Structural and Thermal Simulation of Fins Of An Air Cooled Engine Cylinder Under Varying Speed Conditions

Abstract

Engine cylinder is the main component of theautomobile which is subjected to high temperaturevariations and thermal stresses. Fins are basicallymechanical structures which are used to cool variousstructures via the process of convection. An air-cooledmotorcycle engine releases heat to the atmospherethrough the mode of forced convection. To facilitate this,fins are provided on the outer surface of the cylinder.The heat transfer rate depends upon the velocity of thevehicle, fin geometry and the ambient temperature.Many experimental methods are available in literature toanalyze the effect of these factors on the heat transferrate. In the present paper an effort is made to study theeffect of fin parameters on fin array performance whichincludes variation in pitch, thickness and fin material.The heat transfer surface of the engine is modeled inCATIA V5 R20 with varying thicknesses and fin spacingand simulated in ANSYS software. An expression ofaverage fin surface heat transfer coefficient in terms ofwind velocity is obtained. Heat transfer is taken as inputfor structural analysis. Finally obtained tempdistribution, heat flux ,thermal stresses and deformationfor three types of materials like aluminium,  cast ironand copper.