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3D Finite Element Analysis of Hydraulic Engine Mount Including Fluid-

Structure Interaction

Conference Paper · September 2005

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 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems 165

3D finite element analysis of a hydraulic engine

mount including fluid-structure interaction
F. Daneshmand1, P. Saketi 1 & A. Khajepour2
1
Mechanical Engineering Department, Shiraz University, Iran
2
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, Canada

Abstract
The interaction between fluid and structure can, in many practical engineering
problems, significantly affect the response of the structures and hence needs to
be properly taken into account in the analysis. Fluid-structure coupling and the
finite element method are used in this paper to propose a new strategy to analyze
the dynamic behaviour of the hydraulic engine mount (HEM) that is now widely
used as a highly effective vibration isolator in the automotive power-train. The
work conducted in this paper demonstrates that the proposed method for
estimating the system parameters using the FSI for modeling the HEM is
effective and the dynamic characteristics of the HEM can be performed before its
prototype development, and this can ensure its low cost and high quality for
development.
Keywords: hydraulic engine mount, fluid-structure interaction, finite element
method.

1 Introduction
The fluid-structure interaction problems arise in many different areas of
engineering where the system considered or some of its components are directly
in contact with a fluid. Examples are aircraft, jet engines, ships, pipelines,
nuclear and chemical reactors, offshore structures, bridges, etc. In these cases,
the fluid often plays an important role in determining the behaviour of the
structure of interest. To prevent the potential dramatic and expensive accidents, it
is necessary to seek a reliable technique for the determination of the
characteristics, in particular the natural frequencies of the structure in the
presence of the fluid. It is usually not possible to obtain analytical solutions to

WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 84, © 2005 WIT Press
www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 (on-line)
166 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems

some of the fluid-structure interaction problems because of the material and

kinematical complexity of the system modelled. As a result, numerical
techniques have to be used for studying such problems. Numerical methods are
not restricted to particular models and can be performed to any degree of
precision desired. Among the different numerical techniques, the finite element
method (FEM) is a highly systematized tool for the discretization of complex-
shaped static and dynamic systems where the continuous problem is transformed
into a solvable matrix problem. The various finite element methods used in the
solution of fluid-structure interaction problems can be categorized into the four
basic approaches, uncoupled approach, added mass approximation, Lagrangian
formulation and Eulerian formulation [1].
Hydraulic engine mount (HEM) is now widely used as a highly effective
vibration isolator in automotive power-train. It transmits the high frequency–low
amplitude engine vibrations to the body, and the low frequency–high amplitude
road disturbances to the engine. The increased use of hydraulic engine mounts in
automobiles has created an interest in not only studying the structural motion but
also in predicting fluid pressure levels and displacement fields to ensure
passenger comfort. The vehicle engine mounting system, generally, consists of
an engine (vibration source) and several mounts connected to the vehicle
structure. The modern engine mounting systems have been successfully used to
isolate the driver and passenger from both noise and vibration generated by the
engine. A detailed discussion on engine vibration and desirable engine mount
characteristics can be found in [2].
In this paper, a 3D fully coupled fluid–structure interaction (FSI) based on
finite element method (FEM) using ANSYS software are used for modeling the
dynamic performance of an HEM. The work conducted in this paper
demonstrates that the proposed method for estimating the system parameters
using the FSI for modeling HEM is effective and the dynamic characteristics of
an HEM can be performed before its prototype development, and this can ensure
its low cost and high quality for development. Finally, this paper shows that the
inclusion of the bell system in the upper chamber can reduce the stiffness of the
hydraulic mount.

