May 27, 2011

Camshaft Design and Analysis

Stephen Bibo
San Diego State University
Mechanical Engineering Department

Jason Castaneda
San Diego State University
Mechanical Engineering Department

Christopher Goulet
San Diego State University
Mechanical Engineering Department
1. REQUIREMENTS
Choose an automobile, truck, or motorcycle camshaft. This project requires consideration of
both internal fatigue due to the bending stresses exerted on the camshaft and surface fatigue due
to the sliding contact between the cam lobes and the valve lifters.

2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Fundamentals of Four Stroke Engine
A camshaft is an apparatus used in piston engines to operate the valves. It consists of a
cylindrical rod running the length of the cylinder head with one oblong lobe or cam protruding
per valve. The cams force the valves open as they rotate depressing the lifter, spring, and valve
assembly.

The four stroke engine was first demonstrated by Nikolaus Otto in 1876. Four strokes engines
consist of four cycles: intake, compression, power and exhaust. Every stroke of the piston
corresponds to 180 crank degrees. Therefore, four cycles corresponds to 720 degrees of the
crankshaft. The camshaft is designed to rotate half as fast as the crankshaft. The camshaft’s
main function is to have the piston, intake, and exhaust valves operate in sequence throughout
the four stroke cycle.

Piston Intake Exhaust Crankshaft Camshaft

Direction Port Port Degrees Degrees
Power Down, TDC to Closed Closed 0 to 180 0 to 90
BDC
Exhaust Up, BDC to Closed Open 180 to 360 90 to 180
TDC
Intake Down, TDC to Open Closed 360 to 540 180 to 270
BDC
Compression Up, BDC to Closed Closed 540 to 720 270 to 360
TDC
Intake, Stroke 1 (FIGURE 1): During the intake stroke, the piston moves downward, drawing a
fresh charge of vaporized fuel/air mixture. Figure 1 shows the intake valve opening to allow the
fuel mixture to be sucked into the cylinder. The exhaust valve is held shut by a spring.

STROKE

FIGURE 1

Compression, Stroke 2 (FIGURE 2): As the piston rises the valve is forced shut by the valve
spring according to the camshaft angle. The crankshaft drives the piston upward, compressing
the fuel/air mixture. Compression allows for a more powerful explosion.

STROKE

FIGURE 2
Power, Stroke 3 (FIGURE 3): At the top of the compression stroke the spark plug fires,
igniting the compressed fuel. As the fuel burns, it expands, driving the piston downward.

STROKE

FIGURE 3

Exhaust, Stroke 4 (FIGURE 4): At the bottom of the power stroke, the exhaust valve is opened
by the cam/lifter mechanism. The upward stroke of the piston drives the exhaust out of the
cylinder.

STROKE

FIGURE 4
4. CAMSHAFT INFORMATION
We chose a 1990 Volkswagen 4-cylinder 1.8L engine single overhead cam with two valves per
cylinder. The single camshaft operates both intake and exhaust valves; each lobe handles one
intake or exhaust valve.

The engine’s valves are actuated by flat-faced lifters riding on the lobes. The lifter depresses the
spring allowing the valve to open. The valve opens with the rise of cam profile and reaches
maximum lift when the lifter is positioned on the nose of the lobe. The valve closes wit the fall
of the cam profile until it is completely closed at the heel or base radius of the lobe. The valve
stays closed with a minimal spring force along the base radius of the circle until the cam profile
begins to rise.

