Solid State Phenomena Submitted: 2015-10-22

ISSN: 1662-9779, Vol. 250, pp 255-262 Revised: 2015-11-26

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.250.255 Accepted: 2015-12-03
© 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Online: 2016-04-23

Fracture Problem of the Valve of Piston Engine

WITEK Lucjan
Rzeszow University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics,
Department of Aircraft and Aero Engines, Powstancow Warszawy Ave. 8, 35-959 Rzeszow,
Poland
lwitek@prz.edu.pl

Keywords: Fracture, valve, piston engine, numerical stress analysis, thermo-mechanical stress.

Abstract. In this paper the fracture problem of exhaust valve of the piston engine was investigated.
Visual inspection showed that on the fractured surface of the valve the beach marks, typical for
fatigue failure were observed. The crack origin was not covered by corrosion products or material
defects. In order to explain the reasons of damage of the valve, the non-linear finite element method
was utilized. The numerical model composed of the poppet valve, the guide and the seat face was
defined. In the analysis both the mechanical load resulting from the valve spring and also the
thermal load arising from a non-uniform temperature field were defined. The loads were at first
defined separately in order to check which load component has a dominant influence on the stress
level. In third load case (which represents the operational thermo-mechanical engine conditions) the
mentioned loads were defined simultaneously. The results of performed computations showed that
the operational dynamic stress (in the critical zone of the valve where the crack appeared) is more
than 12 times lower than the yield stress of the material. It means that the premature fatigue fracture
of the valve was probably caused by any phenomenon concerned with the increase of the
operational stress in the valve. The additional observation of the second (non-damaged) valve from
the same engine head showed that the carbon deposit was located on the valve face. The results of
the stress analysis of the valve with additional carbon particle showed, that in the valve stem a high
bending stress was observed.

Introduction
A valve system is one of the main component of a piston engine. The poppet valve during the
work opens and closes the volume of the cylinder (Fig. 1a). The exhaust valve is subjected to the
complex thermo-mechanical load. The mechanical load is caused by the valve spring when the
valve is closed. The valve has a contact with hot exhaust gases which temperature can be higher
than 700OC. The thermal load results from the non-uniform temperature field which occurs in the
valve during the work of the engine.
The problem of the stress analysis of the valve has received the attention of several investigators.
The structural and thermal analysis of the valve made out of the bimetal was described in the work
[1]. In the valves of piston engine large dynamic forces occur. The result of dynamic analysis of the
complex valve system was presented in [2,3]. In the work [4] the authors performed an interesting
study of durability of the valve with consideration of thermal deformation of the engine head. The
fatigue life of mechanical structures is often decreased by the corrosion or the vibrations [5-8]. The
same mechanisms limit the fatigue strength of the valves of piston engines [3,4]. In the case of
exhaust valves their fatigue life can be also limited by overheating [9].
The main objective of presented investigations is to determine the stress state in the exhaust
valve of the piston engine, subjected to the thermo-mechanical load. The additional goal of this
work is explanation of premature fatigue failure of the valve.

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256 Fracture and Fatigue of Materials and Structures

Description of the Problem and Visual Examination of Fractured Valve

The problem of fracture of the exhaust valve was occurred in a diesel engine (volume 1900 cm3),
in the car with kilometerage 230,000 km. According to the opinion of service experts, the fatigue
fractures of exhaust valves in this type of engine occurred at much larger kilometerage (0.6 to 0.8
million of km).
During the engine repair, the fractured valve was dismounted and subjected to the visual
examination. The fracture zone was located 25 mm above the valve head (Fig. 1b).

a) b) c)
Fig. 1. The exhaust valve assembled in the head of the engine (cross-section) (a). The valves:
without defects (left) and damaged during the engine work (right) (b). Magnified view of the valve
fracture (c).

The examination of the fractured valve revealed the existence of a few different zones (Fig. 1c).
The first crack origin (A) is located on the bottom part of the valve cross-section. The fatigue
fracture zone (C) with the presence of beach marks, typical for the fatigue failure covers about 60%
of the total cross-section area. When the front of the first crack was in C zone, the second crack was
initiated from point B. From this time, two cracks propagated simultaneously (in C and D regions).
The ruptured (dark grey) E zone is located between two dashed lines (Fig. 1c).

Fig. 2. The engine head damaged by the broken exhaust valve.

 Solid State Phenomena Vol. 250 257

The segment of the engine head, damaged by broken valve was presented in Figure 2. In
described engine the following parts were also damaged: the piston, the connecting-rod, the leading
injectors and the glow plug. The cost of the engine repair after failure of the valve can be very high.

