AVL PRODUCT DESCRIPTION EXCITE POWER UNIT

AVL EXCITE POWER UNIT

CRANKSHAFT DYNAMICS AND STRENGTH

The crankshaft is one of the main engine

components directly affected by the permanent
demand for increased specific output of combustion
engines. In order to achieve reliable designs,
simulation tools providing accurate results are
required to analyze crankshaft dynamics behavior
and durability.
AVL EXCITE Power Unit has proven its ability to
calculate results close to the real ones in many
projects and when compared with experimental
results. The use of two distinct categories of
crankshaft 3D dynamic models is offered: either a
condensed volumetric FE model obtained by combined static and dynamic reduction using commercial
FE solvers or a novel modeling technique developed by AVL, the crankshaft ‘structured model’. For the
latter a fully automated procedure for the model set up starting from CAD has been implemented.

Applications

Typical applications covered by the EXCITE solution pack Crankshaft Dynamics are:

• coupled bending and torsional vibrations

• flywheel motion (single mass, flexplate, torque converter, dual mass flywheel)
• detailed bearing results – forces, moments, orbital path, oil film ‘pressure and thickness
• section forces and moments for ‘structured’ crankshaft models
• transient stress analysis with EXCITE FEA or supported FE solvers based on EXCITE results
(engine cycle or run-up)

Calculation method

The simulation concept is based on dividing the non-linear mechanical system into sub-systems with
linear elastic structure parts and non-linearities occurring at the connections between these sub-
systems. The governing equations of the simulation model consider the structure elasticity, the non-
linear joint behavior and the structure dynamics including inertia effects (e.g. gyroscopic forces) under
given external loads.
The elastic bodies are represented by FE-models using reduced substructure matrices. The data
transfer to EXCITE is organized by interfaces to commercial FE-solvers.
The calculation is performed in time domain due to the non-linear characteristic’s of the overall
simulation model, using an efficient and stable BDF solver (Backward Differentiation Formulas) with
adaptive time step control.

AVL – Advanced Simulation Technologies 2010

AVL List GmbH Hans-List-Platz 1, A-8020 Graz, Austria
E-mail: ast@avl.com, http://www.avl.com/ast
AVL PRODUCT DESCRIPTION EXCITE POWER UNIT

Capabilities & Features

Condensed volumetric crankshaft models:

A combined static and dynamic reduction by commercial FE solvers is used to obtain condensed
nd
volumetric FE crankshaft models. All common types of FE elements (e.g. 2 order TET elements) can
be used. A strength evaluation is performed on the entire crankshaft. In that case sufficient dense
meshed models are used, in order to have one FE crankshaft model for the whole calculation
procedure.
Combined with MSC Nastran and Abaqus a modal stress recovery can be performed.

Crankshaft ‘structured models’:

In this ‘mass-element’ substitute crankshaft models mass points
are connected by elastic elements. The defined topology is
expressed in the form of mass and stiffness matrices of the
system, which are sparse. For complex parts like webs the
element stiffness matrix is general (fully populated) in contrast
to simple beam-mass models. Thus the ‘structured models’ are
as accurate as the condensed models suitable for all design
varieties of modern crankshafts.
In comparison to condensed volumetric FE models, the
structured model has a higher performance during the dynamic
simulation combined with a lower effort and lower hardware
requirements during the stress analysis. The strength analysis is
performed only on finely meshed detailed sub-models of the
highest loaded parts of the crankshaft. Automated generation of
Structured Crankshaft models
The detection of the highest loaded parts is support by calculated
fillet stresses and safety factors
(comparison factors) based on the internal forces and moments of the structured
dynamic model, using part of EXCITE Designer.
Crankshaft analysis with this model type is fully supported by EXCITE FEA Linear, the ABQAUS
based FE solver of EXCITE (see also the product description for EXCITE FEA).

AutoSHAFT:

With the tool AutoSHAFT the whole pre-processing part of generating structured crankshaft models
including disks for the dynamic analysis is automated, starting directly from the CAD models in STL
format:

• extraction of webs & disks, closing of section planes

• mesh generation using AVL FAME in hidden mode
• determination of masses, inertia’s
• setup of boundary conditions and static analysis by an internal FE solver
• creation of the final ‘structured model’ for the web and disk parts. Thus this part of the process
is very simple and is shortened to one day or even less.

