Design and Static Structural & Steady State Thermal Analysis of Piston Head Using Ansys

Abstract

The piston is an integral component of the engine that transfers the mechanical work from the heat and pressure released during combustion into usable form. Our project uses Ansys 2021R\'s static-structural and steady-state thermal analysis methods to examine the piston head under varying loads, boundary conditions, and temperature scenarios. We will be comparing and contrasting the outcomes of three distinct materials: aluminum alloy, 316 stainless steel, and Alsi10Mg. The FUSION-360 program is used to build the 2-D and 3-D CAD models of the piston head. The ANSYS software is used to do the FEA study. In order to enhance the structural and thermal performance of the piston, the aforementioned three materials undergo meshing.

Introduction

The text presents a design and finite element analysis (FEA) study of an internal combustion (I.C.) engine piston, focusing on its design, material selection, structural performance, and thermal behavior.

• The piston is a critical engine component that reciprocates inside the cylinder and transfers the force produced by combustion gases to the crankshaft through the connecting rod.
• Its main components are the piston crown/head, piston rings, skirt, and piston pin. The piston must provide gas sealing, withstand pressure and temperature, resist corrosion and seizure, minimize weight and length, and efficiently transfer heat.
• The literature review shows that previous researchers have investigated piston geometry, thermal behavior, structural stresses, heat flux, and different materials using tools such as CATIA and ANSYS. Studies indicate that piston skirt length and material/coating selection significantly affect temperature, heat flux, stress, and overall performance.
• The present study compares three materials:
  1. Aluminium alloy
  2. 316 Stainless Steel
  3. AlSi10Mg
• Aluminium alloy is lightweight and has high thermal conductivity, stainless steel provides high strength and durability, while AlSi10Mg offers low weight, good strength, corrosion resistance, and relatively high thermal conductivity.
• The piston is designed for a 4-stroke, single-cylinder engine with a 50 mm bore, 49.5 mm stroke, 9.9:1 compression ratio, and operation around 6000–8000 rpm.
• The piston is modeled using Autodesk Fusion 360. The design includes piston rings, grooves, and piston-pin holes according to specified dimensions.
• The completed 3D model is imported into ANSYS Workbench, where material properties are assigned and the model is meshed into smaller finite elements.
• The mesh contains approximately 41,063 nodes and 20,431 triangular elements, with an element size of 2.35 mm.
• Two major analyses are performed:
  • Static Structural Analysis: evaluates total deformation, equivalent elastic strain, and von Mises stress under pressure and fixed-support conditions.
  • Steady-State Thermal Analysis: evaluates temperature distribution and total heat flux using ambient temperature, applied temperature, and convection conditions.
• After applying the appropriate boundary conditions, the ANSYS model is solved to determine how each material performs under mechanical and thermal loading.

Conclusion

1) The piston head undergoes on different load, boundary conditions, thermal conditions analysis by three different materials. 2) Meshing is done on piston material for improving the element quality and to analyze the finite particles of material. 3) Static-Structural and Steady-state thermal analysis is done and the results are plotted in above table. 4) By evaluating and comparing the deformation, stress, total heat flux parameters results on three materials, it is concluded that 316Stainless steel is having low deformation value and low heat flux value. Aluminium alloy and Alsi10mg are having high deformation, stress and heat flux compare to SS316 material. 5) Low deformation indicates the longer life span for a material and low heat flux materials increases chances of reducing heat losses during combustion in IC engines. 6) Reduced heat transfer causes the exhaust gas temperature to rise, which in turn boosts the engine\'s work output and thermal efficiency. 7) Finally, we can conclude that 316Stainless steel material can also be suggested for piston manufacturing. which helps in reducing heat losses and increase in thermal efficiency. In point of Perspective of having good thermal conditions and properties SS316 material can also be suitable for piston production.

References

[1] Azeem Khan, Asst. Prof. Amit Sharma, Steady State Thermal Analysis of IC Engine Piston Head Surface Using Ansys Workbench, International Journal of Scientific Research & Engineering Trends Volume 7, Issue 3, May-June- 2021. [2] Rayapati Subbarao, Satya Vart Gupta, Thermal and structural analyses of an internal combustion engine piston with suitable different super alloys, science direct, Volume 22, Part 4, 2020. [3] Ajay, Arshad Mehmood, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Ankit Kumar, Numerical validation of thermal analysis of an automobile piston using ANSYS International Journal of Research in Engineering and Innovation Vol 2, Issue 4 (2018). [4] Manoj Darwai, Anurag Kulshreshtha, Steady State Thermal and Structural Analysis of Piston Using Finite Element Simulation, 2017 IJSRST, Volume 3, Issue 7. [5] Preeti, Anamika, Dr.H.C.Thakur , Thermal Analysis of Piston of IC engine International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 7, Issue 12, December-2016.

Copyright

Copyright © 2026 P. Ratanaraju, B. Venkata Narayana. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.