International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

International Journal of Research and Innovation in

Mechanical Engineering (IJRIME)
STRUCTURAL AND MODAL ANALYSIS OF AN ENGINE
BLOCK BY VARYING MATERIALS
Patnala N V Srilakshmi Sowbhagya1, K.Vijay2, V Srinivasa Rao3.
1 Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya College of Engineering and Technology, Surampalem, Andhra
Pradesh, India.
2 Assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya College of Engineering and Technology, Surampalem, Andhra
Pradesh, India.
3 Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya Engineering College, Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Abstract
The largest part of the engine is cylinder block. The upper section of the cylinder block consists of cylinders and pistons.
Crankcase is supported by the crankshaft and it is placed in the lower section. Aluminum cylinder blocks are lighter
than the cast-iron cylinder blocks of the same size. Cylinder block, pistons, cylinder head, crankshaft and connecting
rods are the major elements of the engine. IC engine cooling uses either a liquid or gas to remove the unnecessary heat
from an internal combustion engine. For special purpose and small engines, air cooling makes for a lightweight and
relatively simple system, if we use the materials with better waste heat dissipation it will help in achieving better efficiencies and long life of the engine.
This thesis was conducted to study the structural and vibrational behaviour of the engine block for various materials
of engine block. The modeling of the engine block is done using Catia V5 and the structural and modal analysis is done
in ANSYS, on the engine block by varying the materials. Presently, we considered Aluminium 7475, Graphite Cast Iron,
Nickel Aluminium Bronze Alloy and Sand Cast Magnesium Alloy.

*Corresponding Author:
Patnala N V Srilakshmi Sowbhagya,
Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya College of Engineering and Technology,
Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Email: pentasowbhagya@gmail.com
Year of publication: 2016
Review Type: peer reviewed
Volume: III, Issue : I
Citation: Patnala N V Srilakshmi Sowbhagya, Research
Scholar, "Structural And Modal Analysis of An Engine
Block By Varying Materials" International Journal of
Research and Innovation in Mechanical Engineering
(IJRIME)3.1 (2016): 213-216

INTRODUCTION
V8 ENGINE / 8 CYLINDER ENGINE
A V8 engine is also called as the 8 cylinder engine which
consists of 8 cylinders where the cylinders are placed on
the crankcase in two sets of four cylinders. In many of the
cases, the 4 cylinders are set at a right angle to each other. Sometimes, they are constructed at a narrower angle,
with all the eight pistons driving a common crankshaft.
In the simplest form, it is constructed in a position that
where the two inline-four engines sharing a common
crankshaft. The dynamic imbalance problems are same
with the flat or single plane crankshaft as in the large
engine displacements results in vibrations. To eliminate
the vibrations most V8 engines are used to have complex
crossplane crankshaft with heavy counterweights. By using this method of heavy counterweights, the V8 engine

is smoother than V6 engine and is also much inexpensive than V12 engine. Faster acceleration and efficient
exhaust system designs are attained by using V8 engines
with single plane crankshafts.
ENGINE BLOCK
Engine block is the main component in the vehicles which
runs on internal combustion which is used to prevent
overheating. The water which is being used in the engine
becomes very hot and it is being returned to the radiator
where it is cooled by the fans in the radiator, and then
returned back to the engine.
The engine blocks core is capped with the cylinder head.
The size of the powerhouse of the vehicle is determined
by the number of cylinders in it. It consists of a solid cast
part which houses the cylinders in it where the components are lubricated and cooled within the crankcase.
The failure of the engine block results in the failure of
the entire car and it will not function properly until it
is repaired or replaced . Therefore, the engine block is
designed to be very strong. Many of the engine blocks
are made of cast iron, and some are made from plastic
and some other experimental materials were being used
in newly designed cars with the hope of developing more
lightweight, efficient vehicles. A cast iron engine block
makes most of the weight of the car, and requires multiple people to be worked on it safely.
Most of the cars contains four to eight cylinders which
releases extreme heat from it. So, the engine blocks are
designed in such a way that there should more number of
passages and channels inside the cooling jackets. Working from the outside in, this part starts with a solid metal
outside, designed to seal everything inside.