Volkswagen 1788CC, SOHC, 4 Cylinder

Cylinder Firing Order 1-3-4-2
Minimum RPM 3000
Maximum RPM 6000
Lobe Separation 110º
Maximum Lift 11.68 mm

Camshaft Timing .101 mm

Valve Opens Closes Duration
Intake 27 BTDC 65 ABDC 272º
Exhaust 67 BBDC 25 ATDC 272º

Valve Spring Specifications

Closed Load 85 lbs @ 33.3mm
Open Load 233 lbs @ 22.1mm
 Valve Train Components
Component Mass (g)
Spring Seat 18.8
Spring (inner and outer) 13.3 + 33.3
Hydraulic Lifter 46
Valve 24
Total 135.4

Ductile Iron 80-55-06 camshaft

Ultimate Tensile Strength (Sut) 365 MPa (53 kpsi)
Tensile Yield Strength (Sy) 565 MPa (82 kpsi)
Modulus of Elasticity (E) 168.9 GPa (24.5 Mpsi)
Poisson’s Ratio 0.30

( )

Alloy Tool Steel HRC 60-62 follower

Modulus of Elasticity (E) 206.8 GPa (30.0 Mpsi)
Poisson’s Ratio 0.28

( )

5. PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS
1. The cam profile can be modeled by a 4-5-6-7 polynomial.
2. The camshaft material is ductile iron 80-55-06 annealed.
3. The lifter follower material is alloy tool steel HRC 60-62.
4. The weight of the camshaft is negligible in the moment calculation because the
eccentric weight is small.
 5. The camshaft is most susceptible to failure at the fillets between the shaft and
lobes.
6. The valve spring can be considered as a linear spring.
7. Since the contact between the lobe and follower is lubricated, the contact can be
approximated as rolling with 9% sliding.

6. FORCE ANALYSIS
We used the following equations to create an excel sheet to model the kinematics, forces,
moments, and bending stress on the camshaft. The data is represented in the graphs
following the equations.

camshaft angle

maximum lift

Camshaft angular displacement to maximum lift

Camshaft angular velocity

Linear displacement

Linear velocity

Linear acceleration

Jerk

Body force

Spring force
Using the open load value given in the valve spring specifications as a reference and
assuming a linear spring
Total force

FI  
FE  

R1   R2  

Moment calculated at assumed

point of failure

Reaction forces
 Maximum moment at point x

Moment of inertia for a solid circular shaft

Bending stress

6. STRESS ANALYSIS
We assume that the camshaft will be expected to last for around 200000 miles at an
average speed of 40 miles per hour at an average of 4500 crank revolutions per minute.
 Bending stress

From our spreadsheet data

Concentration factor

fillet radius r = 0.0625 in., d = 0.953 in., D = 1.33 in., ,

From Figure E-2 (all tables and figures from Norton’s Machine Design: An Integrated
Approach)
A = 0.950, b = -0.244

Static stress concentration factor

From Table 6.6 for

Notch sensitivity

Fatigue stress concentration factor

Since

Von Mises stress

We neglect transverse shear stress.
7. INTERNAL FATIGUE ANALYSIS
Since the camshaft is expected to last over a million cycles, we assume infinite life for
fatigue analysis.

Uncorrected endurance limit

for iron,

Correction factors

for bending
For a rotating solid shaft

From Table 6.3 for machined, A = 4.51, b = -0.265

For
 Factor of safety

Assuming that = constant

8. SURFACE FATIGUE ANALYSIS

From our spreadsheet data
Cylindrical contact

For a flat-faced follower

From Table C.1 for alloy steel follower

for ductile iron lobe

From Table 7.7 for rolling with 9% sliding and HRC 60-62 tool-steel follower on nodular
iron, Gr. 100-70-03, h-t HB 240-260 lobe
 Desired life for this camshaft is cycles, as solved earlier,

9. CONCLUSION
Our analysis indicated an internal fatigue safety factor of 6.31 and a surface fatigue safety
factor of 26.6. Although the camshaft may appear to be overdesigned, other factors in the
design of the engine may affect the design of the camshaft. This analysis suggests that
the camshaft is probably one of the components that is least susceptible to failure in
automobile engines.

10. REFERENCES
Websites:

http://www.cranecams.com

http://www.howstuffworks.com

Books:

Robert L. Norton. Machine Design: An Integrated Approach. Third Edition.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2006.

Dr. Robert L. Norton. Design Machinery. Third Edition. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall, 2006.

J. Angeles and C.S. Lopez-Cajun. Optimization of Cam Mechanisms. The

Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.