This paper shows the feasibility on the application of E-glass fiber/epoxy(GFRP) composite materials to an automotive leaf spring. In order to keep much lighter weight by replacing the steel with the composite material, it is important to optimize the material parameters and design variables consisting of the structure. This paper focused on the effects of material compositions and its fiber orientations for estimating the static behaviors of leaf spring. First of all, basic material properties of GFRP composite were measured by five types of coupon specimens from ASTM standard test. The reverse implementation was also done to obtain the complete set of in-situ fiber and matrix properties from ply test results. Finally, the static spring rates was examined for the variation of thickness and material parameters such as fiber angles and resin contents of composite leaf spring.

Thermo-mechanical fatigue cracks on the turbine housing of turbochargers are often observed in currently developed gasoline engines for them to adopt lightness and higher performance levels. Maximum gas temperatures of gasoline engines usually exceed 950℃ under engine test conditions. In order to predict thermo-mechanical failures by simulation method, it is essential to consider temperature-dependent inelastic materials and inhomogeneous temperature distributions undergoing thermal cyclic loads. This paper presented the analytical methods to calculate thermal stresses and plastic strain ranges for the prediction of fatigue failures on the basis of motoring test mode, which is commonly used for accelerated engine endurance test. The analysis results showed that the localized critical regions with large plastic strains coincided well with crack locations from a thermal shock test.

This paper presents a method for the assesment of vibration fatigues in engine exhaust system. Analysis technologies by virtual model can reduce the number of physical tests and development cycles. The prediction processes are based on the construction of FE model for the exhaust system, normal mode analysis, and frequency response analysis. The analysis results(1st mode: 152Hz) of eigen frequencies are compared with the modal test results(1st mode: 151Hz). And frequency response analysis for accelerations and stresses at critical locations were also presented. The analysis method could be applied to assess the vibration fatigue for the engine exhaust manifold. As a result, maximum stress occurred at the end of diffuser and its frequency shows around 1st natural frequency of exhaust system. It shows a good agreement between numerical and experimental results.

Recently, most of moving parts at automobile engine are required to be lighter and compacter and have high performances such as strength and endurance, etc. In particular, the crankshaft is subject to complex loadings such as shear, bending, and torsional loads as well as inertia and torsional vibration. To investigate critical area and optimize the shape of crankshaft at intial design stage, it is necessary to consider the dynamic effect of crankshaft. This paper carried out structural analysis of engine crankshaft by using multi-body dynamics and multi-axial fatigue analysis