Design, analysis, and manufacturing of an internal combustion diesel engine piston

In this thesis study, the engineering-based design, structural and thermal analysis, and manufacturability of pistons used in internal combustion diesel engines have been investigated. As pistons are critical components directly exposed to high temperatures and pressures in diesel engines, it is of great importance to accurately evaluate their behavior under both mechanical and thermal loads. Within this scope, the geometric dimensions of the piston were initially determined through theoretical calculations, and subsequently, a three-dimensional model was created using SolidWorks software. The developed model was analyzed in the ANSYS environment through the finite element method, and the distributions of mechanical stress, temperature field, and deformation values were evaluated. According to the results of the structural analysis, the maximum stress value under the internal pressure of 5.884 MPa applied to the piston crown was calculated as 51.6 MPa, which remains significantly below the allowable limit of the selected E-145 aluminum alloy. In the thermal analysis, the maximum temperature was observed to concentrate at the piston crown region, reaching 410.36 °C, and this level of heat exposure was found not to compromise the structural integrity of the component. Additionally, the total deformation was calculated as 0.019 mm, which is well within the allowable clearance between the piston and cylinder liner, indicating that the design is within a safe operational range. All these findings demonstrate that the designed piston can operate safely under combined mechanical and thermal loads and possesses a suitable structure for long-term service conditions. This study contributes to the literature and industrial applications by providing an optimized engineering design of diesel engine pistons, validated through computer-aided analysis methods.