International Journal of Applied Engineering Research

ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 8, Number 14 (2013) pp. 1685-1694

© Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

Modal and Fatigue Analysis of a Camshaft using FEA

Santosh Patila,b*, S. F. Patilb and Saravanan Karuppanana

a
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
UniversitiTeknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar,
Tronoh, Perak,31750 Malaysia
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.L.E.S.C.E.T. Udyambag,
Belgaum, Karnataka,590008 INDIA

Abstract

Camshafts rotate at high speeds causing vibrations in the system. Camshafts

are also subjected to varying contact fatigue loads due to the contact of the
plunger on the cam. Due to these fluctuations, vibration and fatigue failures
occur on the shaft. Hence modal and fatigue analysis need to be carried out on
the camshafts to ensure safety and to determine the life of the member. In this
study, a numerical finite element technique was applied on the camshaft model
to carry out the above mentioned analysis. The camshaft was modeled in
CATIA software and exported in STEP format for further analysis. The
ANSYS software was then employed, to obtain the natural frequency, mode
shapes and the fatigue alternative stresses of the camshaft member. Validation
of the finite element modal analysis results was carried out by comparing them
to the Dunkerley’s Method results. Various theories for fatigue life such as
Soderberg, Goodman and Gerber theory were employed to verify the finite
element fatigue analysis results. It was observed that the results were in good
agreement with each other. The resonance condition check was also carried
out in this work. Hence finite element analysis comprehensively provide the
results for the camshaft member under vibrational (rotational) and fatigue
loading.

Key words: Finite element, modal analysis, fatigue

Introduction
Figure 1 show the isometric sketch of the high pressure piston pump which is used in
the Common Rail Direct Ignition (CRDI) system manufactured by Bosch Ltd. This
pump is tested on the cam box which simulates the engine conditions with the help of
a camshaft.
1686 Santosh Patil et al

Figure 1: High Pressure Piston Pump

The schematic representation of the two station cam box is as shown in Figure 2.
A cam box is mounted on a test bench and coupled to a motor. The cam shaft rotates
at high speed as per pump requirement and drives roller tappet of the pumps. As a
result the test oil at low pressure in the inlet is boosted to high pressure at the outlet of
the pump.

Figure 2: Pictorial Representation of Cam Box Assembly

The cam box assembly comprises of a cam box, a top cover, a camshaft, drive
transmission members, bearings, and taper roller bearings at either end of the bearings.
It also houses a guide bush which guides roller tappet to move up and down, i.e.
converting rotation motion of the camshaft into linear movement to drive the pump.In
this paper, the analysis of the camshaft subjected to fuel pump loads have been carried
out. The objective of the work includes;
• Modal analysis of the camshaft for resonance conditions using FEA
• Theoretical validation of modal analysis using Dunkerley’s Method
• Fatigue analysis of the camshaft due to follower loads using FEA
• Validation of fatigue analysis using various fatigue failure theories

Finite Element Modeling

In this work, the analysis was carried out on a camshaft of a high piston pump used in
CRDI.Table 1 gives the necessary information of the camshaft dimensions and other
design specifications required for modeling and analysis of the camshaft.
Modal and Fatigue Analysis of a Camshaft using FEA 1687

The camshaft was modeled with CATIA V5 software. The 2D drawing made
available by the company was utilized for the modeling of the 3D camshaft model.
The 3D camshaft model generated is shown in Figure 3. The Catia model was then
imported to Hypermesh V9 software in STEP format for the meshing purposes. The
3D models were Hex meshed (8 nodded brick element) using the hex mesh tools. The
element used for the hex mesh of the camshaft was Solid45, as shown in Figure 4.
Solid45 is an 8 nodded element with three degrees of freedom at each node. It is a
degenerated element taking shape to 6 nodded prism or 4 nodded tetrahedral element
option. This element is best suited for regular or irregular geometries and for faster
results. This element can be used for linear or nonlinear problems. The detailed mesh
information of the camshaft is given in Table 2. The meshed model of the camshaft
with high quality meshing is shown in Figure 5. The camshaft was constrained in the
radial direction at the bearing supports, points A and B, to represent the simply
supported camshaft as shown in Figure 6. The concentrated force subjected at points
1, 2, 3 and 4 were varied according to the position of the rotating cam.

