamic simulation
can be performed. The centrifugal load input on ABAQUS is applied as radians per seconds square and the desired
speed in this case will be adopted as two times the fuel cut-off engine speed to simulate a transmission down skip shifting,
th
st
for example from 4 to 1 gear where in general the ratios are three to four times reduction the engine speed will go up
fast and overpass the fuel cutoff speed. The engine flywheel must be able to support the stresses generated without
bursting/breaking, where once a failure of this magnitude could be dangerous for the vehicle passengers.


 
 = 

 .. 


 

 



Eq. (1)

The engine speed applied for the simulation performed in this paper is 13400 rpm being converted and applied in all finite
elements as centrifugal load according to Equation (1).

CONCLUSION
As expected by the dynamic simulation, the deemed areas presented high stresses. The stresses should be compared
with material yield tension, if the stress value achieved is below the yield limit no plastic deformation will occur, and this
should be the guideline to develop the engine flywheel.

Figure 7 Deformed versus undeformed shape

Comparing the undeformed and deformed shapes we conclude that the overall component CG is tends to move to the
joint face as previously expected on this paper. Figure 7 graphically presents the expected results from centrifugal force,
bending the flywheel tensing the refined areas.

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Figure 8 Flywheel maximum principal stress

Figure 8 shows the concentrated system contour plot. The stress region is featured on left side of the picture. This plot is
represents the maximum principal stress that, as mentioned before, should be compared to the material yield limit. The
next figure will bring an iso line contour plot pointing the elements over the yield stress limit.

Figure 9 Typical ring gear result contour

Following the flywheel concept, the ring gear should be analyzed applying the same methodology. Figure 9 presents a
contour plot of a section of the ring gear; usually the ring gear presents higher stresses and sometimes they are above the
material yield. This correlation is very difficult to achieve because the region is not able for strain gauges placement (is
hard to be monitored by stain gauge instrumentation), to measure the surface tension. This part of the study can be used
as a good guide for A to B design comparissons.
This work showed an overview of global procedure used in General Motors Company for design development purposes.
Once the model is built, several iterations can be done in a short period of time, and therefore this modeling can be easily
and successfully used for analyzing project changes proposals, new engine projects and for optimization. This procedure
helps to save money decreasing the number of developed prototypes and performed tests.
Even if after a considerable number of simulation loops, and after the design is defined, a burst test is still recommended
as long as the failures of this component can seriously injure vehicle passengers.

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REFERENCES
1. BOSCH, R. Automotive Technology Manual.
2. TAYLOR, C. F. The internal combustion engine in theory and Practice. Vol.2. The M.I.T press. 1985
3. DASSAULT. Abaqus 6.12-2 User Manual

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thanks to General Motors support for the development of this analysis, and for the Virtual
Powertrain Conferences sponsored by AVL for the opportunity to divide my knowledge with other powertrain CAE
engineers.

CONTACT
Valter Barragan Neto
Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Science in Materials Engineering.
E-mail: valter.barragan@gm.com

DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS

FEM:

Finite Element Model

3D:

Three Dimensional

CFD:

Computational Fluid Dynamics

CAD:

Computer Aided Design

CG:

Center of Gravity