AVL – Advanced Simulation Technologies 2010

AVL List GmbH Hans-List-Platz 1, A-8020 Graz, Austria
E-mail: ast@avl.com, http://www.avl.com/ast 2
AVL PRODUCT DESCRIPTION EXCITE POWER UNIT

Shaft Modeler:

The Shaft Modeler is a special graphical pre-processor for

efficient generation and checking of crankshaft ‘structured
models’:

• the single elements (parts of the shaft) are

assembled and overall stiffness and mass
matrices, element stiffness matrices, degrees of
freedom and geometry are generated
• modal analysis, animation of the modes and
unbalance analysis are offered to check the model Shaft Modeler – animation of modal
analysis results

Fillet Modeler:
The Fillet Modeler extends the NOD6 crankshaft
strength workflow to cover all steps from CAD
(STL) to final stress analysis in fillet regions w/o
rd
need of any 3 party FEM meshing tool. The tool
generates local FEM meshes for all selected fillets
and extracts them as sub-models to be directly
used inside EXCITE FEA or Abaqus. These fillet
Fillet Modeler – automated mesh generation models will be automatically positioned and
for crankshaft durability analysis oriented correctly within the global FE model.
The Fillet Modeler can also be used for MSC
Nastran models and in combination with CON6 bodies and to generate general fillets (i.e.
transmission shafts).

Joints:

An important feature of EXCITE is to offer different joint models, which allow the coupling of individual
engine components depending on the requirements of the application:

• linear and non-linear spring/ damper function, e.g. for axial bearings
• enhanced hydrodynamic bearing joint considering bending and transfer of moments in the
bearings
• piston guidance (for models with single mass piston)
• full elasto-hydrodynamic solution for slider bearings, piston-liner contacts and axial thrust
bearings
• torsional vibration damper
• roller bearing models, generic gear joint considering meshing stiffness (load dependent),
clearance and damping
• belt joint for linear connection of pulleys
• user defined joint for connecting bodies with user defined transfer characteristics (UDJ)

AVL – Advanced Simulation Technologies 2010

AVL List GmbH Hans-List-Platz 1, A-8020 Graz, Austria
E-mail: ast@avl.com, http://www.avl.com/ast 3
AVL PRODUCT DESCRIPTION EXCITE POWER UNIT

Unbalance calculation:
Evaluation of free forces and moments
and calculation of the balancing ratio
considering all crank train moving and
rotating masses and additional balancer
shafts (evaluation of entire crankshaft as
well as individual crank throws).

Harmonic components of shaking forces and

moments due to oscillating masses

Automated 2D post-processing with report capability:

• automated result evaluation with standard plots and report generation for single cases, case
sets and run-up simulation
• fringe plots, Campbell diagrams, various operations on result data (FFT, mean value, etc.)
• additional result templates can be defined and added

AVL IMPRESS for 3D post-processing and animation:

The dynamic behavior, e.g. global motion, displacements, velocities, accelerations as well as joint
results, can be visualized and animated on the condensed and uncondensed FE bodies in time
domain.

AVL EXCITE Fatigue:

TM
Fatigue strength analysis tool based on fe-safe for infinte life and life time evaluation (see also the
product description for EXCITE Fatigue).

Your benefits

• investigation of crank train dynamics under running engine conditions allow to go close to the
endurance limits
• transient stress (stress in time domain) for given speed - load conditions
• comprehensive non-linear joint models provided, e.g. enhanced hydrodynamic bearing joint
• transient engine run-up simulation: detection of all critical resonances and shorter overall
process time
• complete and automated analysis workflow: AutoSHAFT – automated generation of
crankshaft models, Fillet Modeler – generation of fine meshed sub-models, EXCITE FEA –
linear FE-solver, EXCITE Fatigue – strength evaluation
• 3D View of simulation model to check initial conditions of bodies, orientation & connections
and mesh editing capabilities
• user definable input dialogs (Favorites) for template models and workflow descriptions (GUI
integrated)
® ® ® ® ® ® ®
• interfaces: Abaqus , ANSYS , MSC Nastran , NX Nastran , MATLAB /Simulink , iSIGHT ,
TM
modeFRONTIER

AVL – Advanced Simulation Technologies 2010

AVL List GmbH Hans-List-Platz 1, A-8020 Graz, Austria
E-mail: ast@avl.com, http://www.avl.com/ast 4