Harmonic Analysis of a two cylinder crankshaft using
ANSYS
Basavaraj Talikoti Dr. S. N. Kurbet
Research Scholar Prof. and Head of
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engg.
Department, Department,
Dr. K. M. Vasudevan Mechanical Engg. dept
Pillai College of Engg Basveshwar College of
media studies and Engg ,
research,
Bagalkot, Karnataka,
New Panvel ,
Maharashtra, India India
Abstract—Crankshafts play a pivotal role in the automobile
industry as it is the primary part of the internal combustion
engines. There is a strong necessity for its stable and dependable
operation in the market as failure of the crankshaft results in
huge losses. Harmonic analysis helps us to determine the
behavior of the crankshaft when subjected to different time
varying loads. This will be useful to obtain optimal design of the
crankshafts so that it can be durable and hence advantageous for
the engine.
Keywords—crankshaft; vibration; ANSYS; harmonic analysis;
stress; deformation
I. INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of the crankshaft is to obtain rotary
motion from reciprocating motion. The crankshaft in its entire
operating life undergoes both torsional as well as bending
vibrations and stresses as it is subjected to continuous load of
the components attached to it and stress due to combustion of
the gases. The rise in climate pollution and habitat related
issues such as noise, there is a constant pressure on the
designers to produce lightweight components for the engine to
produce low NVH levels. Also, with modernization comes the
necessity of high speed engines. Thus, the designers have to
deal with the trade-off between speed, weight, efficiency and
develop a crankshaft for an engine. Harmonic analysis of a
structure facilitates in finding the different positions in the
geometry of the structure that get affected due to stress caused
by harmonically varying load. The frequency analysis is
obtained using which the peaks at different frequencies can be
obtained along with the stresses and deformations and the
dangerous vibrational frequencies can be obtained. In this
way, the crankshaft can be protected from harmful vibrations
and hence damage. Harmonic analysis can be performed using
three methods: full, reduced and mode superposition, the latter
Dr. V. V. Kuppast Prof. Arvind M.
Prof in Mechanical Yadwad
Engg. dept. , Associate Prof.
Mechanical Engg. Department of
Department, Mechanical
Basveshwar College of Engineering,
Engg, The National Institute
Bagalkot, Karnataka, of Engineering
India Mysore-570008,
Karnataka, India
one is the most useful of the three as it can be used for further
complex transient dynamic analysis also [1]-[12].
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Harmonic analysis can be brought to advantage when used
for stress calculation [15]. In [16], harmonic analysis was
carried out to evaluate the dynamic twisting moments of the
model under test. The transient study of the crankshaft was
done to supervise the harmonic response of the structure for
torsional deformation [17]. The inertia torque harmonics of the
crankshaft under test were analyzed for the study of torsional
deformation [18]. In engines having longer crankshafts, the
higher harmonics can reach the torsional frequencies, resulting
in faults in the crankshafts [19].
In [20], mode superposition method has been used to
perform transient dynamic analysis on plates. The steady state
values of total deformation, stress, stiffness can be calculated
using harmonic analysis [20]. Mode superposition method is
more preferable than full mode as the number of number of
assumptions are less and it takes less time to execute [20]. The
effects of other components attached to the crankshaft such as
the flywheel can also be found out by harmonic analysis.
III. PROCESS
The process of harmonic analysis is primarily followed by
modal analysis; the geometry and the data related to the
structure can be directly imported for harmonic analysis after
the completion of modal analysis. The harmonic analysis will
basically give the frequency response which will alert the user
about the range of frequencies at which the crankshaft must be
operated and the analysis will also describe the behaviour of
the crankshaft at harmonically varying loads.
 The values of young's modulus and bulk modulus should
be given as the input with proper care as it decides how
flexible the structure will be considered. Thus, material of the
crankshaft also plays an important role here, as the properties
shown in figure 3. will change, which in turn will affect the
amount of deformation produced in the crankshaft.

