Structural Durability Analysis of Powertrain Mounting Bracket

Sameer U. Kolte*1,David Neihguk 2, and Abhinav Prasad3

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.
* Mahindra Research Valley, Mahindra World City, Chennai, India
[email protected]

Abstract: Structural analysis is performed to

check durability of specified part for a given load
and support conditions. For the component to be
safe structurally, in any domain, the stresses
generated should not exceed the yield strength of
the material. However, considering possibility of
fatigue failure, the component is optimized such
that stresses generated do not exceed the
endurance strength of the material. The engine
mount bracket is subjected to loads primarily due
to weight of the powertrain, the unbalanced
torque. In this analysis, structural mechanics
library of Comsol is used. The CAD model is Figure 1: Powertrain mount assembly
imported from CATIA®V5R21. Tetrahedron is
selected as the meshing element. The material is 2. Pre-Processing
selected from 'built in' materials in Comsol
library. The bracket is subjected to different load 2.1 CAD Model
conditions like 3-2-1g weights, 3g downwards
unbalanced torque etc and is optimized so that The CAD model of the powertrain mount bracket
stresses generated and deflection of the bracket is is imported from CATIA®V5 into COMSOL.
within permissible limit. Effect of bolt preloads
is also considered. The results of the analysis are
compared with Hypermesh® results and are
found to be in good correlation.

Keywords: Powertrain mounts, Engine mounts,

Powertrain NVH, Stress analysis

1. Introduction

Powertrain mounts have great effect on the

noise, vibration and harshness characteristics of
the vehicle. They are prone to failure since they
have to withstand heavy dynamic loads of the
powertrain in the operating conditions. To ensure Figure 2: Imported CAD model in COMSOL
that the design is foolproof, it is necessary to
bring down the stress levels to a permissible
limit. In the presented analysis, COMSOL is 2.2 Material
used to analyze an Engine mounting bracket to
evaluate its structural performance and design Material was applied to the model from 'built in'
optimization. library of COMSOL. Structural Steel' was
selected since its material properties were close
1.1 Model to that of actual material.
Figure 1 shows the powertrain mounting bracket
assembly. The bracket serves as the connector
between the powertrain and the rubber mount.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2013 COMSOL Conference in Bangalore

 Table 1: Material Properties Minimum element 1.36E-4
size
Material Property Value Unit
Resolution of 0.3
curvature
Density 7850 kg/m3
Resolution of 0.85
narrow regions
Young's modulus 210 GPa
Maximum element 1.35
growth rate
Poisson's ratio 0.33 _
Predefined size Extra fine

Ultimate Tensile 410 MPa

Strength
2.4 Boundary Conditions
Yield Strength 270 MPa
The mounting locations of the bracket on the
powertrain were fixed. The boundary loads were
Endurance Strength 210 MPa applied on locations where Rubber mount is
bolted to the bracket.

2.3 Meshing

Once the material was selected, mesh was

generated for bracket. 'Free tetrahedral' mesh
element was selected for meshing with 'extra
fine' element size for greater accuracy.

Figure 4: Fixed constraints

Figure 3: Meshed Bracket

Table 2: Mesh Properties

Mesh Property Value

Maximum element 0.00316

Figure 5: Boundary Load
size

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2013 COMSOL Conference in Bangalore

 Table 3: Applied Loads

Force Direction Force Value

X -3000 N

Y 100 N

Z 3000 N

Figure 7: Displacement plot

The values of loads were obtained by performing
4.2 Analysis of results
dynamic simulation of powertrain which is out
of the scope of this paper.
From obtained results it was observed that the
stresses induced are above the permissible
3. Processing endurance stress. Hence it is required to do
design modifications in order to reduce the
The processing stage involves stiffness induced stress level. The bracket is weaker at
generation, stiffness modification, and solution base section hence it needs to be strengthened.
of equations, resulting in the evaluation of nodal
variables. Following is the element matrix 4.3 Design modifications
equation.
To improve strength, additional member of less
K e ue = f e thickness was inserted inside main bracket.
Flanges were provided to this new member in
4. Post-processing order to increase stiffness of the base plate.

4.1 Plotting the results

Von-mises stresses and displacement results

were plotted.

Figure 8: Modified bracket

Above analysis was once again performed. To

represent the welding between two brackets
'contact constraint' was added at welding
Figure 6: Stress Plot locations.

Following results were obtained-

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2013 COMSOL Conference in Bangalore

 Figure 11: COMSOL Stress plot

Figure 12: Hypermesh® stress plot

Figure 9: Stress plot for modified bracket

6. Conclusions

Structural analysis of powertrain mounting

bracket was successfully performed using
COMSOL Multiphysics. The initial results
obtained were used as a guide to do necessary
design modifications in bracket to meet the
strength criteria. The modified bracket was
analyzed again. It was observed that the new
bracket passes the strength criteria.

7. References
Figure 10: Displacement plot for modified bracket 1. J.N.Reddy, 'An Introduction to Finite Element
analysis', McGraw-Hill Inc.1993.
2. Taylan Altan and A. Erman Tekkaya, 'Sheet
5. Correlations Metal Forming - Processes and Applications',
ASM International.
Results obtained from COMSOL were validated 3. 'Automotive Handbook', BOSCH , 8th
with the results from Hypermesh® analysis. The Edition.
correlation was extremely good in terms of
values of stresses, stress pattern and
displacement.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the 2013 COMSOL Conference in Bangalore