Numerical Model of the Valve, Loads and Boundary Conditions

The parametric model of the valve segment with the seat and the guide was performed using
Patran program [10]. The discrete model of the valve presented in Fig. 3 consists of 15537 nodes
and 13952 HEX-8 elements. Between adjacent surfaces of the stem and the valve guide the contact
was defined [11]. The clearance between the stem and the guide equals 0.02 mm. The second
contact pair was introduced between the head face and the seat face (Fig. 4). The external surface of
the valve guide and the seat was fixed. The preliminary deflection of the spring (in valve closed
position) equals 5 mm. The force Fz in the spring acting on the valve stem (computed on the base of
spring geometry, deflection and material properties) is equal to 134.5 N (Fig. 4).

Fig.3. Finite element model of the valve segment with the seat and the guide.

a) b)
Fig. 4. View of the valve in close position (a). Boundary conditions and the force resulting from the
spring in the first load case (b).
258 Fracture and Fatigue of Materials and Structures

Valve Material
The analyzed exhaust valve is made out of 214N valve steel which consists of about 21% Cr,
9% Mn and 4% Ni [12]. Ultimate tensile strength and yield stress of 214N steel after heat treatment
(measured at a high temperature) are presented in Table 1. In this work the numerical model of
material was defined as linear-elastic. In the analysis of thermal stress, the variation of thermal
expansion of coefficient and Young modulus as a function of temperature were considered
(Table 2).
Table. 1 Ultimate tensile strength and yield stress of 214N valve steel in high temperature [12].
Ultimate tensile
Temperature Yield stress
strength
[°C] YS [MPa]
UTS [MPa]
510 640 340
560 590 320
610 540 290
660 490 260
700 450 250
760 360 220

Table. 2. Thermal expansion coefficient and Young modulus for 214N valve steel in high
temperature [12].
Temperature Thermal exp. coefficient α Young modulus
[°C] ×10-5 [1/°C] E × 105 [MPa]
100 1,56 2,07
300 1,76 1,93
500 1,85 1,65
700 1,86 1,03

Results of Stress Analysis

In the work, the solver Abaqus was used for thermo-mechanical stress analysis. In order to solve
the problem, the nonlinear finite element analysis (Newton-Raphson procedure) was utilized.
Figure 5 presents the von Mises stress distribution in the valve loaded only by the spring force
(without temperature). As seen from this figure, the area of maximum stress is located in the central
part of the stem. This area covers the zone of valve where the crack appeared (Fig. 1b). The
maximum equivalent stress value (resulting from the force of the valve spring) is only 3.9 MPa
(1,5% of yield stress (YS) of steel 214N in 700°C). The small value of operational stress resulting
from static spring force can’t be related to the premature failure of the valve.

Fig.5. Von Mises stress distribution in closed valve (resulting only from the valve spring) [MPa].
 Solid State Phenomena Vol. 250 259

The results of investigations presented the article [3] show that the dynamic stress (resulting from
dynamics of the valve system) in the moment of the valve closure can be about 5 times larger than
the static value. Based on the results of work [3], the maximum stress showed in Fig. 5 (resulting
from the static force of the spring) can be multiplied by 5. This correction gives the value of
19.5 MPa as a dynamic stress. Estimated dynamic stress is relatively small (7.8% of YS of material)
and can’t be the reason of early fatigue fracture of the valve presented in Fig. 1b.
In the second load case the non-uniform temperature field was defined (Fig. 6a) [1,4]. The
maximum temperature area (700°C) is located in the central part of the valve stem. The results of
FE calculations show that in the valve subjected to a thermal load, the zone of maximum equivalent
stress (13 MPa) is located at the external part of valve head (Fig. 6b). In the critical fracture zone of
the valve, a small value of thermal stress is observed (about 1.2 MPa).

a) b)
Fig. 6. Non-uniform temperature field defined in the valve in the second load case (a) and Von
Mises (thermal) stress distribution in the valve [MPa] (b).

Fig 7. Von Mises stress distribution in the valve in the 3rd load case (the superposition of force
spring and the thermal field) [MPa].
260 Fracture and Fatigue of Materials and Structures

The third load case consists of both the thermal field (showed in Fig. 6a) and the force resulting
from the valve spring (Fig. 4b). The results of calculations performed for this load case are
presented in Figure 7. As seen from this figure, after the superposition of the stress fields, the
maximum equivalent stress equals 12.5 MPa. The operational stress in the critical fracture area is in
the range 3.8-4.6 MPa.

