Design Optimization of Oil Pan using Finite Element Analysis

Over the past years an increasing attention has been paid to vibration and noise control in automotive engineering. The control of noise and vibration is essential in the design process of an automobile, since it contributes to the comfort, efficiency and safety. Considering trucks, the power train represents one of the main noise sources. The major contributor to the power train noise emission is the engine oil pan. The purpose of this project is to design a truck oil pan for vibration reduction using numerical simulations. In the analyses Finite Element Method (FEM) is applied to model the structural behavior of the oil pan. There are static load and dynamic load acting on a vehicle structure simultaneously. The current work explores the effects of pre-stress forces on modal parameters of oil pan. The harmonic response analysis of pre-stressed oil pan is one of the key objectives in this project. The harmonic response analysis of prestressed oil pan using ANSYS has been explored. FE simulations of the oil pan are presented, which are aimed to indentify the most dominant mode shapes within a frequency range of 0-1200 Hz. First pre-stress modal analysis is performed using block lanczo's method on the oil pan and then harmonic analysis of the pre-stressed oil pan is completed using full harmonic method. Based on the results obtained, efforts are made to optimize the design of oil pan to reduce the resonance effect caused due to vibrations. NX-CAD software is used to design the oil pan.