Summary.A detailed contact analysis of a large connecting rod was performed to evaluate the fretting risk in the big end. Simulation was carried out in Abaqus considering all relevant boundary conditions, such as assembly loads, housing machining and dynamics from a flexible multibody simulation with elastohydrodynamic bearings. Being one of the most important variables, the local coefficient of friction (COF) and its evolution is calculated during the solution by using a subroutine in Abaqus. The model is validated by strain gauge measurements in a running engine. The resulted friction coefficient distribution matches well with the findings from a laboratory engine. The described methodology increases the accuracy of the fretting damage prediction by using a more realistic friction coefficient definition.

Summary. On combustion engine a connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of a piston to the rotating motion of a crankshaft. Simulation of a large bore connection rod has been performed in Abaqus Standard, using boundary conditions from AVL EXCITE Power Unit. By using the latest simulation technologies and the well known boundary conditions, simulated stresses correspond very well with the measured ones from a running engine.

Summary. The finite element simulation of a cylinder head has been carried out with Abaqus Standard using Z-mat material model, with thermal boundary conditions coming from combined conjugate heat transfer and gas-exchange simulations. The fatigue post-processing of results has been done with Z-post software using ONERA fatigue model. The resulting lifetime values have been found out to correspond well to observations from the field.

Summary. ONERA fatigue model identification has been carried out for the nodular cast iron material. Selected fatigue model considers mean stress effect, temperature dependency, multiaxiality and non-linear damage cumulation due to variable amplitude loading. Fitting of model parameters was carried out using the Z-set software package.

Summary. Cylinder Head Design of Experiment (DOE) was carried out by using the Wärtsilä digital design platform. The overall goal has been to create a simulation process to perform a complete cylinder head thermal-structural calculation and create a DOE over that process to vary the inputs, the geometrical parameters under optimization, in a fully automatic workflow. The outputs, uploaded to the DOE activity, were used to rank the input effects on the output response, to capture response sensitivity to input changes, to identify parameter interactions and, at the end, to estimate the optimal design.