Stress Analysis of the Valve in Engine with Inefficient Injection System

The results of computations presented in previous chapter showed that the small operational
stresses are observed in the exhaust valve, during the work of engine without disturbances. It means
that some additional phenomena caused the fatigue failure of analyzed exhaust valve. The test of
hardness performed on damaged valve (using Rockwell method), showed that the small fluctuation
of HRC values (27-30 HRC) was observed along the stem of damaged valve. Thus, the overheating
of the valve was excluded from further investigations.
The careful observation of another valve, dismounted from the damaged engine head showed that
the carbon deposit was located on the seat face of the exhaust valve (Fig. 8a). The size of carbon
particle was about 0.5x2.5x3.5 mm.
After this observation a new model with an additional element (carbon deposit) was defined
(Fig. 8b). Between the seat face and the carbon particle a third contact pair was defined. In this
chapter the load resulting from the valve spring only was considered. This load case represents the
operation of the engine after a cold start.

a) b)
Fig. 8. Carbon deposit located on the seat face of an exhaust valve dismounted from the engine
head (a). The numerical model of the valve with the carbon deposit located between faces of the
valve and the seat (b).

Figure 9 shows that the valve with the carbon particle is subjected to bending. In preliminary
steps of nonlinear analysis the contact was first activated at the top part of the valve head (near the
carbon deposit). When the spring force increases, the valve moves left. At the same time the valve
head shifts down. As a result of complex deformation the bending moment occurs in the valve stem.
In the last step of analysis (Fig. 9) the valve is in contact with two small areas (the carbon particle
and the bottom part of the seat). In the top layer of the valve stem the tension stress occurs. The
presence of the carbon deposit (thickness 0.5 mm) caused that maximum value of von Mises stress
achieves the value of 155 MPa (62% of the yield stress of material).
 Solid State Phenomena Vol. 250 261

Fig. 9. Von Mises stress distribution in the valve with 0.5 mm thick carbon deposit located between
faces of the valve and the seat [MPa].

Summary
In this study the fracture problem of the exhaust valve of piston engine was investigated. The
visual inspection showed that two fatigue cracks were initiated from two different regions of the
valve. In order to explain the premature fracture of the valve, the finite element model consisting of
the valve, the guide and the seat was defined. As a result of nonlinear calculations, the stress
distributions in the exhaust valve for different load cases were obtained.
Based on results of the work, the following conclusions were formulated:
1. The maximum value of von Mises stress in the valve loaded only by the spring force equals
3.9 MPa (1,5% of yield stress of the material). Results of work [3] showed that the dynamic
stresses at the moment of valve closure can be about 5 times larger than the static value,
calculated in this work.
2. The maximum equivalent stress resulting from non-uniform temperature field only has a value of
13 MPa (4% of the yield stress of the material). The maximum stress area is located on the valve
head. Thermal stress in the critical area of the valve (in the stem) is close to 0.
3. The superposition of thermal and mechanical load caused that the maximum value of von Mises
stress was reduced to 12.5 MPa (on the head of the valve).
4. The observation of the second exhaust valve (dismounted from the engine in which a failure
occurred) reveals the presence of the carbon deposit. The results of the numerical calculations
performed for the valve with 0.5 mm thick carbon deposit showed that a large stress (155 MPa,
62% of YS of material) is observed in the critical region of the valve stem.
5. The user of the car reported a large fuel consumption and the problems with a stat of the engine
at low temperature. There is a large probability that the bad condition of the fuel injectors caused
an incomplete combustion process in which a large amount of carbon was produced. The
irregular deposition of the carbon on the seat face of the valve (Fig. 8a) caused that in the valve
stem a large bending stress occurred (Fig. 9). The large amplitude of bending stress in the valve
with the carbon deposit was a main reason for premature fatigue failure of investigated valve.
In future works the numerical simulation of the crack growth process in the exhaust valve will be
considered. In order to solve the problem, the boundary element method (BEM) [13] and hybrid
method [14] will be used for stress intensity factor determination. The information about crack
growth dynamic in the exhaust valve is important from the practical point of view.
262 Fracture and Fatigue of Materials and Structures

Acknowledgement
The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie
Curie International Research Staff Exchange) of the European Union's Seventh Framework
Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement n° PIRSES-GA-2013-610547

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Fracture and Fatigue of Materials and Structures
10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.250

Fracture Problem of the Valve of Piston Engine

10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.250.255

DOI References
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Analysis 13 (2006) 572-581.
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[6] L. Witek, Crack propagation analysis of mechanically damaged compressor blades subjected to high cycle
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