Thermo-mechanical analysis of the exhaust manifold of a high performance turbocharged engine

This contribution presents a methodology for the structural analysis of the exhaust manifold of an internal combustion engine. In particular, the thermal loading and the related thermal fatigue damage mechanism are addressed. The component investigated is a melted exhaust manifold which includes the turbine involute. The complex geometry of the component derives from the project constrains in terms of engine performance and sound targets. Finite Element simulations are performed to obtain a virtual approval of the component geometry, in advance with respect to the component manufacturing. The Finite Element analysis accurately follow the experimental approval procedure which considers different warming and rapid cooling cycles to mimic typical engine operating conditions. Two particular aspects of the developed numerical methodology are described in details: a) the elasto-plastic behaviour of the material at high temperatures; b) a damage criterion for thermal fatigue. Following the Ferrari expertise derived by previous experimental and numerical analysis of other exhaust manifolds, the increase of the equivalent plastic strain registered for a single thermal cycle (delta PEEQ) is firstly adopted as a damage criterion. The methodology reveals itself to be well correlated with the experimental evidences thus limiting the number of tests necessary for the component approval.