FINITE ELEMENT MODELING AND SIMULATION OF WEAR ON PIN ON DISC

Abstract

The main objective of this work was to evaluate the state of stress and strain in Pin-on-Disc (POD) tribology test setup with structural steel as the tribo elements under self-mated conditions using finite element method (FEM). Structural steel is a major core and structural material in the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR. In PFBR there are many in-core and out-of-core component involving contact pairs undergoing sliding wear during operation as well as maintenance. Estimation of wear during operation of the machine would lead to developing appropriate wear mitigation approaches. However, measurement of in-situ wear in machine components is very difficult, if not impossible. Finite element method (FEM) based numerical modeling of machine operation with appropriate wear models would enable estimation of wear a-priority. As accuracy of calculated wear values strongly depends on the state of stress and strain in the components, accurate modelling of the state of stress and strain is essential. Apart from stress, strain, contact pressure, penetration and what type of friction is present can also be calculated. This simulation will give the exact total deformation and all other details regarding the assembly. . The Finite Element Analysis was performed by using ANSYS 16.0 and various stresses such as maximum principal stresses, Von- Mises stresses, total deflection, total deformation, and penetration, contact pressure, occurred during working condition were evaluated. The results of the simulation depicts the stresses occurred is within the permissible limit of the piston material and the deformation is well within the tolerance limit.