2 Problem statement
The cross section of a typical engine mount is shown in Fig. 1. The model
includes seven parts: mount to engine connector (Part #1), bell system (Part #2),
upper chamber compliance (Part #3), inertia track (Part #4), decoupler (Part #5),
lower chamber compliance (Part #6) and the fluid that fills the free space of
chambers (Part #7). A lumped parameter (LP) model is a traditional model for
modeling the dynamic characteristics of HEM, in which the system parameters
are usually obtained by experiments [2].
The primary fluid variable may be a vector field of fluid particle
displacements or a scalar field such as the pressure, displacement potential or the
velocity potential. Pressure is used as the fluid variable in the present study.
Multiplication of the wave equation by a test function w=w(x,y,z), integrating

WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 84, © 2005 WIT Press
www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 (on-line)
 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems 167

over the total fluid domain, using Green’s first formula and assuming absence of
the body forces, leads to [3]
∂2 p ∂ 2 u sf
∫ ∂t 2 Ω + ∫ ∇ ⋅ ∇ Ω = − ρ 0∫ dΓ
2 2
w d c ( w) ( p ) d c w
Ω Ω Γ1 ∂t 2
(1)
c2 ∂2 p ∂p
g Γ∫2 ∂t 2
+ w dΓ − c ∫ w dΓ
Γ4
∂t
where Γ is the boundary of Ω, n is the outward normal of Γ and the fluid
boundary is divided into four different parts according to their properties, namely
1. The wet surface or the fluid-structure interface, Γ1
2. A free surface with prescribed external pressure where we allow the
linearized (gravitational) waves, Γ2
3. Fixed surface with prescribed external pressure, Γ3
4. An energy absorbing surface, i.e., a surface able to transmit the incident
wave, Γ4.

Figure 1: Cross section of a typical hydraulic engine mount (The Magenta

Lines are shown the FSI interface).

Discretization of (1) is carried out by expanding the pressure p in terms of

finite element basis functions or shape functions, each one associated with a
unique nodal point. The shape functions in the fluid and solid domains are
designated by the subscripts ‘f’ and ‘s’, respectively. The expressions for the
pressure p and displacement u then take the form
p(r, t ) = H f (r )P (t )
(2)
u s (r, t ) = H s (r )U s (t )

WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 84, © 2005 WIT Press
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168 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems

where P is the pressure at the associated nodal points at time t. Using the
standard Galerkin’s formulation with w∈{Hf}, the discretized form of (1)
becomes
 + C P + K P = −L + L + L
MfP (3)
f f s b e

in which P is the matrix including the unknown nodal values of the pressure and
c2
M f = ∫ H Tf H f dΩ +
g Γ∫2
H Tf H f dΓ C f = c ∫ H Tf H f dΓ (4)
Ω Γ4

K f = c 2 ∫ (∇H f ) T (∇H f )dΩ L s = c 2 ρ 0 ∫ H Tf usf dΓ (5)

Ω Γ1

T ∂ pe
2
c2
g Γ∫2
L b = c 2 ρ 0 ∫ (∇H f )T bdΩ Le = H f dΓ (6)
Ω
∂t 2

In summary, the two sets of equations for the solid and fluid domains are
M s U + C U 
s s + K sUs = Ls + L f
e
s
 (7)
 + C P + K P = −L + L + L
M f P f f s b e

It is seen that the finite element discretizations leads to a system of matrices

for each domain and the link between these domains appears through the
coupling terms Lf and Ls on the right-hand side. Here, Lf is a function of fluid
pressure and Ls is a function of the structural displacement and really carry the
interaction features of the model. All other terms on the right-hand side of the
equations are true load vectors and can be evaluated as

L s = M cU (8)
s

M c = c 2 ρ 0 ∫ H Tf H s ⋅ ndΓ (9)
Γ1

 
L f =  ∫ H s ⋅ nH f dΓ P = K c P (10)
Γ 
1 

K c = ∫ H s ⋅ nH f dΓ = ∫ H Ts nH f dΓ (11)
Γ1 Γ1

Finally, the assembled system of equations leads to

M s 0  U  C s 0  U  K s − K c  U s   Les 
   +    +  = (12)
s s
M   
 c M f  P   0 C f  P   0 K f   P  L b + L e 

It may be noted that M c = c 2 ρ 0 K Tc and that the most elements in these matrices
are zero.

WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 84, © 2005 WIT Press
www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 (on-line)
 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems 169

3 Results
The finite element meshes for different parts of a typical hydraulic engine mount
are shown in Fig. 2. The decoupler and the inertia track system are shown in
Fig.3. The lower and upper chambers are also shown in Fig. 4 and Fig 5,
respectively. The problem specifications are given in Table 1.

Figure 2. Figure 3.

Figure 4. Figure 5.

The 3D solid and fluid elements are used to model the HEM. The element
specifications are shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, respectively.
To compare the effects of inclusion the bell system in HEM, two different
models are considered in this paper. Each model also includes three different
decoupler openings (Fully opened, 50% opening and fully closed). The models
were considered for two different loadings: A) High Amplitude Low Frequency
(10000 N, 100-200 Hz) and B) Low Amplitude High Frequency (1000 N, 1200-
1300 Hz). All of these cases are shown in Table. 2.

WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 84, © 2005 WIT Press
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170 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems

Figure 6: Fluid Structure Absent.

Figure 7: Fluid structure present.

Table 1: Problem specifications (SI Unit).

Part Material Young’s Poisson’s Density Sonic

No. Modulus Ratio Velocity
1,2,4,5 Steel 200e9 0.3 7800 -------
3,6 Rubber 200e5 0.42 800 -------
7 Water ------- ----- 1000 1430

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 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems 171

Figure 8: Solid 45 element.

Figure 9: Fluid 30 element.

The deflections of the models versus frequency are shown in the related
figures as given in Table 2. Considering the maximum deflections of the models,
it is clear that the inclusion of the bell system in the upper chamber can reduce
the stiffness of the hydraulic mount.

4 Conclusion
The hydrodynamic response analysis of many practical engineering problems
like hydraulic engine mounts (HEM) differs from that of any other ground

WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 84, © 2005 WIT Press
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172 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems

structure. It is because the hydrodynamic pressures modify the solid

deformations, which in turn modify the hydrodynamic pressure causing them. It
means that the fluid-structure interaction can significantly affect the response of
the hydraulic engine mounts and need to be properly taken into account in the
analysis.
Table 2: Loading conditions.
Fig. # 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
HA-LF * * * * * *
LA-HF * * * * * *
Decoupler
Fully * *
Opened
Bell Decoupler
System 50 % * *
Included Opened
Decoupler
Fully * *
Closed
Decoupler
Fully * *
Opened
Bell Decoupler
System 50 % * *
Excluded Opened
Decoupler
Fully * *
Closed

The aim of the present study was to consider the fully coupled fluid structure
interaction in investigation of the dynamic behavior of a hydraulic engine mount.
This was included using a three-dimensional finite element modeling with
pressure and displacement as unknowns in the fluid and solid domain,
respectively. The advantages of the FSI model can be summarized as follows:
a. The static properties of the HEM can be estimated.
b. The pressure distribution in the chambers and the velocity distribution
of the inertia track can be predicted.
c. The shape and size optimization of the HEM can be performed.

Figure 10. Figure 11.

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 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems 173

Figure 12. Figure 13.

Figure 14. Figure 15.

Figure 16. Figure 17.

Figure 18. Figure 19.

WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, Vol 84, © 2005 WIT Press
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 174 Fluid Structure Interaction and Moving Boundary Problems

Figure 20. Figure 21.

The work presented in this paper demonstrated that the models created by
using the FEM and fully coupled FSI are feasible and useful in analyzing and
designing of hydraulic engine mounts. This modeling needs no mount prototype
in the initial design stage and thus the time for mount design is greatly reduced.

References
[1] Daneshmand, F., Sharan, S. K. & Kadivar, M. H., Dynamic Analysis of a
Gate-Fluid System, ASCE J. Engineering Mechanics, 2004.
[2] Geisberger, A., Khajepor, A. & Golnaraghi, F., Nonlinear modelling of
hydraulic mounts: theory and experiment, Journal of sound and vibration,
249, 371-379, 2002.
[3] Daneshmand, F., Fluid-structure interaction problems and its application
in dynamic analysis of radial gates, PhD Thesis, Mechanical Engineering
Department, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, 2000.

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