Table 1: Design Specifications and Inputs

No Design Specification Unit

1 RPM of the camshaft 1500 rpm
2 Torque of the drive shaft 150 N.m
3 Inlet pressure of pump on cam lobe 0.2 MPa
4 Outlet pressure of pump on cam lobe 5 MPa
5 Pressure acting on bearing 0.1702 MPa
6 Volume of the total camshaft 403397 mm3
7 Volume of the camshaft without cams 360920 mm3
8 Volume of each cam lobe 10619 mm3
9 Weight of each cam lobe 0.81 N
10 Grinding test load on cam lobe 1000 N
11 Tangent modulus 5 GPa

Table 2: Mesh information of the Camshaft

Element SOLID 45
Quality High Quality Hex Mesh
No. of elements 52662
No. of nodes 56999

Figure 3: 3D Camshaft Model

1688 Santosh Patil et al

Figure 4: SOLID 45 Element [1]

B
4
3
2
1
A

Figure 5: Meshed Model of Camshaft

Figure 6: Boundary Condition of Camshaft

Modal and Fatigue Analysis of a Camshaft using FEA 1689

Modal Analysis
The main aim of the modal analysis was to determine the natural frequency and the
mode shapes of the camshaft. The natural frequency was obtained analytically by
using Dunkerley’s method. The analytical method was then compared with ANSYS
simulation results.

Dunkerley’s Method
Dunkerley’s method [2] was used to calculate the natural frequency of the camshaft
by using the following equations:
Wl 2l 2
δ= 1 2 (1)
3EIl

where δ is the deflection of the shaft at the loading point, W is the force applied, l1 the
distance from the far left of the shaft to the loading point, l2 is the distance from the
loading point to the far right of the shaft, E is the modulus of elasticity, I is the
moment of inertia of the shaft and l is the length of the shaft (l1 + l2).
1 9.81
f = (2)
2π δ
1 1 1 1 1 1
2
= 2+ 2+ 2+ 2+ 2 (3)
fn f1 f2 f3 f4 fs

wherefi is the frequency of the cams, fs is the frequency of the shaft and fn is the
natural frequency of the system.
The input parameters [3] and the analogy of the problem to be solved with
Dunkerley’s method are shown in Table 3 and Figure 7, respectively.The summary of
the results obtained by using the Dunkerley’s method is shown in Table 4. The
operating frequency i.e. 25 Hz is much less than the 1st natural frequency of the
camshaft i.e.400.8 Hz, (f<fn), hence the resonance condition is avoided.

Figure 7: Free body diagram of the camshaft for self-weight and cam weight [3]
1690 Santosh Patil et al

Table 3: Input parameters of the camshaft

Items Values
Weight of each cam 0.81 N
Diameter of the camshaft 30 mm
Length of the camshaft 350 mm
Self-weight of the shaft 54 N/m
Mass Density 7800 kg/m3
Moment of Inertia 39760.8 mm4
Elastic Modulus 200 GPa
Area 706.85 mm2
Distance to Outer Fiber 15 mm

Table 4: Deflections and Frequencies of the camshaft

Items Values
δ1 2.79 x 10-8 m
f1 2986.1 Hz
δ2 8.31 x 10-8 m
f2 1728.6 Hz
δ3 8.04 x 10-8 m
f3 1757.5 Hz
δ4 2.40 x 10-8 m
f4 3212.8 Hz
δs 1.33 x 10-6 m
fs 432 Hz
fn 400.8 Hz
Operating Frequency “f” 25 Hz

Modal Analysis in ANSYS

Procedure for a modal analysis consist of four main steps namely[4], (1) Build the
model, (2) Apply loads and obtain the solution, (3) Expand the modes and (4) Review
the results. The procedure above was implemented carefully to determine the natural
frequency of the camshaft. Figure 8 shows the result of the mode shape for the 1st
natural frequency of the camshaft. The results of the natural frequencies are
summarized in Table 5.
Modal and Fatigue Analysis of a Camshaft using FEA 1691

Figure 8: Mode Shape for 1st Natural Frequency (420 Hz)

Table 5: Camshaft Frequency Table

Set Frequency (Hz)

1 420.0
2 558.4
3 1519.8
4 1619.7
5 2968.5

Validation of Results with theoretical calculations

The comparison of the modal results determined by theoretical calculation and FEA
simulation is presented in Table 6. The results show good agreement and differ by
only 4.5%. We can conclude that the ANSYS results are reliable and can be applied
for complicated analysis.

Table 6: Comparison of the Modal results

Frequency of Theoretical ANSYS Results Percentage Difference

Camshaft Results
st
1 Natural frequency 400.8 Hz 420.0 Hz 4.5%

Fatigue Analysis
Theoretical Calculation for Bending and Alternating Stress
The camshaft was considered as a simply supported beam with cams replaced by their
equivalent forces acting on the shaft. The free body diagram of the camshaft with the
forces acting on it is represented in Figure 9.The bending moments and stresses of the
simply supported beam were calculated for the different load cycle cases, and the
results are represented in Table 6.The maximum and minimum bending stress for the
1692 Santosh Patil et al

above cases was observed as 27.6 MPa and 20.3 MPa, respectively, giving a
mean stress, σm of 23.95 MPa.