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International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

MATERIAL PROPERTIES

TOTAL DEFORMATION

AL 7475
Density
2.81g/cc
Youngs Modulus
70.3GPa
Poissons Ratio 0.33
COMPOSITION:
Aluminum 91.5%
Copper 1.9%
Zinc 6.2%
NICKEL ALUMINUM BRONZE ALLOY
Density 7.53 g/cc
Youngs Modulus 110GPa
Poissons Ratio 0.32
GRAPHITE CAST IRON

Total deformation results in model of engine block with Al 7475

DIRECTIONAL DEFORMATION

Density
7.19 g/cc
Youngs Modulus 99GPa
Poissons Ratio 0.21
SAND CAST MAGNESIUM ALLOY
Density
1.8 g/cc
Elastic Modulus 45GPa
Poissons Ratio 0.35
COMPOSITION:
Aluminium 10.7%
Magnesium 90%
Zinc 0.3%
ANALYSIS

Directional deformation results in model of engine block with Al

7475

STRUCTUAL ANALYSIS:

MODAL ANALYSIS:

STRESS

Total deformation 1 of model of engine block with Al 7475

Stress results in model of engine block with Al 7475

STRAIN

Strain results in model of engine block with Al 7475

Total deformation 2 of model of engine block with Al 7475

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International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

CONCLUSION
Here in this thesis we have taken an engine block of a v-8,
4 cylinder engine of a 4 wheeler vehicle. As in the present
days with the temperature conditions and the load conditions many engines are getting deformed and damaged
very quickly, so here we are going to decrease the stress
formation and even the deformations.
In this project we have designed a engine block of v-8
model in Pro-e and Ansys is done in Ansys software,
structural and modal analysis is done to it with different
materials to find the stress formations.
Total deformation 3 of model of engine block with Al 7475

As if we observe in this project we have taken the materials AL 7475, GRAPHITE CAST IRON, NICKEL ALUMINUM
BRONZE ALLOY AND SAND CAST MAGNESIUM ALLOY.
These are the materials taken for the structural and modal analysis.
As if we compare the results obtained in the tabular and
graph form from the ansys results of structural analysis
the stress (4.84e+007) and strain (1.08e-03) and deformations are low to the sand cast magnesium alloy than the
other materials.
As per the structural analysis we can conclude that the
material with sand cast magnesium alloy can withstand
the stress at higher pressures for a 4 cylinder v-8 model.

Total deformation 4 of model of engine block with Al 7475

As if we compare the results obtained in the modal analysis here the results are varying from each deformation, as
if we take less deformation the material with the nickel
aluminum bronze alloy is the best suited material for the
v-8 4 cylinder engine block. And sand cast iron magnesium alloy will be the next better product here in the less
deformed shape.
So from the above results obtained we can conclude that
sand cast magnesium alloy will be the best suited material for the better life of the engine block and with better
outputs.
REFERENCES

Total deformation 5 of model of engine block with Al 7475

As we calculated the deformations with Al 7475, in the

same way we can also calculate the deformations with
some of the other materials like Graphite cast iron alloy, Ni.Al.Bronze alloy and Sand cast Mg alloy. The stress,
strain, total and directional deformations for the taken
alloys are:
STRESS

STRAIN

MIN

MAX

MIN

MAX

AL 7475

2.19E05

4.88E+07

3.11E16

6.95E04

GRAPHITE
.CAST
IRON

2.19E05

4.88E+07

1.48E16

Ni.Al.
BRONZE
ALLOY

1.89E05

4.93E+07

SAND
CAST Mg.
ALLOY

2.44E05

4.84E+07

TOTAL
DEFORMATION

DIRECTIONAL
DEFORMATION

[1] Marcel Davis, RadekTichanek, Mirsolav spaniel,

Study of heat transfer analysis of diesel engine block
ActaPolytechnica Vol. 43 No. 5/2003 [2001]
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Vol. 43 No. 5/2003 [1998]

MIN

MAX

2.26E05

-2.47E06

1.42E05

3.30E04

1.07E05

-1.17E06

6.76E06

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1.35E16

3.52E04

1.13E05

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7.13E06

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5.42E16

1.08E03

3.54E05

-3.82E06

2.22E05

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International Journal of Research and Innovation on Science, Engineering and Technology (IJRISET)

[8] Dr.S.MKhot, Comparative cooling of engine cooling

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[2010]
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AUTHORS

Patnala N V Srilakshmi Sowbhagya,

Research Scholar,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Aditya College of Engineering and Technology,
Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh, India.

K.Vijay,
Assistant professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Aditya College of Engineering and Technology,
Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh, India.

V Srinivasa Rao,
Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Aditya Engineering College,
Surampalem, Andhra Pradesh, India.

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