Abstract: Low cyclic thermal fatigue life is an important parameter for evaluating the reliability of marine diesel engine In this paper, according to the “start—stop” wave of 12V180 engine used in the naval vessels, the temperature fields and cyclic elasto-plastic stress-strain fields and Mises' equivalent stress-strain fields of the piston are calculated by means of the program “ADINAT/ADINA” The simulating tests of thermal fatigue and high temperature low cyclic fatigue are carried out with two kinds of cylindrical specimens with annular notches The results show that the relations between equivalent strain ranges and fatigue life conform to the Manson-Coffin formula and are not affected by specimens' shape and size Finally, these results are used for predicting the piston life and reliability evaluation It is verified that the in-phase thermal fatigue evaluation is effective
1999, Vol. 14 