Figure 9: Free body diagram of the forces acting on the camshaft [3]

The 16MnCr5 structural steel alloy was used to manufacture the camshaft. The
properties and the S-N curve of this material are as in Table 7 and Figure 10,
respectively. The suggested factor of safety, n for the camshaft was between 6 and 8
[5]. The factor of safety used for the theoretical calculation of the alternating stress in
this study is 7.The alternating stresses, σa calculations by various theories [6, 7] are
shown below:

Table 7: Bending moments and stresses on the camshaft

Parameters Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4

F1 (N) 595.4 236.8 203.8 208.5
F2 (N) 208.5 595.4 236.8 203.8
F3 (N) 203.8 208.5 595.4 236.8
F4 (N) 236.8 203.8 208.5 595.4
M (N.m) 53890 73166.4 72594 54292.7
σb(MPa) 20.3 27.6 27.3 20.5

Figure 10: S-N curve data for 16MnCr5 [3]

Modal and Fatigue Analysis of a Camshaft using FEA 1693

Soderberg Equation:
σa σm 1
+ =
Se Sy n
σ a = 11.81 MPa

Goodman Equation:
σa σm 1
+ =
Se S ut n
σ a = 11.90 MPa

Gerber Equation:
2
σa ⎛ nσ ⎞
+⎜ m ⎟ =1
S e ⎜⎝ S y ⎟⎠
σ a = 11.75 MPa
Therefore, the maximum alternating stress in the camshaft is 11.90 MPa. Thus, the
alternating stress produced is less compared to the endurance limit (86.2 MPa). Hence
the camshaft is safe and does not fail for any number of cycles. Meanwhile, the
alternating stress result obtained by ANSYS is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: ANSYS fatigue result window

Fatigue Validation
Table 8 shows the comparison of the alternating stress results determined by the
theoretical calculations and the ANSYS fatigue module. The results agree well with
the maximum difference of 5.7% when the ANSYS result was compared to the
Goodman criterion.

Table 8: Material Properties of 16MnCr5 steel alloy

Property Value
Yield Stress, Sy 588 MPa
Ultimate Tensile Strength, Sut 785 MPa
Young’s Modulus, E 206 GPa
Poisson’s Ratio, v 0.3
Endurance limit, Se MPa
1694 Santosh Patil et al

Table 9: Comparison of Fatigue results

Fatigue Theoretical Results (MPa) Ansys Result (MPa)% Diff*

Details SoderbergGoodman*Gerber
σa 11.81 11.90 11.75 11.22 5.7

Conclusions
Based on the study conducted, the following conclusions have been summarized
below.
• The modal analysis carried out using ANSYS software is compatible with the
Dunkerley’s calculations with a difference of 4.5%.
• Determination of natural frequency is important for the understanding of the
resonance phenomenon which occurs when the vibration comes in context
with the natural frequency. The operating frequency of the camshaft is 25 Hz
which is fairly away from the natural frequency of the camshaft i.e. 400.8 Hz;
hence the system is safe from resonance.
• The alternating stress calculated using ANSYS module is 11.22 MPa, and the
result closely agree with Soderberg, Goodman and Gerber criterion.

REFERENCES
[1] ANSYS Release 12.0, 2009 – Structural Analysis Guide, SAS IP, Inc.
[2] Shigley, J. E., Mischke, C. R. and Budynas, R.G., 2004, Mechanical
Engineering Design, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill.
[3] Santosh, S., Patil, 2010, Contact Fatigue and Residual Stress Analysis of Cam
Shaft Assembly, M.Tech. Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
KLECET, VTU-Belgaum.
[4] Zwiers, U., 2007, “First Steps in Vibration Analysis Using ANSYS”.
[5] http://engr.bd.psu.edu/rxm61/213/problems/factor_of_safety.pdf.
[6] Bannantine, J. A., Comer, J. J. and Handrock, J. L., 1990, “Fundamentals of
Metal Fatigue Analysis”, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632.
[7] Beden, S. M., Abdullah, S., Ariffin, A. K., AL-Asady, N. A. and Rahman, M.
M., 2009, Fatigue Life Assessment of Different Steel-Based Shell Materials
Under Variable Amplitude Loading, European Journal of Scientific Research,
29(1), pp.157-169.