B. Meshing
After the geometry is imported it is meshed, so that the
analysis can be performed on each mesh. Meshing is basically
finite element analysis where the given geometry is broken
into a number of finite number of elements and each element
is analyzed distinctively for all the vibrational parameters like
Figure 1. Project schematic stresses, deformations in the form of displacements etc.
A. Import Geometry
The geometry of the crankshaft is imported to ANSYS
workbench [2]. The details for the structure of crankshaft as
fed as per the requirements.

Figure 4. Meshed structure

The number of elements for the structure are 28874 and the
number of nodes are 50281, further details are depicted in the
chart shown in figure below.

Figure 2. Imported geometry of the crankshaft

Figure 5. Details of the mesh as seen in the ANSYS

Figure 3. Details of the structure as seen in the ANSYS workbench
workbench
C. Modal - Boundary Conditions
Before starting the harmonic analysis, the primary step is the
modal analysis which has to performed, for which the
boundary conditions are assumed as shown in figure 6.
Figure 6. Boundary conditions assigned to the crankshaft
D. Modal Analysis Results- Total Deformation
The result of modal analysis shows the total deformation
for 10 modes at 10 distinct frequencies. At these frequencies
there is a considerable amount of stress and deformation at
different parts of the crankshaft.
Figure 7. Chart showing different modes with frequencies as
seen in ANSYS workbench
Figure 8. Graph of mode versus frequency
E. Harmonic Response- Analysis Settings
After the execution of the modal analysis, the harmonic
response of the structure can be calculated for harmonically
time varying load. The analysis settings define the type of
harmonic analysis method used; i.e., Mode superposition. Also
the boundary conditions are defined which represent the forces
acting at different load points.
Figure 9. The analysis settings as seen in ANSYS workbench
Figure 10. Boundary conditions assigned showing different
forces acting (in red)
F. Harmonic Analysis Results- Total Deformation and
equivalent stress
The results of harmonic analysis show that maximum
deformation and stress is seen at the centre of the crankpin
where the load of the connecting rod and the piston cylinders
is maximum.
 Figure 11. Total deformation in crankshaft

Figure 14. Chart showing details of stress as seen in ANSYS

Workbench

G. Harmonic Analysis Results- Directional Deformation

Figure 12. Details of deformation as shown in ANSYS

workbench
Figure 15. Directional deformation in crankshaft

Figure 13. Equivalent stress in crankshaft

The equivalent stress generated on the crankshaft structure is

seen to be more in the centre of the crankpin. Also the
deformation is maximum at 66 Hz with maximum
displacement. The von mises stress is also calculated which
gives the criteria for deciding if the material will result in Figure 16. Details of total deformation, stress as seen in
failure or not. ANSYS Workbench
H. Harmonic Analysis Results- Frequency Response
The frequency response decides which frequency is
harmful to the crankshaft structure; as if the crankshaft
vibrates at that frequency it is liable to breakage.
Figure 17. Frequency Response
I. Harmonic Analysis Results- Phase Response
The phase response shows change in phase as soon as the
maximum vibrational frequency is obtained. This is thus,
matching with characteristic of vibration that is a type of
oscillation wherein, after reaching the peak value the
oscillation falls with change in phase and again rise with
change in phase to reach the peak value.
Figure 18. Phase response
Figure 19. Phase response including response of force
IV. CONCLUSION
Thus, Harmonic analysis can be used to analyze the
behavior of the crankshaft using the frequency response
obtained and from the results of total deformation and stress
obtained. The frequencies obtained in the frequency response
are the critical frequencies, if the crankshaft is incessantly
operated at these frequencies, it will result in the failure of the
crankshaft as continuous deformation will result in breaking of
the crankshaft. Further, this work can be improved by the use
of transient dynamic analysis which is the next stage for
harmonic analysis.
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(IRJET), e-ISSN: 2395 -0056, Volume: 02 Issue: 02 Sep-2015