Whole crankshaft beam-element finite-element method for calculating crankshaft deformation and bearing load of an engine

Crankshaft deformation and bearing load are very important for the lubrication ana-lyses of crankshaft bearings of an engine. The calculating methods of crankshaft deformation and bearing load will affect the results. There were some problems in the current methods used for calculating crankshaft deformation and bearing load, such as complicated model, more time taken for calculation, and error brought by simplification. In this article, the crankshaft of a four-cylinder engine was taken as the object of study, and the whole crankshaft beam-element finite-element method to calculate crankshaft bearing load and crankshaft deformation of a multi-cylinder engine was studied. The results show that this method is closer to the actual condition and can calculate the loads of all main bearings simultaneously compared with traditional methods used for calculating the crankshaft bearing load of a multi-cylinder engine. Meanwhile, this method is a simple, convenient, time-saving method used for calculating crankshaft deformation compared to the whole crankshaft solid-element finite-element method, and its calculating precision can meet engineering demands.