Modeling and analysis of the transient vibration of camshaft in multi-cylinder diesel engine

Abstract

The dynamics and vibrations of camshaft excited by multi-follower elements are modeled and analyzed. A pushrod valve train system from a four-cylinder diesel engine is selected as the case study. The camshaft is modeled to analyze the interactions of multi-follower elements. Both the camshaft angular vibration and bending vibration are taken into consideration. Each follower element is simplified as a multi-mass system. The lumped masses are connected by the spring elements and the damping elements. The contact force model at the cam–tappet interfaces was developed based on the elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication theory of finite line conjunction. From the analysis results, it can be seen that the bending vibration of camshaft is mainly in the normal direction at the cam–tappet interfaces. Moreover, the bending vibration is mainly influenced by the overlapping of inlet cam function and exhaust cam function of each cylinder. The angular vibration of camshaft mainly focuses at the fundamental frequency and the harmonic frequency corresponding to the cylinder number.