THERMO-MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF OPTICALLY ACCESSIBLE QUARTZ CYLINDER UNDER FIRED ENGINE OPERATION

Analytical approach was followed in this work under both the steady state and transient operating conditions to find optimum boundary conditions, where the optically accessible quartz engine can run safely without breaking. Temperature and stress distribution was predicted by FEM analysis. In order to validate thermal boundary condition, model reliability and constraint, outside cylinder temperature was measured and previous study was also followed up numerically. To reduce thermal stress level, three types of outside cooling (natural, moderate forced and intensive forced convection) were considered. Effects of clamping force and combustion pressure were conducted to investigate mechanical stress level. Cylinder thickness, was changed to fine the optimum cylinder thickness. The versatile results achieved from this work can be basic indication, which is capable of causing a sudden quartz cylinder breaking during fired operation.